Can An Uncertainty Relation Generate A Plasma?

TL;DR

The paper explores whether a Casimir-energy mechanism, mediated by an energy-temperature–distance uncertainty, can influence plasma formation at nuclear scales. It develops a semi-classical Casimir/Yukawa framework that yields a heuristic relation $kT \\sim \\Delta E \\sim \\frac{\\hbar c}{2d}$ and a generalized thermodynamics based on Bohr’s energy-temperature ideas, predicting electron-positron plasmas and connecting to meson properties. A finite-temperature Casimir free-energy expansion is shown to yield a similar temperature-distance relation and a residual chemical-potential term, suggesting a possible Casimir contribution to nuclear-scale interactions. While the results align in order of magnitude with experimental meson data, the authors emphasize strong caveats and the need for further work to validate these ideas at femtometer scales.

Abstract

We explore the fundamental idea that there may be a role for the Casimir effect, via an uncertainty relation, in the generation of electron-positron and quark-gluon plasmas. We investigate this concept, reviewing the possible contribution of semi-classical electrodynamics to nuclear interactions, specifically focusing on the Casimir effect at sub-Fermi length scales. The main result is a temperature distance relation, derived from the time-energy uncertainty relation, which can have observable consequences at these extreme scales. From a more general perspective, since the energy-time uncertainty relation appears to be a significant physical quantity, we also provide a brief overview of recent developments in this direction in Sec. 3.2.