Zero Point Energy and the Redshift
Barry John Setterfield
Keywords: Zero Point Energy, SED Physics, atomic constants, atomic orbits, redshift, quantization
The first section of this paper introduces the concept of the vacuum Zero Point Energy (ZPE) in terms of stochastic electro-dynamics, or SED physics. The effects of the ZPE on atoms and atomic processes according to SED concepts are then summarized. This includes the concept of an increasing ZPE strength due to universal expansion. SED physics has shown that the stability of atomic orbits is dependent upon the strength of the ZPE. Claverie and Diner, Puthoff, Spicka et al. and others have shown that if an electron is emitting more recoil radiation, because of the impacting electro-magnetic waves of the ZPE, than it is absorbing from the ZPE, then it will move towards the nucleus. The reverse is also true. Thus the orbit which results for an electron comes from an equilibrium between the energy radiated and energy absorbed. In the context of a ZPE increasing with time, it is shown that atomic orbits will behave in such a way that light emitted by atomic orbit transitions will become bluer as time moves forward. Thus as we look back into the past by observing increasingly distant astronomical objects the emitted light should be redder with distance. The effect will be the same as the observed redshift of light from distant galaxies. Thus the redshift may be evidence of a ZPE increasing with time rather than the standard explanation of universal expansion. The effect of an increasing ZPE on atomic orbits may either be happening smoothly or in quantum jumps, which is a characteristic of atomic orbit behavior. Analysis then suggests that a quantized redshift can occur with an increasing ZPE. The size of the predicted redshift quantum jumps is in exact accord with the data given by Tifft, Arp as well as Guthrie and Napier
