The Quantum Vacuum

{{short description|1993 physics textbook by Peter W. Milonni}}

{{no footnotes|date=September 2018}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The Quantum Vacuum: An Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics

| image = The_Quantum_Vacuum_An_Introduction_to_Quantum_Electrodynamics.jpeg

| caption = Front cover

| author = Peter W. Milonni

| country = United States

| language = English

| illustrator =

| series =

| release_number =

| subject = Modern physics

| genre = Non-fiction

| publisher = {{plainlist|

• Academic Press, Boston

}}

| pub_date = November 1993

| pages = 539

| isbn = 0-12-498080-5

| media_type = {{hlist | Print | e-book}}

| italic title = force

| preceded_by =Lasers

| followed_by =Fast Light, Slow Light, and Left-Handed Light

}}

The Quantum Vacuum: An Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics is a physics textbook authored by Peter W. Milonni in 1993. The book provides a careful and thorough treatment of zero-point energy, spontaneous emission, the Casimir, van der Waals forces, Lamb shift and anomalous magnetic moment of the electron at a level of detail not found in other introductory texts to quantum electrodynamics{{Citation needed|date=April 2023|reason=Unless there is some kind of objective source for these claims, it reads as though it is puffery}}.

The first chapter, Zero‐Point Energy in Early Quantum Theory, was originally published in 1991 in the American Journal of Physics.

In 2008 Milonni received the Max Born Award "For exceptional contributions to the fields of theoretical optics, laser physics and quantum mechanics, and for dissemination of scientific knowledge through authorship of a series of outstanding books".