AUTHOR=Reggiani Lino , Alfinito Eleonora TITLE=Beyond the Formulations of the Fluctuation Dissipation Theorem Given by Callen and Welton (1951) and Expanded by Kubo (1966) JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics VOLUME=8 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2020.00238 DOI=10.3389/fphy.2020.00238 ISSN=2296-424X ABSTRACT=

The quantum formula of the fluctuation dissipation theorem (FDT) was given by Callen and Welton in 1951 [1] for the case of conductors, and then expanded by Kubo in 1966 [2, 3]. The drawback of these quantum relations concerns with the appearance of a zero-point contribution, hω/2 with h the reduced Planck constant and ω the angular frequency of the considered photon, which implies a divergence of the fluctuation spectrum at increasing frequencies. This divergence is responsible for a vacuum-catastrophe, to keep the analogy with the well-known ultraviolet catastrophe of the classical black-body radiation spectrum. As a consequence, the quantum formulation of the FDT as given by Callen-Welton and Kubo introduces a Field Grand Challenge associated with the existence or less of a vacuum-fluctuations catastrophe for the energy-density spectrum. Here we propose a solution to this challenge by taking into account of the Casimir energy that, in turns, is found to be responsible for a quantum correction of the Stefan-Boltzmann law.