2009/02/26 by Giuseppe Bimonte · 1 citation
Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Boundary (topology) #Boundary value problem #Casimir effect #Classical mechanics #Commutation #Dielectric #Dissipative system #Electrical conductor #Electromagnetic field #Field (mathematics) #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Physics #Pure mathematics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Theoretical physics #Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies #Voltage #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1751-8113/43/15/155402
published as J.Phys.A43:155402,2010 · 16 pages, no figures
arxiv created 2009/02/26 · openalex publication_date 2010/03/26 · arxiv updated 2015/05/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We determine the commutation relations satisfied by the quantized electromagnetic field in the presence of macroscopic dielectrics and conductors, with arbitrary dispersive and dissipative properties. We consider in detail the case of two plane-parallel material slabs, separated by an empty gap, and we show that at all points in the empty region between the slabs, including their surfaces, the electromagnetic fields always satisfy free-field canonical equal-time commutation relations. This result is a consequence of general analyticity and fall-off properties at large frequencies satisfied by the reflection coefficients of all real materials. It is also shown that this result does not obtain in the case of conductors, if the latter are modelled as perfect mirrors. In such a case, the free-field form of the commutation relations is recovered only at large distances from the mirrors, in agreement with the findings of previous authors. Failure of perfect-mirror boundary conditions to reproduce the correct form of the commutation relations near the surfaces of the conductors, suggests that caution should be used when these idealized boundary conditions are used in investigations of proximity phenomena originating from the quantized electromagnetic field, like the Casimir effect.