Casimir problem of spherical dielectrics: Quantum statistical and field theoretical approaches

2000/08/31 by J. S. Høye, Johan S. Høye, Iver Brevik +2 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #cond-mat #hep-th #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.63.051101

published as Phys.Rev.E63:051101,2001 · 31 pages, LaTeX, one new reference; version to appear in Phys. Rev. E

arxiv created 2001/02/09 · openalex publication_date 2001/04/06 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The Casimir free energy for a system of two dielectric concentric nonmagnetic spherical bodies is calculated with use of a quantum statistical mechanical method, at arbitrary temperature. By means of this rather novel method, which turns out to be quite powerful (we have shown this to be true in other situations also), we consider first an explicit evaluation of the free energy for the static case, corresponding to zero Matsubara frequency (n=0). Thereafter, the time-dependent case is examined. For comparison we consider the calculation of the free energy with use of the more commonly known field theoretical method, assuming for simplicity metallic boundary surfaces.

Citations

• The Casimir effect
• Ground state energy for a penetrable sphere and for a dielectric ball
• Casimir surface force on a dilute dielectric ball
• Identity of the van der Waals Force and the Casimir Effect and the Irrelevance of These Phenomena to Sonoluminescence

Cited by

• Does the transverse electric zero mode contribute to the Casimir effect for a metal?
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