2007/03/14 by Daegene Song, Song, Daegene
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Mathematical Theories and Applications #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #advanced mathematical theories
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0703124
openalex publication_date 2007/03/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A huge discrepancy between the zero-point energy calculated from quantum theory and the observed quantity in the Universe has been one of the most illusive problems in physics. In order to examine the measurability of zero-point energy, we construct reference frames in a given measurement using observables. Careful and explicit construction of the reference frames surprisingly reveals that not only is the harmonic oscillator fluctuating at the ground level, but so is the reference frame when the measurement is realized. The argument is then extended to examine the measurability of vacuum energy for a quantized electromagnetic field, and it is shown that while zero-point energy calculated from quantum theory diverges to infinity, it is not measurable.