https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-007-0507-0
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Is the physical vacuum a preferred frame?
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Catania, Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia dell’ Università di Catania, Via S. Sofia 64, 95123, Catania, Italy
* e-mail: Maurizio.Consoli@ct.infn.it
Received:
25
September
2007
Revised:
19
November
2007
Published online:
9
January
2008
It is generally assumed that the physical vacuum of particle physics should be characterized by an energy-momentum tensor in such a way as to preserve exact Lorentz invariance. On the other hand, if the ground state were characterized by its energy-momentum vector, with zero spatial momentum and a non-zero energy, the vacuum would represent a preferred frame. Since both theoretical approaches have their own good motivations, we propose an experimental test to decide between the two scenarios.
© Springer-Verlag , 2008
