Is There Energy in the Structure of Space-Time?

[misanthropist]

In quantum vacuum fluctuations it's been said that particles will come in and out of existence, correct? But you can state that particles pop in and out of existence all you like, but they aren't really coming from 'nothing' at all. The 'Vacuum' isn't a real 'nothingness' and quantum vacuum fluctuations involve the conversion of pre-existing energy into material form, it isn't a creation ex nihilo. There has to be an existing space-time background for these fluctuations to occur. Am I correct?

 

[humanino]

Those are interesting thoughts. However, I would not say

quantum vacuum fluctuations involve the conversion of pre-existing energy into material form, it isn't a creation ex nihilo.

What do you mean by "pre-existing energy" ? The energy is really not here before the fluctuation. Nature allows for a violation of the conservation of energy ! But the worse it is violated, the shortest this violation is allowed to occur. This is nothing but Heisenberg's Time-Energy indetermination relation.

 

[member 11137]

Effectively very interesting thoughts. But I am a little bit affraid: the danger is that we could be discussing about nothing real. If EM perturbations are not coming abrupto ex nihilo but as I think from deformations of the geometric structure of the space time... does it mean that this structure contains energy ? In the way around nothing could forbid such similar gravitational perturbations and, that is my question, does some one here (the forum) knows about a reasonable expression concerning the energy contained in this structure (space time without well formed particle)? Or is it the actual mystery concerning the energy of vacuum (big difference between the QT approach and experiments; about 10^119 !)? Any help, thought or discussion is very wellcome. Blackforest