pallidin said:
I do believe in virtual particles
...and that's the thrust of my cautionary previous comment: This is a realm where hard observations are few and where every musing needs be qualified so that the reader understands that much of what we talk about here is speculation.
One may believe that virtual particles may be possible, but - as you point out - there is more faith here than substance, which - as I think about it - is a little ironic, considering that we are discussing is the possibility of nothing.
- So I guess the thrust of my thought here is that when discussing the subject of absolute vacuums, we must keep an open mind, mull over the possibilities; trying to stick to what data there is without becoming too dogmatic.
That said, I came across an interesting
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=are-virtual-particles-rea",
"Are virtual particles really constantly popping in and out of existence? Or are they merely a mathematical bookkeeping device for quantum mechanics?"
A well-written brief summery. Gordon Kane, as with many of his contemporaries places his faith in quantum mechanics with considerable justification by virtue of the fact that it has demonstrated functionality in the empirical world, and that's all good.
Imagine for a moment, god-like creatures looking down upon the Earth, creatures who's time consciousness is accelerated, so that to them our 24 hour day was no longer than that of a heart beat. They might view these glowing cities that spread over our planet as mere crystals, and could justifiably make quanta predictions on the sustainability their growth, based on the lub-dub of their pulsations: five beats caused by our 9-5 traffic, with the two pulse pause created by our weekend.
To these gods, the business of individuals could only be resolved by their mass movement along roads and freeways and the gods might - correctly so - speculate that this flow could be considered as discrete packets of mass/energy.
As with quanta mechanics, the model is limited by the belief that the only important factor is what the bulk of the packets are doing at any given moment...but you and I know that other factors are in play. Between the 9 to 5 lub-dub of our traffic flow, during the dead of night sanitation workers and vital resources that make a city run are in play. These are errant particles that quantum mechanics do not account for and consequently these gods only have a stilted picture of the actual reality.
In my opinion, this is a problem that the 21Century physics have to come to terms with. Quantum mechanics is an artificial overlay of reality, and it may well be that vital forces of nature are being overlooked because of the faith we have placed in our statistical calculations.
pallidin, you may possibly feel that I have wondered away from the thread of the topic, but I felt it was important to impart my subjective overview, so as to minimize misunderstandings in whatever further discussion we might have about absolute vacuums. Don't get me wrong; I am a firm believer in the empirical, in scientific method. However, on this topic I believe it is important for us to play in the sandbox of possibilities and see if we can uncover concepts and notions hitherto unthought of.
