Unlike dark energy, which can only be deduced from the formulae of quantum field theory, the cosmological constant can be determined directly by astrophysical experiments.

Together with his Luxembourg research colleague Dr. Dimitry Fedorov, he has now brought the solution to this puzzle, which has been open for decades, a significant step closer.

Together with his research colleague Fedorov, he developed this model and presented it for the first time in 2018, originally used to describe atomic properties, for example in solids.

This finding points the way for future experiments to detect this polarization in the laboratory as well, say the two Luxembourg researchers, who now want to apply their model to other particle-antiparticle pairs.

He sees the new results obtained together with Dimitry Fedorov as the first step towards a better understanding of dark energy—and its connection to Albert Einstein's cosmological constant.

More information: Alexandre Tkatchenko et al, Casimir Self-Interaction Energy Density of Quantum Electrodynamic Fields, Physical Review Letters(2023).