Wiktionary
n. (context physics English) A momentary fluctuation in the energy at a point in space due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle
Wikipedia
In quantum physics, a quantum fluctuation (or quantum vacuum fluctuation or vacuum fluctuation) is the temporary change in the amount of energy in a point in space, as explained in Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
According to one formulation of the principle, energy and time can be related by the relation
$\Delta E \Delta t \geq {h \over 4 \pi}$This allows the creation of particle-antiparticle pairs of virtual particles. The effects of these particles are measurable, for example, in the effective charge of the electron, different from its "naked" charge.
In the modern view, energy is always conserved, but the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian ( energy observable) are not the same as (i.e., the Hamiltonian does not commute with) the particle number operators.
Quantum fluctuations may have been very important in the origin of the structure of the universe: according to the model of inflation the ones that existed when inflation began were amplified and formed the seed of all current observed structure. Vacuum energy may also be responsible for the current accelerated expansion of the universe ( cosmological constant).
Usage examples of "quantum fluctuation".
The two branes, which form the walls of the fifth dimension, could have popped out of nothingness as a quantum fluctuation in the even more distant past and then drifted apart.
Could the Defiant simply have been the victim of a freak quantum fluctuation of the wormhole?
However short-lived, the quantum fluctuation had lasted long enough to serve its purpose—.
However short-lived, the quantum fluctuation had lasted long enough to serve its purpose-to break through - the galactic barrier to the other side.
The planning may be total, but-I simply wonder if this blowup was due to an oversight, or a runaway chaos, or a quantum fluctuation that got amplified.
Chaos and quantum fluctuation assured that none would exactly resemble any predecessor.