Dynamics Underlying the Gaussian Distribution of the Classical Harmonic Oscillator in Zero-Point Radiation
Figure 12
A comparison between the harmonic oscillators with and without the vacuum field. Top: compared to Figure 1, it is clear from this figure that the SED harmonic oscillator undergoes an oscillatory motion with modulating oscillation amplitude. The oscillation amplitude modulates at the time scale of coherence time and is responsible for the resulting Gaussian probability distribution. Bottom: in the absence of the vacuum field or any external drive, a harmonic oscillator that is initially displaced from equilibrium performs a simple harmonic oscillation with constant oscillation amplitude. The resulting probability distribution has peaks at the two turning points.
