Two Kinds of Vacuum in Casimir Effect

Abstract

The Casimir effect is one observable of the existence of the vacuum energy, i.e. the existence of vacuum electromagnetic field. The meaning of this word "vacuum" is physical vacuum, not technology vacuum. Then, we say that the change in the vacuum structure enforced by the plates. There are two kinds of vacuum, one is usual vacua or free vacua (outside the plates). Another is the negative energy vacua (inside the plates), and the refraction index less than 1(n<1). That cause a change in the light speed for electromagnetic waves propagating perpendicular to the plates: △c/c1.6×10-60d-4, and d is the plate distance. When d=10-9m(1nm), △c=10-24c. Then, a two-loop QED effect cause the phase and group velocities of an electromagnetic wave to slightly exceed c. Though the difference are very small, that raise interesting matters of principle. The focus of this paper is to improve the understanding of the nature of quantum vacuum. In the past, to say that "vacuum is not empty" was already a criticism and subversion of classical physics. Now it seems doubly strange to say that there is a negative energy vacuum that is "empty"than the normal physical vacuum. But these theories are rigorously justified; Casimir effect can create an environment with refractive index less than 1(n<1) and lead to the appearance of superluminality, which is one of the representations of "quantum superluminality". These advances in basic science will certainly open up new fields of application, In short, it is not the Casimir structure that creates the quantum vacuum, but the structure that makes the quantum vacuum "emerge"in a clever way as a perceptible physical reality. This is truly a scientific achievement.