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Existence and Nonexistence of Waves and Particles: The Quantum Vacuum Fluctuations in the Void

An elementary question of interest is how particles and waves appear in and out of existence in the space-time canvas, and the underlying governing equations and laws of nature. The uncertainty principle and the quantum vacuum fluctuation give us hint at the unknown. It seems particles and waves are manifested in the space-time real world by some carefully chosen laws of symmetries and resonances.


"Thanks to the uncertainty principle, the vacuum buzzes with particle-antiparticle pairs popping in and out of existence. They include, among many others, electron-positron pairs and pairs of photons, which are their own antiparticles. Ordinarily, those "virtual" particles cannot be directly captured. But like some spooky Greek chorus, they exert subtle influences on the "real" world."



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