Spontaneous Absorption, Einsteins Rate Equation Approximation and Zero Point Energy

Abstract

- Einstein’s derivation of Planck’s black body energy distribution law has been examined with the inclusion of the process of spontaneous absorption. It has been shown that the inclusion of the term of spontaneous absorption does not affect the distribution law but leads to an equation which was derived by Max Plank in 1911.The idea of relating spontaneous absorption to zero point energy is discussed in its historical prelude. We have observed that in the steady state temperature T, inclusion of the term of spontaneous absorption with some arbitrarily chosen value of transition probability results in the same distribution law for the black body as derived by Einstein in 1917, plus an additional term which points to the universal, uniform, all-pervasive phenomenon of zero point energy. The physics of zero point energy is well known but the zero point energy that originates from the term of spontaneous absorption is completely new. It is reasonable to believe that spontaneous is non-zero for a ground state which is not perfectly vacuum.