Different Ways of Looking at the Electromagnetic Vacuum

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Abstract
Some thoughts on the electromagnetic vacuum are presented in connection with the vacuum and source fields as alternative physical bases for understanding spontaneous emission, the Lamb shift, Casimir effects, van der Waals forces, and the "thermalization" of vacuum fluctuations for a uniformly accelerated observer. `And sometimes it seemed that something never yet seen yet long desired was about to happen, that a veil would drop from it all; but then it passed, nothing happened, the riddle remained unsolved, the secret spell unbroken... and still one knew nothing perhaps, was still waiting and listening.' Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund