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Energy-momentum tensor of a Casimir apparatus in a weak gravitational field: Scalar case.

Esposito, Giampiero ; Napolitano, George LU and Rosa, Luigi (2008) In Physical Review D (Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology) 77. p.1-105011
Abstract
Recent work in the literature had evaluated the energy-momentum tensor of a Casimir apparatus in a weak gravitational field, for an electromagnetic field subject to perfect conductor boundary conditions on parallel plates. The Casimir apparatus was then predicted to experience a tiny push in the upward direction, and the regularized energy-momentum tensor was evaluated to first order in the gravitational

acceleration. This analysis made it desirable to assess what happens in a simpler case. For this purpose, the present paper studies a free, real massless scalar field subject to homogeneous Dirichlet conditions on the parallel plates. Working again to first order in the constant gravity acceleration, the resulting regularized and... (More)
Recent work in the literature had evaluated the energy-momentum tensor of a Casimir apparatus in a weak gravitational field, for an electromagnetic field subject to perfect conductor boundary conditions on parallel plates. The Casimir apparatus was then predicted to experience a tiny push in the upward direction, and the regularized energy-momentum tensor was evaluated to first order in the gravitational

acceleration. This analysis made it desirable to assess what happens in a simpler case. For this purpose, the present paper studies a free, real massless scalar field subject to homogeneous Dirichlet conditions on the parallel plates. Working again to first order in the constant gravity acceleration, the resulting regularized and renormalized energy-momentum tensor is found to be covariantly conserved, while the trace anomaly vanishes if the massless scalar field is conformally coupled to gravity. Conformal coupling also ensures a finite Casimir energy and finite values of the pressure upon parallel plates. (Less)
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author
; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Physical Review D (Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology)
volume
77
pages
1 - 105011
publisher
American Physical Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:43949145940
ISSN
1550-2368
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevD.77.105011
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
7d0a2bfc-f712-4aad-a865-8c9637da84c2 (old id 4123839)
alternative location
http://arxiv.org/abs/0803.0861
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:44:55
date last changed
2022-04-05 04:28:13
@article{7d0a2bfc-f712-4aad-a865-8c9637da84c2,
  abstract     = {{Recent work in the literature had evaluated the energy-momentum tensor of a Casimir apparatus in a weak gravitational field, for an electromagnetic field subject to perfect conductor boundary conditions on parallel plates. The Casimir apparatus was then predicted to experience a tiny push in the upward direction, and the regularized energy-momentum tensor was evaluated to first order in the gravitational<br/><br>
acceleration. This analysis made it desirable to assess what happens in a simpler case. For this purpose, the present paper studies a free, real massless scalar field subject to homogeneous Dirichlet conditions on the parallel plates. Working again to first order in the constant gravity acceleration, the resulting regularized and renormalized energy-momentum tensor is found to be covariantly conserved, while the trace anomaly vanishes if the massless scalar field is conformally coupled to gravity. Conformal coupling also ensures a finite Casimir energy and finite values of the pressure upon parallel plates.}},
  author       = {{Esposito, Giampiero and Napolitano, George and Rosa, Luigi}},
  issn         = {{1550-2368}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--105011}},
  publisher    = {{American Physical Society}},
  series       = {{Physical Review D (Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology)}},
  title        = {{Energy-momentum tensor of a Casimir apparatus in a weak gravitational field: Scalar case.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.77.105011}},
  doi          = {{10.1103/PhysRevD.77.105011}},
  volume       = {{77}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}