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extremely weak signals, such as are predicted to arise from gravitational waves or the cosmic axion background.

And in the subatomic realm, spontaneous activity of fields becomes all-important. Spontaneous fluctuations in gluon fields buffet quarks about. Virtual gluons drastically alter the motion of quarks, and causes them, in normal conditions, to bind together into protons and neutrons.

Our eyes were not evolved to resolve the tiny times— 10-24 seconds—and distances— 10-14 centimeters—where the action occurs. But we can “look” inside computer calculations, to see what gluon fields are up to. (The calculations have many consequences we can check, so this fantasy is tightly controlled!) To nimbler eyes, space would appear as a self-powered ultrastrobosocopicmicronano lava lamp, of which Figure 1 is a much-magnified snapshot. Creatures with such eyes wouldn’t share the human illusion that space is empty.

Not only gluons and quarks, but all forms of matter, in their virtual form, come to be and pass away everywhere and every when. When energy is fed into space, virtual particles become real. They are like magma beneath the surface, ready to erupt if allowed an outlet. In this sense, the cosmic effervescence is the primary reality, from which particles are born.