Quantum fluctuations in the dressed vacuum of a bosonic model system

Quantum fluctuations and the polarizability of the vacuum state are sometimes interpreted in terms of virtual particles that come into and out of existence for a limited amount of time. We study the spatial and temporal properties of these auxiliary particles on a numerical space-time grid for a one-dimensional model system. This approach permits us to compute the average distance between virtual particles and their lifetime. The creation dynamics of the virtual particles from the bare vacuum state is also examined.