About 50 years ago, Heinrich Casimir discovered that in a vacuum there is a certain force of attraction between two surfaces . This power can create a real revolution in science.
If you take two mirrors and install them in an empty space, an attraction begins between them, since there is a vacuum between them. This phenomenon was discovered by Casimir in 1948, when he was engaged in research at a research center in Eindhoven. This phenomenon was called the Casimir effect, and the force that arises between two mirrors is the Casimir force.
For a long time it was believed that the Casimir effect is nothing more than an amusing theory. However, in recent years there has been an increased interest in this phenomenon. It was found that the Casimir force directly affects microscopic mechanisms, and thanks to the progress in technical equipment, this force can be measured with increased accuracy.
This effect may be of certain interest for fundamental physics. There are many theories according to which there are extended additional dimensions in ten-dimensional and eleven-dimensional theories. In accordance with these theories, a certain deviation from the standard Newtonian gravity is observed at distances of the smallest fractions of a millimeter. Therefore, by measuring the effect of the Casimir effect, one can verify the hypothesis data.
Casimir's study of colloidal solutions
Working at a research center in Eindhoven, Casimir investigated the properties characteristic of colloidal solutions. These are high viscosity materials that have micron-sized particles. Their properties determine the Van der Waals forces - these are long-range attractive forces that arise between molecules and atoms that are neutral.
Theo Overbeck, a colleague of Casimir, noted that the Fritz London theory for describing the forces of Van der Waals cannot give a correct assessment of the experimental data. He asked Casimir to work on this issue. Casimir found that it is impossible to correctly describe the interaction observed between 2 neutral molecules, based on the fact that the speed of light is constant.
After that, the scientist noted that this result can be described if atomic fluctuations are taken into account. Fluctuation is the term that characterizes all kinds of fluctuations and periodic changes. Then the scientist thought that instead of two molecules, you can install two mirrors that would be turned to each other by the reflecting sides. So he predicted the force of attraction that exists between the reflective plates.
Dynamic Casimir Effect
According to quantum theory, vacuum is not an ordinary void. It regularly observes energy fluctuations - virtual particles and antiparticles are born and die. They are able to exert pressure. This phenomenon is called the "static Casimir effect." It has been proven by experiments. However, theoretically there is still a dynamic Casimir effect - the transformation of vacuum fluctuations into real particles (for example, photons). This effect was observed by scientists.
With the Casimir dynamic effect, mirrors were supposed to oscillate, and their speed should be comparable to the speed of light. For this, physicists had to install metal surfaces in a strong magnetic field. The oscillation velocity of this field was eleven billion times per second. The surfaces began to deform at a rate of 5% of the light, and the appearance of photons was detected at the output. Judging by the properties of photons, it could be argued that they arose in pairs.