2008/07/31 by C. D. Fosco, Fernando C. Lombardo, F. C. Lombardo +2 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2008.10.004
published as Phys.Lett.B669:371-375,2008 · 9 pages, no figures. Minor changes. Version to appear in Phys. Lett. B
arxiv created 2008/10/06 · openalex publication_date 2008/10/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We calculate the Casimir energy for scalar and gauge fields in interaction with zero-width mirrors, including quantum effects due to the matter fields inside the mirrors. We consider models where those fields are either scalar or fermionic, obtaining general expressions for the energy as a function of the vacuum field 1PI function. We also study, within the frame of a concrete model, the role of the dissipation induced by those degrees of freedom, showing that, after integration of the matter fields, the effective theory for the electromagnetic field contains modes with complex energies. As for the case of Lifshitz formula, we show that the formal result obtained by neglecting dissipation coincides with the correct result that comes from the quantum fluctuations of both bulk and matter fields.