See post 34
Thanks. I've perused that page before, but to my untrained brain, it does not appear to explain the nature of the vacuum energy.
I apprehend that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle predicts fluctuations in the energy of a vacuum, even though the energy averages out to zero. Otherwise the vacuum energy would certainly be zero at all times, and this is not allowed by the HUP. Did I get that right?
Causality still seems to be a problem--what causes the virtual pairs to come into existance? Or, if the answer to this question is "a vacuum fluctuation," then what causes the fluctuation?
Does the energy of a vacuum consist entirely in the virtual particles, or does it consist in the vacuum's other attributes--such as the space the vacuum occupies? Space is a real "thing," isn't it? If space exists, then it would not seem proper to call the vacuum "nothing."
I believe I read or heard that energy can be contained in the curvature of space. Is this correct? Does the vacuum energy come from the curvature of the entire universe? Does the vacuum near a massive object contain more energy than the vacuum in inter-galactic space?
I hope I haven't pestered you with too many questions. Anyone who wishes to answer, feel free.