The actual value of the quantum vacuum energy density is generally regarded as irrelevant in nongravitational physics. However, this paper presents a nongravitational system where this value does have physical significance. The system is a mirror with an internal degree of freedom that interacts with a scalar field. We find that the force exerted on the mirror by the field vacuum undergoes wild fluctuations with a magnitude proportional to the value of the vacuum energy density, which is mathematically infinite. This infinite fluctuating force gives infinite instantaneous acceleration of the mirror. We show that this infinite fluctuating force and infinite instantaneous acceleration make sense because they will not result in infinite fluctuation of the mirror’s position. On the contrary, the mirror’s fluctuating motion will be confined in a small region due to two special properties of the quantum vacuum: (1) the vacuum friction that resists the mirror’s motion and (2) the strong anticorrelation of vacuum fluctuations that constantly changes the direction of the mirror’s infinite instantaneous acceleration and thus cancels the effect of infinities to make the fluctuation of the mirror’s position finite.

• Received 16 December 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.89.085009