Casimir force at a knife's edge

Journal Article · Mon Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.81.061701· OSTI ID:21413400

Graham, Noah ^[1]; Shpunt, Alexander; Rahi, Sahand Jamal; Kardar, Mehran ^[2]; Emig, Thorsten ^[2]; Jaffe, Robert L ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont 05753 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

The Casimir force has been computed exactly for only a few simple geometries, such as infinite plates, cylinders, and spheres. We show that a parabolic cylinder, for which analytic solutions to the Helmholtz equation are available, is another case where such a calculation is possible. We compute the interaction energy of a parabolic cylinder and an infinite plate (both perfect mirrors), as a function of their separation and inclination, H and {theta}, and the cylinder's parabolic radius R. As H/R{yields}0, the proximity force approximation becomes exact. The opposite limit of R/H{yields}0 corresponds to a semi-infinite plate, where the effects of edge and inclination can be probed.

• OSTI ID: 21413400
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 81, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.81.061701; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
APPROXIMATIONS
CASIMIR EFFECT
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CYLINDERS
EQUATIONS
INCLINATION
INTERACTIONS
PLATES
CALCULATION METHODS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
SIMULATION