Zero-Point Energy and 1D Lattice Structures

Zero-point energy (ZPE) can be thought of as a limitless source of potential energy that exists throughout the universe; in essence, ZPE describes the ground state of a quantum mechanical system that exhibits a fluctuating finite energy due to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Quantum mechanics predicts that all of space must be filled with electromagnetic zero-point fluctuations (also called the zero-point field) creating a universal sea of ZPE [1]. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that for a particle like an electron, the more precisely one measures its position, the less exact one can measure its momentum and vice versa. This uncertainty reflects an intrinsic quantum energy fluctuation in the wave nature of quantum systems and leads to ZPE, which essentially is the energy that remains when all other energy is removed from a system, i.e. a vacuum. Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and Otto Stern worked in the early part of the 20th century to show this mathematically, and physical evidence for ZPE has been found in the quantum electrodynamic phenomenon of the Casimir effect predicted by Hendrik Casimir in 1948 [1]. While the original concept of ZPE originated with Planck, Nernst, Einstein, and others, the original foundation for ZPE has been reworked and rethought over the past century by physicists like Georges Lemâıtre and Edward Tryon, and continues to be investigated and reunderstood today.