Related papers: A Gedanken spacecraft that operates using the quan…
The Casimir effect continues to be a subject of discussion regarding its relationship, or the lack of it, with the vacuum energy of fluctuating quantum fields. In this note, we propose a Gedankenexperiment considering an imaginary process…
We report on current efforts to detect the thermal and dissipative contributions to the Casimir force. For the thermal component, two experiments are in progress at Dartmouth and at the Institute Laue Langevin in Grenoble. The first…
In this note we report on some new results \cite{SHP} on corrections to the Casimir-Polder \cite{caspol} retardation force due to atomic motion and present a preliminary (unpublished) critique on one recently proposed cavity QED detection…
Quantum electromagnetic fluctuations induce forces between neutral particles, known as the van der Waals (vdW) and Casimir interactions. These fundamental forces, mediated by virtual photons from the vacuum, play an important role in basic…
We study the vacuum fluctuations of a quantum scalar field in the presence of a thin and inhomogeneous flat mirror, modeled with a delta potential. Using Heat-Kernel techniques, we evaluate the Euclidean effective action perturbatively in…
In principle, by accepting the idea of a non-zero vacuum energy, the physical vacuum of present particle physics might represent a preferred reference frame. By treating this quantum vacuum as a relativistic medium, the non-zero…
The Casimir force is calculated in the configuration of a spherical lens and a disc of finite radius covered by $Cu$ and $Au$ thin layers which was used in a recent experiment. The correction to the Casimir force due to finiteness of the…
We calculate the Casimir energy for scalar fields in interaction with finite-width mirrors, described by nonlocal interaction terms. These terms, which include quantum effects due to the matter fields inside the mirrors, are approximated by…
The symmetron is a typical example of screened modified gravity, wherein the symmetron force is dynamically suppressed in dense environments. This allows it to hide in traditional tests of gravity. However, the past decade has seen great…
Quantum vacuum energy has been known to have observable consequences since 1948 when Casimir calculated the force of attraction between parallel uncharged plates, a phenomenon confirmed experimentally with ever increasing precision. Casimir…
We present a general formalism allowing for efficient numerical calculation of the production of massless scalar particles from vacuum in a one-dimensional dynamical cavity, i.e. the dynamical Casimir effect. By introducing a particular…
Complete set of modes and the Hadamard function are constructed for a scalar field inside and outside a sphere in (D+1)-dimensional de Sitter spacetime foliated by negative constant curvature spaces. We assume that the field obeys Robin…
A "space drive" is a hypothetical device that generates a propulsive force in free space using an input of power without the need for a reaction mass. Any device that generates photons (e.g., a laser) would qualify as a propellantless…
Several years ago we demonstrated that the Casimir energy for perfectly reflecting and imperfectly reflecting parallel plates gravitated normally, that is, obeyed the equivalence principle. At that time the divergences in the theory were…
In 1+3 (threading) formulation of general relativity spacetime behaves analogous to a medium with a specific index of refraction with respect to the light propagation. Accepting the reality of zero point energy, through the equivalence…
This communication concerns the structure of the electromagnetic quantum vacuum in a disclinated insulator. It is shown that a nonzero vacuum energy density appears when the rotational symmetry of a continuous insulating elastic medium is…
We study quantum friction and Casimir forces with a full-relativistic formalism for atoms modelled as Unruh-DeWitt detectors in the presence of arbitrary macroscopic objects. We consider the general case of atoms with arbitrary relativistic…
Voyager 3 is a concept mission that sends a space telescope to the interstellar medium in a reasonable amount of time. Voyager 3 would take a direct image of an exoplanet using the solar gravitational lensing at the distance of 550…
We employ path integral methods to calculate the Casimir energy and force densities in a chiral extension of QED. Manifestly gauge invariant perfect electromagnetic boundary conditions, a natural generalization of perfect electric and…
The problem of simulating the interaction of spacecraft travelling at velocities necessary for starflight with the interplanetary and interstellar medium is considered. Interaction of protons, atoms, and ions at kinetic energies relative to…