Thermal Casimir effect in ideal metal rectangular boxes

The thermal Casimir effect in ideal metal rectangular boxes is considered using the method of zeta functional regularization. A renormalization procedure is suggested which provides the finite expression for the Casimir free energy in any restricted quantization volume. This expression satisfies the classical limit at high temperature and leads to zero thermal Casimir force for systems with infinite characteristic dimensions. In the case of two parallel ideal metal planes the results, as derived previously using thermal quantum field theory in Matsubara formulation and other methods, are reproduced starting from the expression obtained. It is shown that for rectangular boxes the temperature-dependent contribution to the electromagnetic Casimir force can be both positive and negative depending on side lengths. Numerical computations of the scalar and electromagnetic Casimir free energy and force are performed for cubes.     

An improved proximity force approximation for electrostatics

A quite straightforward approximation for the electrostatic interaction between two perfectly conducting surfaces suggests itself when the distance between them is much smaller than the characteristic lengths associated with their shapes. Indeed, in the so called “proximity force approximation” the electrostatic force is evaluated by first dividing each surface into a set of small flat patches, and then adding up the forces due two opposite pairs, the contributions of which are approximated as due to pairs of parallel planes. This approximation has been widely and successfully applied in different contexts, ranging from nuclear physics to Casimir effect calculations. We present here an improvement on this approximation, based on a derivative expansion for the electrostatic energy contained between the surfaces. The results obtained could be useful for discussing the geometric dependence of the electrostatic force, and also as a convenient benchmark for numerical analyses of the tip–sample electrostatic interaction in atomic force microscopes.     

The Casimir interaction of a massive vector field between concentric spherical bodies

The Casimir interaction energy due to the vacuum fluctuations of a massive vector field between two perfectly conducting concentric spherical bodies is computed. The TE contribution to the Casimir interaction energy is a direct generalization of the massless case but the TM contribution is much more complicated. Each TM mode is a linear combination of a transverse mode which is the generalization of a TM mode in the massless case and a longitudinal mode that does not appear in the massless case. In contrast to the case of two parallel perfectly conducting plates, there are no TM discrete modes that vanish identically in the perfectly conducting spherical bodies. Numerical simulations show that the Casimir interaction force between the two bodies is always attractive.     

Repulsive Casimir Force in a Cavity Comprising a Dielectric with Output Coupling

The Casimir force between a perfectly conducting wall and a dielectric wall in a cavity comprising a transparent dielectric with output coupling is investigated. By using full quantum theory, we obtain the analysis expression of the force, which shows that the interaction of the two walls in this system is always repulsive. And the value of the Casimir force varies with the field amplitude reflectivity and the cavity size.     

Repulsive Casimir Force in a Cavity Comprising a Dielectric with Output Coupling

The Casimir force between a perfectly conducting wall and a dielectric wall in a cavity comprising a transparent dielectric with output coupling is investigated. By using full quantum theory, we obtain the analysis expression of the force, which shows that the interaction of the two walls in this system is always repulsive. And the value of the Casimir force varies with the field amplitude reflectivity and the cavity size.     

Measurement of the Casimir force between a gold sphere and a silicon surface with nanoscale trench arrays

We report measurements of the Casimir force between a gold sphere and a silicon surface with an array of nanoscale, rectangular corrugations using a micromechanical torsional oscillator. At distances between 150 and 500 nm, the measured force shows significant deviations from the pairwise additive formulism, demonstrating the strong dependence of the Casimir force on the shape of the interacting bodies. The observed deviation, however, is smaller than the calculated values for perfectly conducting surfaces, possibly due to the interplay between finite conductivity and geometry effects.     

Attractive Casimir forces in a closed geometry

We study the Casimir force acting on a conducting piston with arbitrary cross section. We find the exact solution for a rectangular cross section and the first three terms in the asymptotic expansion for small height to width ratio when the cross section is arbitrary. Though weakened by the presence of the walls, the Casimir force turns out to be always attractive. Claims of repulsive Casimir forces for related configurations, like the cube, are invalidated by cutoff dependence.     

Radiative Corrections to Casimir Force of Maxwell-Chern-Simons Gauge Field

We discuss the two-loop radiative correction to the Casimir force ofMaxwell-Chern-Simons Abelian gaugefield between two parallel ideal conducting wires in terms of Feynman path integral method.     

Casimir force between metallic mirrors

We study the influence of finite conductivity of metals on the Casimir effect. We put the emphasis on explicit theoretical evaluations which can help comparing experimental results with theory. The reduction of the Casimir force is evaluated for plane metallic plates. The reduction of the Casimir energy in the same configuration is also calculated. It can be used to infer the reduction of the force in the plane-sphere geometry through the “proximity theorem”. Frequency dependent dielectric response functions of the metals are represented either by the simple plasma model or, more accurately, by using the optical data known for the metals used in recent experiments, that is Al, Au and Cu. In the two latter cases, the results obtained here differ significantly from those published recently. Received 30 July 1999     

有限温度下的Casimir效应

利用路径积分量子化方法,计算出两个平行的、理想的金属板之间,在有限温度下自由的量子电磁场和内部费米子单圈图对Casimir力的贡献.     

Radiative Corrections to Casimir Force of Maxwell-Chern-Simons Gauge Field

We discuss the two-loop radiative correction to the Casimir force of Maxwell Chern Simons Abelian gauge field between two parallel ideal conducting wires in terms of Feynman path integral method.     

Maxwell-Chern-Simons Casimir Force in Different Limits

We discuss the Casimir force of Maxwell-Chern-Simons Abelian gauge field in different limits between two parallel ideal conducting wires by using the Feynman path integral method.     

A theory of the Casimir effect for compact regions

We develop a mathematically precise framework for the Casimir effect. Our working hypothesis, verified in the case of parallel plates, is that only the regularization-independent Ramanujan sum of a given asymptotic series contributes to the Casimir pressure. As an illustration, we treat two cases: parallel plates, identifying a previous cutoff-free version (by Scharf and Wreszinski) as a special case, and the sphere. We finally discuss the open problem of the Casimir force for the cube. We propose an Ansatz for the exterior force and argue why it may provide the exact solution, as well as an explanation of the repulsive sign of the force. Received: 7 March 2002 / Revised version: 12 April 2002 / Published online: 14 June 2002     

Finite temperature Casimir effect in spacetime with extra compactified dimensions

In this Letter, we derive the explicit exact formulas for the finite temperature Casimir force acting on a pair of parallel plates in the presence of extra compactified dimensions within the framework of Kaluza–Klein theory. Using the piston analysis, we show that at any temperature, the Casimir force due to massless scalar field with Dirichlet boundary conditions on the plates is always attractive and the effect of extra dimensions becomes stronger when the size or number of the extra dimensions increases. These properties are not affected by the explicit geometry and topology of the Kaluza–Klein space.     

Spectrum Density Factor of Photons and Its Application in the Casimir Forc *

The observables of continuous eigenvalues are defined in an infinite-dimensional ket space. The complete set of such eigenstates demands a spectrum density factor, for example, for the photons in the free space and electrons in the vacuum. From the derivation of the Casimir force without an artificial regulator we determine the explicit expression of the spectrum density factor for the photon field to be an exponential function. The undetermined constant in the function is fixed by the experimental data for the Lamb shift. With that, we predict that there exists a correction to the Casimir force.     

Maxwell–Chern–Simons Casimir effect at finite temperature

We will apply the Feynman path integral method to discuss the Casimir force of Maxwell–Chern–Simons gauge field at finite temperature between two parallel ideal conducting wires.     

Spectrum Density Factor of Photons and Its Application in the Casimir Force

The observables of continuous eigenvalues are de?ned in an in?nite-dimensional ket space. The complete set of such eigenstates demands a spectrum density factor, for example, for the photons in the free space and electrons in the vacuum. From the derivation of the Casimir force without an arti?cial regulator we determine the explicit expression of the spectrum density factor for the photon ?eld to be an exponential function. The undetermined constant in the function is ?xed by the experimental data for the Lamb shift. With that, we predict that there exists a correction to the Casimir force.     

The Casimir atomic pendulum

We want to introduce an atomic pendulum whose driving force (torque) is due to the quantum vacuum fluctuations. Applying the well-known Casimir-Polder effect to a special configuration (a combined structure of an atomic nanostring and a conducting plate), an atomic pendulum (Casimir atomic pendulum) is designed. Using practically acceptable data corresponding to the already known world of nanotechnology and based on reasonable/reliable numerical estimates, the period of oscillation for the pendulum is computed. This pendulum can be considered as both a new micro(nano)-electromechanical system and a new simple vacuum machine. Its design may be considered as a first step towards realizing the visualized vacuum (Casimir) clock!     

卡西米尔力

量子电动力学中的卡西米尔力是真空零点能的体现.广义的卡西米尔力则依赖于涨落介质的类型广泛地出现于物理中,包括量子,临界,戈德斯通模,以及非平衡卡西米尔力.长程关联的涨落介质和约束是产生卡西米尔力的两个条件.本文通过回顾卡西米尔物理的发展,讨论了不同类型的卡西米尔力,几种正规化方法,并对卡西米尔物理的进一步发展做了展望.     

Finite-temperature Casimir effect in piston geometry and its classical limit

We consider the Casimir force acting on a d-dimensional rectangular piston due to a massless scalar field with periodic, Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions and an electromagnetic field with perfect electric-conductor and perfect magnetic-conductor boundary conditions. The Casimir energy in a rectangular cavity is derived using the cut-off method. It is shown that the divergent part of the Casimir energy does not contribute to the Casimir force acting on the piston, thus renders an unambiguously defined Casimir force acting on the piston. At any temperature, it is found that the Casimir force acting on the piston increases from −∞ to 0 when the separation a between the piston and the opposite wall increases from 0 to ∞. This implies that the Casimir force is always an attractive force pulling the piston towards the closer wall, and the magnitude of the force gets larger as the separation a gets smaller. Explicit exact expressions for the Casimir force for small and large plate separations and for low and high temperatures are computed. The limits of the Casimir force acting on the piston when some pairs of transversal plates are large are also derived. An interesting result regarding the influence of temperature is that in contrast to the conventional result that the leading term of the Casimir force acting on a wall of a rectangular cavity at high temperature is the Stefan–Boltzmann (or black-body radiation) term which is of order T ^d+1, it is found that the contributions of this term from the two regions separating the piston cancel with each other in the case of piston. The high-temperature leading-order term of the Casimir force acting on the piston is of order T, which shows that the Casimir force has a nontrivial classical ℏ→0 limit. Explicit formulas for the classical limit are computed.