# How the quantum vacuum perturbs atoms, could shrink black holes and may have helped form galaxies

- Source: Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories
- Published: 2026-10-29T21:30:05+00:00
- Category: Science
- Original: https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-vacuum-perturbs-atoms-black.html
- Canonical: https://groundlevelnews.com/story/how-the-quantum-vacuum-perturbs-atoms-could-shrink-black-holes-and-may-d25215/

The word "vacuum" may conjure the image of empty space. Maybe you think of a region far outside the solar system without planets, debris, gas clouds or light. According to quantum theory, however, a vacuum is never truly empty. Quantum mechanics extends the Heisenberg uncertainty principle—which states that we cannot measure the position and the velocity of an object exactly at the same time—to a

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