English

Casimir Forces: An Exact Approach for Periodically Deformed Objects

Statistical Mechanics 2010-12-17 v1 High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics

Abstract

A novel approach for calculating Casimir forces between periodically deformed objects is developed. This approach allows, for the first time, a rigorous non-perturbative treatment of the Casimir effect for disconnected objects beyond Casimir's original two-plate configuration. The approach takes into account the collective nature of fluctuation induced forces, going beyond the commonly used pairwise summation of two-body van der Waals forces. As an application of the method, we exactly calculate the Casimir force due to scalar field fluctuations between a flat and a rectangular corrugated plate. In the latter case, the force is found to be always attractive.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0206585,
  title  = {Casimir Forces: An Exact Approach for Periodically Deformed Objects},
  author = {Thorsten Emig},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0206585},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

4 pages, 3 figures