2008/10/31 by George Napolitano, George M. Napolitano, Giampiero Esposito +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.78.107701
published as Phys.Rev.D78:107701,2008 · 5 pages in double-column format, Revtex4. The final version is shorter, and the presentation has been improved
arxiv created 2008/11/03 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We consider a Casimir apparatus consisting of two perfectly conducting parallel plates, subject to the weak gravitational field of the Earth. The aim of this paper is the calculation of the energy-momentum tensor of this system for a free, real massless scalar field satisfying Neumann boundary conditions on the plates. The small gravity acceleration (considered here as not varying between the two plates) allows us to perform all calculations to first order in this parameter. Some interesting results are found: a correction, depending on the gravity acceleration, to the well-known Casimir energy and pressure on the plates. Moreover, this scheme predicts a tiny force in the upwards direction acting on the apparatus. These results are supported by two consistency checks: the covariant conservation of the energy-momentum tensor and the vanishing of its regularized trace, when the scalar field is conformally coupled to gravity.