How does Casimir energy fall?

2007/02/28 by S. A. Fulling, Stephen A. Fulling, Kimball A. Milton +4 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #gr-qc #hep-th #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.76.025004

published as Phys.Rev.D76:025004,2007 · 5 pages, 1 figure, REVTeX. Minor revisions, including changes in references

arxiv created 2007/03/22 · openalex publication_date 2007/07/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Doubt continues to linger over the reality of quantum vacuum energy. There is some question whether fluctuating fields gravitate at all, or do so anomalously. Here we show that, for the simple case of parallel conducting plates, the associated Casimir energy gravitates just as required by the equivalence principle, and that therefore the inertial and gravitational masses of a system possessing Casimir energy E_c are both E_c/c². This simple result disproves recent claims in the literature. We clarify some pitfalls in the calculation that can lead to spurious dependences on the coordinate system.

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