Dynamics of Two- and Four-Boson Interactions in Dressed Vacuum States

We analyze the spatial and temporal dynamics of virtual particles in the vacuum states of the one-dimensional ϕ 2- and ϕ 4-model systems. The properties of the vacuum state for the ϕ 2-system can be found analytically, which allows us to compute all spatial and temporal correlations exactly. For large spatial and temporal separations, the correlation functions approach a non-vanishing finite constant associated with the occurrence of multiple vacuum bubbles, in contradiction to lowest-order perturbation theory. Long-range inter-bubble correlations suggest that virtual particles can actually enhance the occurrence of another bubble due to stimulated emission. We argue that many of the vacuum’s properties can be explained in the usual particles terms.