Christian Beck 2006 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 31 123 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/31/1/021
Christian Beck
Show affiliationsThe physical nature of the currently observed dark energy in the universe is completely unclear, and many different theoretical models co-exist. Nevertheless, if dark energy is produced by vacuum fluctuations then there is a chance to probe some of its properties by simple laboratory tests based on Josephson junctions. These electronic devices can be used to perform 'vacuum fluctuation spectroscopy', by directly measuring a noise spectrum induced by vacuum fluctuations. One would expect to see a cutoff near 1.7 THz in the measured power spectrum, provided the new physics underlying dark energy couples to electric charge. The effect exploited by the Josephson junction is a subtile nonlinear mixing effect and has nothing to do with the Casimir effect or other effects based on van der Waals forces. A Josephson experiment of the suggested type will now be built, and we should know the result within the next 3 years.
Issue 1 (2006)
Christian Beck 2006 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 31 123
Benjamin J Owen 2006 Class. Quantum Grav. 23 S1
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