====== Vacuum energy ======

Quantum physics, and the  widely accepted and experimentally tested //Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle// implies that no 'vacuum' can be truly empty. At all times, innumerable quantised  'virtual particles' must be coming into existence and then disappearing. These particles must have a collective 'mass' - or, according to Einstein's relativity theory, an equivalent energy. Calculations regarding the Universe's  'vacuum energy' vary enormously.

According to calculations that take into account the [[content:physics:cosmology:cosmological_constant|Cosmological Constant]], the energy should be around 10<sup>−9</sup> joules per cubic meter.

If on the other hand the calculation is based around Quantum Electrodynamic theory and the Planck Constant, the figure is 10<sup>113</sup> joules per cubic meter.

One (or both) of the calculations must be wrong - with an error margin of more than 120 orders of magnitude - making it the most spectacular mathematical disagreement in all of physics.

The lack of agreement has profound implications for theories of [[content:physics:cosmology:gravity]], [[content:physics:cosmology:dark_energy]], [[content:physics:cosmology:dark_matter]], the [[content:physics:cosmology:universe_expansion|expansion of the Universe]]and black holes etc etc.

See: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_energy|Wikipedia]]

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Also see: [[content:physics:cosmology:cosmological_constant]]

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