Related papers: Is the Casimir effect relevant to sonoluminescence…
We show that the Casimir, or zero-point, energy of a dilute dielectric ball, or of a spherical bubble in a dielectric medium, coincides with the sum of the van der Waals energies between the molecules that make up the medium. That energy,…
The Casimir energy of a solid ball placed in an infinite medium is calculated by a direct frequency summation using the contour integration. It is assumed that the permittivity and permeability of the ball and medium satisfy the condition…
In the final few years of his life, Julian Schwinger proposed that the ``dynamical Casimir effect'' might provide the driving force behind the puzzling phenomenon of sonoluminescence. Motivated by that exciting suggestion, we have computed…
In the final few years of his life, Julian Schwinger proposed that the ``dynamical Casimir effect'' might provide the driving force behind the puzzling phenomenon of sonoluminescence. Motivated by that exciting suggestion, I have computed…
The experimental observation of intense light emission by acoustically driven, periodically collapsing bubbles of air in water (sonoluminescence) has yet to receive an adequate explanation. One of the most intriguing ideas is that the…
In a recent series of papers, Schwinger discussed a process that he called the Dynamical Casimir Effect. The key essence of this effect is the change in zero-point energy associated with any change in a dielectric medium. (In particular, if…
In this paper we take a deeper look at the technically elementary but physically robust viewpoint in which the Casimir energy in dielectric media is interpreted as the change in the total zero point energy of the electromagnetic vacuum…
Schwinger's Dynamical Casimir Effect is one of several candidate explanations for sonoluminescence. Recently, several papers have claimed that Schwinger's estimate of the Casimir energy involved is grossly inaccurate. In this letter, we…
It has been suggested by various authors that the `dynamical Casimir effect' might prove responsible for the production of visible-light photons in the bubble collapse which occurs in sonoluminescence. Previously, I have argued against this…
We consider the vacuum energy of the electromagnetic field in the background of spherically symmetric dielectrics, subject to a cut-off frequency in the dispersion relations. The effect of this frequency dependent boundary condition between…
The Casimir effect at finite temperature is investigated for a dilute dielectric ball; i.e., the relevant internal and free energies are calculated. The starting point in this study is a rigorous general expression for the internal energy…
We use the mode summation method together with zeta-function regularization to compute the Casimir energy of a dilute dielectric cylinder. The method is very transparent, and sheds light on the reason the resulting energy vanishes.
A simple method is proposed to construct the spectral zeta functions required for calculating the electromagnetic vacuum energy with boundary conditions given on a sphere or on an infinite cylinder. When calculating the Casimir energy in…
In the $(\epsilon_1-\epsilon_2)^2$--approximation the Casimir energy of a dilute dielectric ball is derived using a simple and clear method of the mode summation. The addition theorem for the Bessel functions enables one to present in a…
The Casimir energy of a dilute homogeneous nonmagnetic dielectric ball at zero temperature is derived analytically within a microscopic realistic model of dielectrics for an arbitrary physically possible frequency dispersion of dielectric…
Zero-point fluctuations in quantum fields give rise to observable forces between material bodies, the so-called Casimir forces. In this lecture I present some results of the theory of the Casimir effect, primarily formulated in terms of…
The Casimir energy of a dilute homogeneous nonmagnetic dielectric ball at zero temperature is derived analytically for the first time for an arbitrary physically possible frequency dispersion of dielectric permittivity $\epsilon(i\omega)$.…
We calculate the Casimir energy at spherical cavities within a host made up of an arbitrary material described by a possibly dispersive and lossy dielectric response. To that end, we add to the coherent optical response a contribution that…
The finite temperature Casimir free energy is calculated for a dielectric ball of radius $a$ embedded in an infinite medium. The condition $\epsilon\mu=1$ is assumed for the inside/outside regions. Both the Green function method and the…
Zero-point fluctuations in quantum fields give rise to observable forces between material bodies, the so-called Casimir forces. In these lectures I present the theory of the Casimir effect, primarily formulated in terms of Green's…