The Casimir effect on background of conformally flat brane-world geometries

The Casimir effect due to conformally coupled bulk scalar fields on background of conformally flat brane-world geometries is investigated. In the general case of mixed boundary conditions formulae are derived for the vacuum expectation values of the energy-momentum tensor and vacuum forces acting on boundaries. The special case of the AdS bulk is considered and the application to the Randall-Sundrum scenario is discussed. The possibility for the radion stabilization by the vacuum forces is demonstrated