Casimir effect with dielectric matter in salted water and implications at the cell scale
Quantum Physics
2026-04-23 v2 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Chemical Physics
Optics
Abstract
The Casimir interaction in salted water contains a universal contribution of electromagnetic fluctuations that makes it of a longer range than previously thought. The universal contribution dominates non universal ones at the distances relevant for actin fibers inside the cell. We discuss universal and non-universal contributions with a model mimicking biological matter. We also show that the universal Casimir effect should have important implications at the cell scale.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.09020,
title = {Casimir effect with dielectric matter in salted water and implications at the cell scale},
author = {Larissa Inácio and Felipe S. S. Rosa and Astrid Lambrecht and Paulo A. Maia Neto and Serge Reynaud},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.09020},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
13 pages, 9 figures