Casimir stress in an inhomogeneous medium

DOI10.1016/J.AOP.2009.11.006MaRDI QIDQ2379284zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Yanyan Li

Publication date 19 March 2010

Published in Annals of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0909.2998

zbMATH Keywords

Casimir effectinhomogeneous mediaLifshitz theoryquantum vacuum

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Casimir effect in quantum field theory (81T55)

Abstract: The Casimir effect in an inhomogeneous dielectric is investigated using Lifshitz's theory of electromagnetic vacuum energy. A permittivity function that depends continuously on one Cartesian coordinate is chosen, bounded on each side by homogeneous dielectrics. The result for the Casimir stress is infinite everywhere inside the inhomogeneous region, a divergence that does not occur for piece-wise homogeneous dielectrics with planar boundaries. A Casimir force per unit volume can be extracted from the infinite stress but it diverges on the boundaries between the inhomogeneous medium and the homogeneous dielectrics. An alternative regularization of the vacuum stress is considered that removes the contribution of the inhomogeneity over small distances, where macroscopic electromagnetism is invalid. The alternative regularization yields a finite Casimir stress inside the inhomogeneous region, but the stress and force per unit volume diverge on the boundaries with the homogeneous dielectrics. The case of inhomogeneous dielectrics with planar boundaries thus falls outside the current understanding of the Casimir effect.

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Cited in

(9)

• Casimir self-stress in a dielectric sphere
• Towards the Calculation of Casimir Forces for Inhomogeneous Planar Media
• On the computation of Casimir stresses in open media and Lifshitz theory
• Canonical quantization of electromagnetism in spatially dispersive media
• The Casimir Energy of a Medium Containing a Permittivity Gradient
• Casimir effect from macroscopic quantum electrodynamics
• Towards the calculation of Casimir forces for inhomogeneous planar media
• Aspects of quantum energy and stress in inhomogeneous unbounded dielectric continua
• Casimir effect modified surface energy of a nanocavity in homogeneous media

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