Abstract
Motivated by analogous applications to sonoluminescence, neutron stars mergers are examined in the context of Schwinger's dynamical Casimir effect. When the dielectric properties of the QED vacuum are altered through the introduction of dense matter, energy shifts in the zero-point fluctuations can appear as photon bursts at gamma-ray frequencies. The amount of radiation depends upon the properties and amount of matter in motion and the suddenness of the transition. It is shown that the dynamical Casimir effect can convert sufficient energy of neutron star mergers into gamma rays. Using information extracted from simulations of matter flow in neutron star mergers by Ruffert and Janka, we estimate that the total Casimir energy released can exceed 10 53 ergs in gamma-ray frequencies. The Casimir energy approach is capable of explaining the most energetic gamma-ray bursts.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
J. Schwinger, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91, 6473 (1994); 90, 7285 (1993); 90, 4505 (1993); 90, 2105 (1993); 90, 958 (1993); 89, 11118 (1992); 89, 4091 (1992).
S. Liberati, M. Visser, F. Belgiorno, and D. W. Sciama, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 678 (1999).
S. Liberati, M. Visser, F. Belgiorno, and D. W. Sciama, quant-ph/9805031; quant-ph/ 9904013; quant-ph/9904018; quant-ph/9905034.
I. Brevik, V. N. Marachevsky, and K. A. Milton, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3948 (1999); K. A. Milton, and Y. Jack Ng, Phys. Rev. E 57, 5504 (1998); 55, 4207 (1997); K. Milton, “Casimir energy for a spherical cavity in a dielectric: Toward a model for sonolumines-cence?” in Quantum Field Theory Under the Influence of External Conditions, M. Bordag, ed. (Tuebner, Stuttgart, 1996), pp. 13–23.
C. E. Carlson, C. Molina-París, J. Pérez-Mercader, and Matt Visser, Phys. Lett. B 395, 76 (1997); Phys. Rev. D 56, 1262 (1997).
C. E. Carlson, T. Goldman, and J. Pérez-Mercader, Europhys. Lett. 36, 637 (1996).
S. Kulkarni et al., Nature 393, 35 (1998).
See e.g., C. Kouveliotou, Appl. J. (Suppl.) 92, 637 (1994).
S. Narayan, B. Paczinski, and T. Piran, Appl. J. 395, L83 (1992).
E. J. Schneid et al., Astron & Astrophs 255, L13 (1992); K. Hurley et al., Nature 372, 652 (1994).
C. Molina-París and M. Visser, Phys. Rev. D 56, 6629 (1997).
M. Ruffert, and H.-Th. Janka, astro-ph/9804132 and astro-ph/9809280; H.-Th. Janka, Th. Eberl, M. Ruffert, and C. L. Fryer, astro-ph/9908290.
J. Gorosabel, A. J. Castro-Tirado, S. Brandt, and N. Lund, Astron. & Astrophys. 336, 57 (1998); A. Singh and M. Srednicki, Appl. J. 492, L29 (1998); R. Narayan and T. Piran, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 265, L65 (1993).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Carlson, C.E., Swanson, I.J. Casimir Energy in Astrophysics: Gamma-Ray Bursts from QED Vacuum Transitions. Foundations of Physics 30, 775–783 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003741111963
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003741111963