Flow electrification by cavity quantum electrodynamics?

Abstract

Bubbles are proposed as the source of flow electrification and breakdown in transformers, the bubbles nucleated in flow regions that develop hydrostatic tension. But the bubbles are not assumed to be empty. Owing to surface tension, a micron sized fluid particle is posited to form in the bubble leaving an annular gap with the bubble wall that increases as the bubble expands. At the instant of nucleation, the gap has an electromagnetic (EM) resonance beyond the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) while the thermal kT energy of fluid molecules in the particle is emitted in the infrared (IR). Because of the higher VUV gap resonance, the IR radiation from the particle is suppressed by cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). To conserve EM energy within cavity QED constraints, the loss in EM energy by the particle is compensated by a gain in the VUV resonant gap, i.e., the IR radiation undergoes a frequency up-conversion to the VUV. Alternatively, VUV radiation exists in the gap if radiative heat flows from the wall to the particle, as would be the case if the suppression of IR radiation causes the particle to cool to absolute zero. But the Stefan Boltzmann law is not applicable because IR radiation at ambient temperature is prohibited in the VUV resonant gap. A heat flow mechanism is presented to transfer thermal kT energy by VUV travelling waves. The VUV radiation excites impurities on gap surfaces to produce electrons by the photoelectric effect, the positive charged impurities forming the streaming current in the flow.