The Dirichlet Casimir Problem

Details The Dirichlet Casimir Problem The Dirichlet Casimir Problem

2003-09-12

arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0309130v1

Nucl.Phys.B677:379-404,2004

Physics

High Energy Physics

High Energy Physics - Theory

29 pages, 4 figures

Scientific paper

10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2003.11.001

Casimir forces are conventionally computed by analyzing the effects of boundary conditions on a fluctuating quantum field. Although this analysis provides a clean and calculationally tractable idealization, it does not always accurately capture the characteristics of real materials, which cannot constrain the modes of the fluctuating field at all energies. We study the vacuum polarization energy of renormalizable, continuum quantum field theory in the presence of a background field, designed to impose a Dirichlet boundary condition in a particular limit. We show that in two and three space dimensions, as a background field becomes concentrated on the surface on which the Dirichlet boundary condition would eventually hold, the Casimir energy diverges. This result implies that the energy depends in detail on the properties of the material, which are not captured by the idealized boundary conditions. This divergence does not affect the force between rigid bodies, but it does invalidate calculations of Casimir stresses based on idealized boundary conditions.

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