Virtual particles as propellant
I've read that even in a "perfect" vacuum, matter exists in the form of virtual particles that spontaneously pop into existence only to be immediately annihilated. This suggests to me that it might be possible to use these particles during their short existence as a propellant by accelerating them before they annihilate. Problem is, this seems to violate the conservation of momentum because the virtual particles would immediately cease to exist after their mass is accelerated to create momentum.
My question is this: what would be necessary in order to get around the conservation of momentum issue here?
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