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arXiv · 1602.03857

A Model for Lightcone Fluctuations due to Stress Tensor Fluctuations

C. H. G. Bessa·V. A. De Lorenci·L. H. Ford·C. C. H. Ribeiro
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Abstract

We study a model for quantum lightcone fluctuations in which vacuum fluctuations of the electric field and of the squared electric field in a nonlinear dielectric material produce variations in the flight times of probe pulses. When this material has a non-zero third order polarizability, the flight time variations arise from squared electric field fluctuations, and are analogous to effects expected when the stress tensor of a quantized field drives passive spacetime geometry fluctuations. We also discuss the dependence of the squared electric field fluctuations upon the geometry of the material, which in turn determines a sampling function for averaging the squared electric field along the path of the pulse. This allows us to estimate the probability of especially large fluctuations, which is a measure of the probability distribution for quantum stress tensor fluctuations.

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C. H. G. Bessa, V. A. De Lorenci, L. H. Ford, C. C. H. Ribeiro. 2016-02-11. A Model for Lightcone Fluctuations due to Stress Tensor Fluctuations. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.93.064067

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