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virtual particle
(redirected from Vacuum fluctuations)

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virtual particle
n.
A subatomic particle whose existence violates the principle of conservation of energy but is allowed to exist for a short time by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
virtual particle
A short-lived subatomic particle whose existence briefly violates the principle of conservation of energy. The uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics allows violations of conservation of energy for short periods, meaning that even a physical system with zero energy can spontaneously produce energetic particles. The more energy a virtual particle has, the shorter its existence. Interactions between normal particles and virtual particles play a crucial role in quantum field theory analyses of interactions between real particles. See also Casimir effectFeynman diagramvacuum fluctuation
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This is the first device in which you get a mechanical action as a result of vacuum fluctuations," says Federico Capasso of Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs in Murray Hill.
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Several decades ago, experimental verification of the influence of electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations on electron behavior prompted physicists to take seriously the possibility that similar quantum effects could occur in other situations.
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