But we observe a particle horizon that seems to violate the conservation of energy, the particle popping in and then out cancels, so the net effect of the fluctuation must somehow be expansion of empty space to balance the expansion of empty space, right?
I think I understand what you are saying, and you are most certainly probably correct. :)
Suppose I have a sealed container filled with water, if I magically insert a ball into the water wouldn't the container expand, and wouldn't the container remain expanded when the ball is magically removed...
I'm sure I'm persistently annoying ha ha, but if a particle poofs into existence in empty space and poofs back out again, doesn't that leave more empty space behind resulting in expansion? The more empty the space the greater the expansion, the more the expansion the more empty space, and so on...
If you could, would you be content with only doing the mildly abnormal things like walking on water, turning water into wine, healing the sick, raising the dead... Where would you stop or would you?