Casimir Forces between Arbitrary Compact Objects

Journal Article · Fri Oct 26 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.99.170403· OSTI ID:21024344

Emig, T ^[1]; Graham, N ^[2]; Jaffe, R L ^[3]; Kardar, M ^[4]

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1. Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Modeles Statistiques, CNRS UMR 8626, Universite Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay (France)
2. Department of Physics, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont 05753 (United States)
3. Center for Theoretical Physics, Laboratory for Nuclear Science, and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
4. Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

We develop an exact method for computing the Casimir energy between arbitrary compact objects, either dielectrics or perfect conductors. The energy is obtained as an interaction between multipoles, generated by quantum current fluctuations. The objects' shape and composition enter only through their scattering matrices. The result is exact when all multipoles are included, and converges rapidly. A low frequency expansion yields the energy as a series in the ratio of the objects' size to their separation. As an example, we obtain this series for two dielectric spheres and the full interaction at all separations for perfectly conducting spheres.

• OSTI ID: 21024344
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 99; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CASIMIR EFFECT
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
EXPANSION
INTERACTIONS
MATRICES
MULTIPOLES
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
SCATTERING
SPHERES