Published November 15, 2006 | Version v1
Journal article

Electromagnetic Casimir energy with extra dimensions

  • 1. Department of Physics, NTNU, N-7491 Trondheim (Norway)
  • 2. Department of Physics, University of Oslo, N-0316 Oslo (Norway)

Description

We calculate the energy-momentum tensor due to electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations between two parallel hyperplanes in more than four dimensions, considering both metallic and MIT boundary conditions. Using the axial gauge, the problem can be mapped upon the corresponding problem with a massless, scalar field satisfying, respectively, Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions. The pressure between the plates is constant while the energy density is found to diverge at the boundaries when there are extra dimensions. This can be related to the fact that Maxwell theory is then no longer conformally invariant. A similar behavior is known for the scalar field where a constant energy density consistent with the pressure can be obtained by improving the energy-momentum tensor with the Huggins term. This is not possible for the Maxwell field. However, the change in the energy-momentum tensor with distance between boundaries is finite in all cases

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
Journal Volume
74
Journal Issue
10
Journal Page Range
p. 105017-105017.8
ISSN
0556-2821
CODEN
PRVDAQ

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
38032729
Subject category
S72: PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS; CASIMIR EFFECT; DISTANCE; ELECTROMAGNETISM; ENERGY DENSITY; ENERGY-MOMENTUM TENSOR; FLUCTUATIONS; PLATES; SCALAR FIELDS
Descriptors DEC
MAGNETISM; TENSORS; VARIATIONS

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2006 The American Physical Society