Comment on the sign of the Casimir force

2006/11/30 by C. P. Bachas, C P Bachas · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #hep-th #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1751-8113/40/30/028

published as J.Phys.A40:9089-9096,2007 · 13 pages, 1 figure, Latex file. Several points clarified and expanded, two references added.

arxiv created 2007/04/03 · openalex publication_date 2007/07/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

I show that reflection positivity implies that the force between any mirror pair of charge-conjugate probes of the quantum vacuum is attractive. This generalizes a recent theorem of Kenneth and Klich (2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 160401 ( Preprint quant-ph/0601011)) to interacting quantum fields, to arbitrary semiclassical bodies and to quantized probes with non-overlapping wavefunctions. I also prove that the torques on charge-conjugate probes tend always to rotate them into a mirror-symmetric position.

Citations

• Stiction, adhesion energy, and the Casimir effect in micromechanical systems
• Quantum Electromagnetic Zero-Point Energy of a Conducting Spherical Shell and the Casimir Model for a Charged Particle
• Casimir force on a piston
• New Developments in the Casimir Effect
• Metastability and the Casimir effect in micromechanical systems

Cited by

• Aspect-ratio dependence of thermodynamic Casimir forces
• Casimir effect as a sum over modes in dissipative systems