We revisit the path integral computation of the Casimir energy between two infinite parallel plates placed in a QED vacuum. We implement perfectly magnetic conductor boundary conditions (as a prelude to the dual superconductor picture of the QCD vacuum) via constraint fields and show how an effective gauge theory can be constructed for the constraint boundary fields, from which the Casimir energy can be simply computed, in perfect agreement with the usual more involved approaches. Gauge invariance is natural in this framework, as well as the generalization of the result to $d$ dimensions. We also pay attention to the case where the outside of the plates is not the vacuum, but a perfect magnetic (super)conductor, disallowing any dynamics outside the plates. We find perfect agreement between both setups.
In this paper, we investigate one-loop radiative corrections to the Casimir energy in the presence of two perfectly conducting parallel plates for QED theory within the renormalized perturbation theory. In fact, there are three contributions for radiative corrections to the Casimir energy, up to order $α$. Only the two-loop diagram, which is of order $α$, has been computed by Bordag et. al (1985), approximately. Here, up to this order, we consider corrections due to two one-loop terms, i.e., photonic and fermionic loop corrections resulting from renormalized QED Lagrangian, more precisely. Our…
By the thermofield dynamics (TFD) formalism we obtain the energy-momentum tensor for the Electromagnetism with Lorentz Breaking Even term of the Standard Model Extended (SME) Sector in a topology $S^{1}\times S^{1}\times R^{2}$. We carry out the compactification by a generalized TFD-Bogoliubov transformation that is used to define a renormalized energy-momentum tensor, and the Casimir energy and pressure at finite temperature are then derived. A comparative analysis with the electromagnetic case is developed, and we remark the influence of the background in the traditional Casimir effect.
A transformation that relates the Minkowskian space of the Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) vacuum between parallel conducting plates and the QED vacuum at finite temperature is obtained. From this formal analogy,the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the photon self-energy for the QED vacuum between parallel conducting plates (Casimir vacuum) are found in an approximation independent form. It leads to two different physical eigenvalues and three eigenmodes. We also apply the transformation to derive the low energy photons phase velocity in the Casimir vacuum from its expression in the QED vacuum at…
We propose a generalization of the superconducting circuit simulation of the dynamical Casimir effect where we consider relativistically moving boundary conditions following different trajectories. We study the feasibility of the setup used in the past to simulate the dynamical Casimir effect to reproduce richer relativistic trajectories differing from purely sinusoidal ones. We show how different relativistic oscillatory trajectories of the boundaries of the same period and similar shape produce a rather different spectrum of particles characteristic of their respective motions.
The Casimir force between two short-range charge sources, embedded in a background of one dimensional massive Dirac fermions, is explored by means of the original $\ln\text{[Wronskian]}$ contour integration techniques. For identical sources with the same (positive) charge, we find that in the non-perturbative region the Casimir interaction between them can reach sufficiently large negative values and simultaneously reveal the features of a long-range force in spite of nonzero fermion mass, that could significantly influence the properties of such quasi-one-dimensional QED systems. For large di…
We investigate the Casimir effect at finite temperature for a charged scalar field in the presence of an external uniform and constant magnetic field, perpendicular to the Casimir plates. We have used a boundary condition characterized by a deformation parameter $θ$; for $θ=0$ we have a periodic condition and for $θ=π$, an antiperiodic one, for intermediate values, we have a deformation. The temperature was introduced using the imaginary time formalism and both the lagrangian and free energy were obtained from Schwinger proper time method for computing the effective action. We also computed th…
We consider the problem of modeling of interaction of thin material films with fields of quantum electrodynamics. Taking into account the basic principles of quantum electrodynamics (locality, gauge invariance, renormalizability) we construct a single model for Casimir-like phenomena arising near the film boundary on distances much larger then Compton wavelength of the electron. In this region contribution of Dirac fields fluctuations are not essential and can be neglected. In the model the film is presented by a singular background field concentrated on a 2-dimensional surface and interacting…
Following the derivation of the Green function for the massless scalar field satisfying the Dirichlet boundary condition on the Plane (x > 0, y = 0), we calculate the Casimir energy.
The Casimir effect for parallel plates satisfying the Dirichlet boundary condition in the context of effective QED coming from a six-dimensional Nielsen-Olesen vortex solution of the Abelian Higgs model with fermions coupled to gravity is studied at finite temperature. We find that the sign of the Casimir energy remains negative under the thermal influence. It is also shown that the Casimir force between plates will be weaker in the higher-temperature surroundings while keeps attractive. This Casimir effect involving the thermal influence is still inconsistent with the known experiments. We fi…
The Casimir effect giving rise to an attractive or repulsive force between the configuration boundaries that confine the massless scalar field is reexamined for one to three-dimensional pistons in this paper. Especially, we consider Casimir pistons with hybrid boundary conditions, where the boundary condition on the piston is Neumann and those on other surfaces are Dirichlet. We show that the Casimir force on the piston is always repulsive, in contrast with the same problem where the boundary conditions are Dirichlet on all surfaces.
We perform the matching required to compute the leading effective boundary contribution to the QED lagrangian in the presence of a conducting surface, once the electron is integrated out. Our result resolves a confusion in the literature concerning the interpretation of the leading such correction to the Casimir energy. It also provides a useful theoretical laboratory for brane-world calculations in which kinetic terms are generated on the brane, since a lot is known about QED near boundaries.
This paper investigates the Casimir Energy modifications due to the Lorentz-violating CPT-even contribution in an extension of the scalar QED. We have considered the complex scalar field satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions between two parallel plates separated by a small distance. An appropriate tensor parametrization allowed us to study the Casimir effect in three setups: isotropic, anisotropic parity-odd, and anisotropic parity-even. We have shown that the Lorentz-violating contributions promote increased Casimir energy for both the isotropic and anisotropic parity-odd configurations. H…
The stress tensor of a massless scalar field satisfying Robin boundary conditions on two one-dimensional wall in two-dimensional Schwarzschild background is calculated. We show that vacuum expectation value of stress tensor can be obtained explicitly by Casimir effect, trace anomaly and Hawking radiation.
The leading radiative correction to the Casimir energy for two parallel penetrable mirrors is calculated within QED perturbation theory. It is found to be of the order $α$ like the known radiative correction for ideally reflecting mirrors from which it differs only by a monotonic, powerlike function of the frequency at which the mirrors become transparent. This shows that the $O(α^2)$ radiative correction calculated recently by Kong and Ravndal for ideally reflecting mirrors on the basis of effective field theory methods remains subleading even for the physical case of penetrable mirrors.
In this paper, the finite temperature Casimir force acting on a two-dimensional Casimir piston due to electromagnetic field is computed. It was found that if mixed boundary conditions are assumed on the piston and its opposite wall, then the Casimir force always tends to restore the piston towards the equilibrium position, regardless of the boundary conditions assumed on the walls transverse to the piston. In contrary, if pure boundary conditions are assumed on the piston and the opposite wall, then the Casimir force always tend to pull the piston towards the closer wall and away from the equi…
This work focuses on the analysis of the Casimir effect for pistons subject to transmittal boundary conditions. In particular we consider, as piston configuration, a direct product manifold of the type $I\times N$ where $I$ is a closed interval of the real line and $N$ is a smooth compact Riemannian manifold. By utilizing the spectral zeta function regularization technique, we compute the Casimir energy of the system and the Casimir force acting on the piston. Explicit results for the force are provided when the manifold $N$ is a $d$-dimensional ball.
Casimir energy changes are investigated for geometries obtained by small but arbitrary deformations of a given geometry for which the vacuum energy is already known for the massless scalar field. As a specific case, deformation of a spherical shell is studied. From the deformation of the sphere we show that the Casimir energy is a decreasing function of the surface to volume ratio. The decreasing rate is higher for less smooth deformations.
We compute the first radiative correction to the Casimir energy in the $(d+1)$-dimensional $λ|ϕ|^{4}$ model submitted to quasi-periodic boundary conditions in one spatial direction. Our results agree with the ones found in the literature for periodic and anti-periodic boundary conditions, special cases of the quasi-periodic boundary conditions.
In this paper we compute the Casimir energy and force for massless scalar fields endowed with hybrid boundary conditions, in the setting of the bounded generalized cone. By using spectral zeta function regularization methods, we obtain explicit expressions for the Casimir energy and force in arbitrary dimensions in terms of the zeta function defined on the piston. Our general formulas are, subsequently, specialized to the case in which the piston is modelled by a $d$-dimensional sphere. In this particular situation, explicit results are given for $d=2,3,4,5$.
We employ path integral methods to calculate the Casimir energy and force densities in a chiral extension of QED. Manifestly gauge invariant perfect electromagnetic boundary conditions, a natural generalization of perfect electric and perfect magnetic conditions, are implemented directly in the action by the usage of auxiliary fields. The chiral properties of the vacuum are modelled using a background $θ$ field, and we introduce techniques to efficiently calculate the path integral in this chiral medium. The flexibility of our method allows us to naturally obtain results for a variety of confi…
This paper studies the finite temperature Casimir force acting on a rectangular piston associated with a massless fractional Klein-Gordon field at finite temperature. Dirichlet boundary conditions are imposed on the walls of a $d$-dimensional rectangular cavity, and a fractional Neumann condition is imposed on the piston that moves freely inside the cavity. The fractional Neumann condition gives an interpolation between the Dirichlet and Neumann conditions, where the Casimir force is known to be always attractive and always repulsive respectively. For the fractional Neumann boundary condition,…
In this article we consider the Casimir energy and force of massless Majorana fermions and vector bosons between parallel plates. The vector bosons satisfy perfect electric conductor boundary conditions while the Majorana fermions satisfy bag and chiral boundary conditions. We consider various piston configurations containing one vector boson and one fermion. We present a new regularization mechanism the piston offers. In our case regularization occurs explicitly at the Casimir energy density and not at the Casimir force level, as in usual pistons. We make use of boundary broken supersymmetry …
In this article, we study the finite temperature Casimir effect for scalar field with Robin boundary conditions on two parallel plates in a background spacetime that has a compact internal manifold with arbitrary geometry. The finite temperature Casimir force acting on the plates is derived using the piston approach, with which we show that the divergences of the Casimir forces from the region between the plates and the region outside the plates cancel each other. The nature and asymptotic behaviors of the Casimir force at different limits such as small and large plate separation, low and high…
We calculate the Casimir energy for scalar fields in interaction with finite-width mirrors, described by nonlocal interaction terms. These terms, which include quantum effects due to the matter fields inside the mirrors, are approximated by means of a local expansion procedure. As a result of this expansion, an effective theory for the vacuum field emerges, which can be written in terms of generalized $δ$-potentials. We compute explicitly the Casimir energy for these potentials and show that, for some particular cases, it is possible to reinterpret them as imposing imperfect Dirichlet boundary…
We consider the vacuum energy for a scalar field subject to a frequency dependent boundary condition. The effect of a frequency cut-off is described in terms of an {\it incomplete} $ζ$-function. The use of the Debye asymptotic expansion for Bessel functions allows to determine the dominant (volume, area, >...) terms in the Casimir energy. The possible interest of this kind of models for dielectric media (and its application to sonoluminescence) is also discussed.
We consider a massless scalar field in 1+1 dimensions that satisfies a Robin boundary condition at a non-relativistic moving boundary. Using the perturbative approach introduced by Ford and Vilenkin, we compute the total force on the moving boundary. In contrast to what happens for the Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, in addition to a dissipative part, the force acquires also a dispersive one. Further, we also show that with an appropriate choice for the mechanical frequency of the moving boundary it is possible to turn off the vacuum dissipation almost completely.
The local Casimir energy is investigated for a wedge with and without a circular outer boundary due to the confinement of a massless scalar field with general curvature coupling parameter and satisfying the Dirichlet boundary conditions. Regularization procedure is carried out making use of a variant of the generalized Abel-Plana formula, previously established by one of the authors. The surface divergences in the vacuum expectation values of the energy density near the boundaries are considered. The corresponding results can be applied to the cosmic strings.
We consider the photon field between an unusual configuration of infinite parallel plates: a perfectly conducting plate $(ε\to\infty)$ and an infinitely permeable one $μ\to\infty)$. After quantizing the vector potential in the Coulomb gauge, we obtain explicit expressions for the vacuum expectation values of field operators of the form $<{\hat E}_i{\hat E}_j>_0$ and $<{\hat B}_i{\hat B}_j>_0$. These field correlators allow us to reobtain the Casimir effect for this set up and to discuss the light velocity shift caused by the presence of plates (Scharnhorst effect \cite{Scharnhorst,Barton,BarSc…
The consistency of quantum field theories defined on domains with external borders imposes very restrictive constraints on the type of boundary conditions that the fields can satisfy. We analyse the global geometrical and topological properties of the space of all possible boundary conditions for scalar quantum field theories. The variation of the Casimir energy under the change of boundary conditions reveals the existence of singularities generically associated to boundary conditions which either involve topology changes of the underlying physical space or edge states with unbounded below cla…
RG flow of central charge $c_{\rm eff}$ is investigated for the two boundary sine-Gordon model at the free Fermi limit. Thermodynamic Bethe ansatz approach is used to check the non-monotonic decreasing properties of $c_{\rm eff}$, its resonance, and the modification of $c_{\rm eff}$ due to the mismatch of the periodicity of a Lagrangian parameter and that of the boundary scattering parameter. The detailed analysis uses the singularity structure of the system on the complex rapidity plane.
We show that if one chooses the Einstein Static Universe as the metric on the conformal boundary of Kerr-AdS spacetime, then the Casimir energy of the boundary conformal field theory can easily be determined. The result is independent of the rotation parameters, and the total boundary energy then straightforwardly obeys the first law of thermodynamics. Other choices for the metric on the conformal boundary will give different, more complicated, results. As an application, we calculate the Casimir energy for free self-dual tensor multiplets in six dimensions, and compare it with that of the sev…
We derive a general expression for the Casimir energy corresponding to two flat parallel mirrors in d+1 dimensions, described by nonlocal interaction potentials. For a real scalar field, the interaction with the mirrors is implemented by a term which is a quadratic form in the field, with a nonlocal kernel. The resulting expression for the energy is a function of the parameters that define the nonlocal kernel. We show that the general expression has the correct limit in the zero width case, and also present the exact solution for a particular case.
We study quantum effects due to a Dirac field in 2+1 dimensions, confined to a spatial region with a non-trivial boundary, and minimally coupled to an Abelian gauge field. To that end, we apply a path-integral representation, which is applied to the evaluation of the Casimir energy and to the study of the contribution of the boundary modes to the effective action when an external gauge field is present. We also implement a large-mass expansion, deriving results which are, in principle, valid for any geometry. We compare them with their counterparts obtained from the large-mass `bosonized' effe…
We discuss corrections to the Casimir effect at finite temperature and effective field theory. Recently, it has been shown that effective field theories can reproduce radiative corrections to the Casimir energy calculated in full QED. We apply effective field theory methods at finite temperature and reproduce the Casimir free energy. We show that the system undergoes dimensional reduction at high temperature and that it can be described by an effective three-dimensional field theory.
In the present study, the first-order radiative correction to the Casimir energy for massive and massless scalar fields confined with mixed boundary conditions (Dirichlet-Neumann) between two points in ϕ^4 theory was computed. Two issues in performing the calculations in this work are essential: to renormalize the bare parameters of the problem, a systematic method was employed, allowing all influences from the boundary conditions to be imported in all elements of the renormalization program. This idea yields our counterterms appeared in the renormalization program to be position-dependent. Us…
In the present study, the zeroth- and first-order radiative correction of the Casimir energy for massive and massless scalar fields, confined with mixed boundary conditions (Dirichlet- Neumann) between two parallel plates in $ϕ^4$ theory, were computed. Two issues in performing calculations in this work are essential: first, to renormalize the bare parameters of the problem, a systematic method was used, which allows all influences from the boundary conditions to be imported in all elements of the renormalization program. This idea yields our counterterms appearing in the renormalization progr…
We consider the finite temperature Casimir effect of a massive fermionic field confined between two parallel plates, with MIT bag boundary conditions on the plates. The background spacetime is $M^{p+1}\times T^q$ which has $q$ dimensions compactified to a torus. On the compact dimensions, the field is assumed to satisfy periodicity boundary conditions with arbitrary phases. Both the high temperature and the low temperature expansions of the Casimir free energy and the force are derived explicitly. It is found that the Casimir force acting on the plates is always attractive at any temperature r…
In the present study, the zero- and first-order radiative correction to the Casimir energy for the massive and massless scalar field confined with mixed (Neumann-Dirichlet) boundary condition between two parallel lines in 2+1 dimensions for the self-interacting $ϕ^4$ theory was computed. The main point in this study is the use of a special program to renormalize the bare parameters of the Lagrangian. The counterterm used in the renormalization program, which was obtained systematically position-dependent, is consistent with the boundary condition imposed on the quantum field. To regularize and…
In this work we show how to define the action of a scalar field in a such a way that Robin boundary condition is implemented dynamically, i.e., as a consequence of the stationary action principle. We discuss the quantization of that system via functional integration. Using this formalism, we derive an expression for the Casimir energy of a massless scalar field under Robin boundary conditions on a pair of parallel plates, characterized by constants $c_1$ and $c_2$. Some special cases are discussed; in particular, we show that for some values of $c_1$ and $c_2$ the Casimir energy as a function …
The Casimir effect has been studied for various quantum fields in both flat and curved spacetimes. As a further step along this line, we provide an explicit derivation of Casimir effect for massless spin-3/2 field with periodic boundary condition imposed in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. The corresponding results with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions are also discussed.
We consider an open string with ends laying on the two different solid beams (rods). This set-up is equivalent to two scalar fields with a set of constraints at their end-points. We calculate the zero-point energy and the Casimir energy in three different ways: (1) by use of the Hurwitz zeta function, (2) by employing the contour integration method in the complex frequency plane, and (3) by constructing the Green's function for the system. In the case of contour integration we also present a finite temperature expression for the Casimir energy, along with a convenient analytic approximation fo…
We use the worldline numerics technique to study a cylindrically symmetric model of magnetic flux tubes in a dense lattice and the non-local Casimir forces acting between regions of magnetic flux. Within a superconductor the magnetic field is constrained within magnetic flux tubes and if the background magnetic field is on the order the quantum critical field strength, $B_k = \frac{m^2}{e} = 4.4 \times 10^{13}$ Gauss, the magnetic field is likely to vary rapidly on the scales where \acs{QED} effects are important. In this paper, we construct a cylindrically symmetric toy model of a flux tube l…
This paper studies the Casimir effect due to fractional massless Klein-Gordon field confined to parallel plates. A new kind of boundary condition called fractional Neumann condition which involves vanishing fractional derivatives of the field is introduced. The fractional Neumann condition allows the interpolation of Dirichlet and Neumann conditions imposed on the two plates. There exists a transition value in the difference between the orders of the fractional Neumann conditions for which the Casimir force changes from attractive to repulsive. Low and high temperature limits of Casimir energy…
Non-local boundary conditions have been considered in theoretical high-energy physics with emphasis on one-loop quantum cosmology, one-loop conformal anomalies, Bose-Einstein condensation models and spectral branes. We have therefore studied the Wightman function, the vacuum expectation value of the field square and the energy-momentum tensor for a massive scalar field satisfying non-local boundary conditions on a single and two parallel plates. Interestingly, we find that suitable choices of the kernel in the non-local boundary conditions lead to forces acting on the plates that can be repuls…
The Casimir forces on two parallel plates in conformally flat domain wall background due to conformally coupled massless scalar field satisfying mixed boundary conditions on the plates is investigated. In the general case of mixed boundary conditions formulae are derived for the vacuum expectation values of the energy-momentum tensor and vacuum forces acting on boundaries.
Vacuum expectation values of the energy-momentum tensor and the Casimir forces are evaluated for scalar and electromagnetic fields in the geometry of two curved boundaries on background of the Robertson-Walker spacetime with negative spatial curvature. Robin boundary conditions are imposed in the case of the scalar field and perfect conductor boundary conditions are assumed for the electromagnetic field. We use the conformal relation between the Robertson-Walker and Rindler spacetimes and the corresponding results for two parallel plates moving with uniform proper acceleration through the Full…
We use the generalized Chowla-Selberg formula to consider the Casimir effect of a scalar field with a helix torus boundary condition in the flat ($D+1$)-dimensional spacetime. We obtain the exact results of the Casimir energy density and pressure for any $D$ for both massless and massive scalar fields. The numerical calculation indicates that once the topology of spacetime is fixed, the ratio of the sizes of the helix will be a decisive factor. There is a critical value $r_{crit}$ of the ratio $r$ of the lengths at which the pressure vanishes. The pressure changes from negative to positive as …
Eigenmodes of electromagnetic field with perfectly conducting or infinitely permeable conditions on the boundary of a D-dimensional spherically symmetric cavity is derived explicitly. It is shown that there are (D-2) polarizations for TE modes and one polarization for TM modes, giving rise to a total of (D-1) polarizations. In case of a D-dimensional ball, the eigenfrequencies of electromagnetic field with perfectly conducting boundary condition coincides with the eigenfrequencies of gauge one-forms with relative boundary condition; whereas the eigenfrequencies of electromagnetic field with in…
In this work I study the Casimir effect of a massive complex scalar field in the presence of one large compactified extra dimension. I investigate the case of a scalar field confined between two parallel plates in the macroscopic three dimensions, and examine the cases of Dirichlet and mixed (Dirichlet-Neumann) boundary conditions on the plates. The case of Neumann boundary conditions is uninteresting, since it yields the same result as the case of Dirichlet boundary conditions. The scalar field also permeates a fourth compactified dimension of a size that could be comparable to the distance b…
The electromagnetic Casimir energies of a spherical and a cylindrical cavity are analyzed semiclassically. The field theoretical self-stress of a spherical cavity with ideal metallic boundary conditions is reproduced to better than 1%. The subtractions in this case are unambiguous and the good agreement is interpreted as evidence that finite contributions from the exterior of the cavity are small. The semiclassical electromagnetic Casimir energy of a cylindrical cavity on the other hand vanishes to any order in the real reflection coefficients. The Casimir energy of a cylindrical cavity with a…
QED vacua under the influence of external conditions (background fields, finite temperature, boundary conditions) can be considered as dispersive media whose complex behaviour can no longer be described in terms of a single universal vacuum velocity of light c. Beginning in the early 1950's (J.S. Toll), quantum field theoretic investigations have led to considerable insight into the relation between the vacuum structure and the propagation of light. Recent years have witnessed a significant growth of activity in this field of research. After a short overview, two characteristic situations are …
In this paper we consider a Lorentz-breaking extension of the theory for a real massive scalar quantum field in the region between two large parallel plates, with our manner to break the Lorentz symmetry is CPT-even, aether-like. For this system we calculated the Casimir energy considering different boundary conditions. It turns out to be that the Casimir energy strongly depends on the direction of the constant vector implementing the Lorentz symmetry breaking, as well as on the boundary conditions.
We compute the finite temperature Casimir energy for massive scalar field with general curvature coupling subject to Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions on the walls of a closed cylinder with arbitrary cross section, located in a background spacetime of the form $M^{d_1+1}\times \mathcal{N}^n$, where $M^{d_1+1}$ is the $(d_1+1)$-dimensional Minkowski spacetime and $\mathcal{N}^n$ is an $n$-dimensional internal manifold. The Casimir energy is regularized using the criteria that it should vanish in the infinite mass limit. The Casimir force acting on a piston moving freely inside the closed…
We study the Casimir effect for parallel plates with massless Majorana fermions obeying the bag boundary conditions at finite temperature. The thermal influence will modify the effect. It is found that the sign of the Casimir energy keeps negative if the product of plate distance and the temperature is larger than a special value or the energy will change to be positive. The Casimir energy rises with the stronger thermal influence. We show that the attractive Casimir force between two parallel plates becomes greater with the increasing temperature. In the case of piston system involving the sa…
