In quantum field theory, the quantum vacuum state (also called the quantum vacuum or vacuum state) is the quantum state with the lowest possible energy. Generally, it contains no physical particles. However, the quantum vacuum is not a simple empty space, but instead contains fleeting electromagnetic waves and particles that pop into and out of the quantum field.
The QED vacuum of quantum electrodynamics (or QED) was the first vacuum of quantum field theory to be developed. QED originated in the 1930s, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it was reformulated by Feynman, Tomonaga, and Schwinger, who jointly received the Nobel prize for this work in 1965. Today, the electromagnetic interactions and the weak interactions are unified (at very high energies only) in the theory of the electroweak interaction.