Casimir effect for gauge scalars: the Kalb-Ramond 2-form

In this work, we shall present partial results of a study that tries to elucidate the subject of the gauge symmetries in connection with the Casimir effect. The spin of the physical quantum excitation associated with a given tensor field depends on the category of the gauge symmetries imposed on its dynamics. Thus, an excitation with a given spin can be allocated in different fields, depending on the imposed gauge invariance. In this context, we wish to reassess the study of the Casimir effect for a field with spin-0, written as a gauge field (Kalb-Ramond), and not more as a matter-type Klein-Gordon field. The analysis tries to elucidate the role of the symmetries in connection with the physical characterisation of the Casimir effect. We shall investigate, in the context of second quantization, basic aspects of an interacting model where the rank-2 tensor gauge field and the electromagnetic field are mixed up. This model has the interesting property of generating a vector field with mass, without breaking the gauge symmetry. We shall also devote some final comments related to a study that we are carrying out to understand the Casimir effect for this model. With these results, we may bring about some light on the connection between the Casimir effect and the issue of gauge-field mass generation without gauge symmetry breaking. (author)