Conclusions and Discussion

            The above depicted scenario allows us to understand the nature of the ZPE, that is still uncertain since it is an energy that is composed of “virtual photons that cannot be measured directly”. According to the above dimensional model (see Ch.1 in Results), ZPE would be composed of virtual photons that have 2 more degrees of freedom than ordinary photons (i.e., light, heat), e.g. that exist in a real 5-dimensional hyperspace.

With this model in mind, it is easy to understand, why we cannot detect directly virtual photons of the ZPE: They are not inside the same space than ourselves or our detectors, and we can detect them only for fractions of seconds when crossing our 3-dimensional space before disappearing again in hyperspace. Therefore, they seem “virtual” to us (phantom particles).

Although ZPR/ZPE has been called also ZPF (ZP-field), it is not really a field of force as the gravitational or EM field. This can be understood from the definition of the Casimir force: “a force derived from partial shielding of the … background zero-point fluctuations of the vacuum electromagnetic field” (⁶). This means, the Casimir force is not the result of a traditional field of force that acts by mediation of carrier particles (bosons) interchanged from one material particle to another, thus resulting in an attraction or repulsion, but that of photon waves, producing a radiation pressure that can be measured (i.e. by Casimir plates). In this sense, Casimir energy or ZPE resembles more EM radiation than an EM field, although it is as “virtual” as a field of force. This fact has already been explained in part in Calvet¹² and Calvet¹³ since a field of force is a medium, which we are submerged in, thus being not able to “see” or detect directly its components (bosons). The case of the ZPE is different, since “virtual” means here, “particles that are coming and going from our universe to hyperspace and vice-versa”. In consequence, there are at least 2 different kinds of virtual particles, e.g. those from hyperspace and those of 3-D fields of force (fields of force are 3-D because they vary with the square of the distance - see also [1,2,3]).

            A surprising conclusion of the hyperspace model is that gravitation and EM attraction could be explained simply as the result of a “suction” force from hyperspace. In fact: Hyperspace is to a 3-D space as the atmosphere is to a balloon or the void to air. The air of the balloon tries to escape to the atmosphere through any hole the balloon has, while the air tries to fill up any empty space (vacuum). In an analogous way, gravitation and EM can be seen as the tendency of non-charged/charged matter to dissipate in hyperspace through small windows between our 3-D universe and hyperspace. These windows are opened by the energy we know as quantum spin. As seen already in the Background Field (BF) theory (Calvet¹² and Calvet¹³), gravitation and EM are probably forces produced by the same field and EM is simply due to more energetic interactions with the BF. Therefore, hyperspace will produce a suction force on elementary particles, analogous to their mass (gravitation) or polarity (EM), while the BF is a field that links our world to hyperspace. EM repulsion could be explained in an analogous way as a phenomenon that forces the BF out of hyperspace, i.e. between two equal charges or poles.