Is it possible that macroscopic structures spontaneously appear inside the quantum vacuum?

Question

I can't remember where I've read it (I think it was in a popular book by Brian Greene) but it was written that there is a chance that a cola bottle can appear from nothing due to quantum fluctuations. The chance is very small though, to say the least. Now I'm not sure if the bottle lasted for a long time. I think that this was not supposed, as the book was written by a renowned theoretical physicist. And he should know that even a real, lasting electron can't appear from the vacuum if no energy is added. But is it possible that a virtual cola bottle configuration of elementary particles is there for a very short while? I can't imagine this, though I can imagine that a proton or an atomic nucleus can appear as a "coherent" quantum fluctuation.
The existence of a Planck time probably prohibits this, but if we don't take that into account, is it possible?

In other words, can we see short-lived appearances of whatever macroscopic object inside the quantum vacuum? By shortlived, I mean the minimum time required for an elementary particle-antiparticle to appear. Can't you always "see" (you caný actually see virtual particles but by adding energy they can be made real) macroscopic structures in the vacuum?

Answer 1

It is true that quantum particles are constantly winking in and out of existence on extremely short time scales. But for an entire coke bottle to spontaneously appear as a "quantum fluctuation" like this requires the simultaneous appearance of ~10^23 atoms, each consisting of protons, neutrons and electrons in just the right amounts and in exactly the right locations to "add up to" a red-and-white painted glass bottle full of refreshing beverage.

The chances of this happening within the lifetime of the universe are small beyond imagination- I'll ask the professionals here to suggest an estimate of the odds- but in the meantime, consider this:

Imagine all the different ways in which a coke bottle-like object could possible manifest itself, and decidedly not be a coke bottle. It could be made not out of glass but out of osmium with just a taste of platinum: no cigar. It could contain type AB negative blood instead of sugar water: nope, sorry, no cigar. It could be made out of any possible combination of atoms an all possible proportions and still not be a coke bottle. Or it could be a coke bottle full of refreshing beverage but with the artwork in green and black instead of red and white- no cigar. Lettering backwards? Wrong again, no cigar. And so on.

There are, therefore, a nearly infinite number of ways for quantum fluctuations to add up to something that is not a coke bottle. The odds of everything coming out just right are therefore ~1/(a nearly infinite number).

So don't hold you breath or stand on one foot while waiting for that bottle of refreshing beverage to materialize out of the void.