Abstract
At frequencies far below the electron mass, the well-established Euler-Heisenberg interaction assigns to the vacuum an intensity-proportional and nondispersive refractive index. But (as known from the Casimir effect) the intensity of the zero-point field between parallel mirrors is less than in unbounded space, which for light normal to the mirrors entails a refractive index n<1, and speed c/ n> c, as Scharnhorst has recently found by other arguments. Conversely, ordinary black-body radiation has n>1. The effects are too small by many orders of magnitude to be measured, but appear fascinating as matters of principle.
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