The Weight of the Vacuum

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. Early Ideas of Space and Vacuum

   • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

   Pages 1-6

3. The Active Ether

   • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

   Pages 7-12

4. Planck’s Second Quantum Theory

   • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

   Pages 13-18

5. Half-Quanta and Zero-Point Energy

   • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

   Pages 19-27

6. Nernst’s Cosmic Quantum-Ether

   • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

   Pages 29-38

7. The Hamburg Connection

   • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

   Pages 39-46

8. The Cosmological Constant

   • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

   Pages 47-56

9. From Casimir to Zel’dovich

   • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

   Pages 57-65

10. Inflation and the False Vacuum

    • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

    Pages 67-76

11. Variable Cosmological Constants and Quintessence

    • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

    Pages 77-87

12. How Heavy Is the Vacuum?

    • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

    Pages 89-99

13. The Accelerating Universe

    • Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

    Pages 101-110

14. Back Matter

    Pages 111-113

    PDF

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the discovery of cosmic acceleration due to dark energy, a discovery that is all the more perplexing as nobody knows what dark energy actually is. We put the modern concept of cosmological vacuum energy into historical context and show how it grew out of disparate roots in quantum mechanics (zero-point energy) and relativity theory (the cosmological constant, Einstein's “greatest blunder”). These two influences have remained strangely aloof and still co-exist in an uneasy alliance that is at the heart of the greatest crisis in theoretical physics, the cosmological-constant problem.

• Cosmological Constant
• Cosmological Vacuum Energy
• Cosmological-constant Problem
• Dark Energy
• Ether in Physics
• History of Cosmology
• Inflation in the Early Universe
• Vacuum Energy
• Variable Physical Constants
• Zero-point Energy

“This is an interesting historical overview of the development of ideas relating to vacuum energy. It is a well-written, easy read, and should appeal to anyone with an interest in dark energy, which should be all of us, since this is often claimed as the biggest mystery in modern physics. Kragh and Overduin have split the story into 12 chapters, tracing relevant ideas from the ancient Greek philosophers up to the present day.” (Douglas Scott, Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 47 (4), November, 2016)

“This is an exceptionally good, short guide to the history of physicists’ understanding of the energy of empty space. … This is an excellent brief history of cosmology. I expect to cite it many times in my academic papers and books.” (Simon Mitton, The Observatory, Vol. 135 (1245), April, 2015)

• Centre for Science Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

  Helge S. Kragh

• Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences, Towson University, Towson, USA

  James M. Overduin

Prof. James Overduin, Baltimore, MD, USA

Prof. Helge Kragh, Aarhus University, Denmark

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