Calculation of the speed of light in the vacuum using electrodynamics to describe the interaction of a photon with the quantum vacuum

Abstract The authors first calculated the speed c of light in the vacuum in 2017 based on the fundamental postulate of physics that the properties of a physical system are determined by its structure. The appearance of vacuum fluctuations is the mechanism by which the quantum vacuum is manifest. Since c is an electromagnetic property of the quantum vacuum, it is possible to calculate c using Maxwell’s equations, quantum electrodynamics, and quantum mechanics to describe the interaction of a photon with vacuum fluctuations. The theoretical techniques used to calculate c automatically satisfy the second postulate of special relativity, both explaining why the postulate is true and obviating the need for the postulate. The calculation is simplified by noting that the average lifetime of a vacuum fluctuation is given by replacing the inequality in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle with an equality, avoiding considering the fact that vacuum fluctuations are each individual in character, with each fluctuation growing and regressing over a period of time unique to that fluctuation. The article begins with a discussion of the first method used to determine the speed of light in the vacuum and concludes with a brief discussion of an experiment that would use an intense laser beam to study a second-order interaction of photons with vacuum fluctuations.