Can the QCD Effective Charge Be Symmetrical in the Euclidean and the Minkowskian Regions?

We study a possible symmetrical behavior of the effective charges defined in the Euclidean and Minkowskian regions and prove that such symmetry is inconsistent with the causality principle.Comment: 5 pages, REVTe

Casimir Energies and Pressures for δ\delta-function Potentials

The Casimir energies and pressures for a massless scalar field associated with $\delta$-function potentials in 1+1 and 3+1 dimensions are calculated. For parallel plane surfaces, the results are finite, coincide with the pressures associated with Dirichlet planes in the limit of strong coupling, and for weak coupling do not possess a power-series expansion in 1+1 dimension. The relation between Casimir energies and Casimir pressures is clarified,and the former are shown to involve surface terms. The Casimir energy for a $\delta$-function spherical shell in 3+1 dimensions has an expression that reduces to the familiar result for a Dirichlet shell in the strong-coupling limit. However, the Casimir energy for finite coupling possesses a logarithmic divergence first appearing in third order in the weak-coupling expansion, which seems unremovable. The corresponding energies and pressures for a derivative of a $\delta$-function potential for the same spherical geometry generalizes the TM contributions of electrodynamics. Cancellation of divergences can occur between the TE ($\delta$-function) and TM (derivative of $\delta$-function) Casimir energies. These results clarify recent discussions in the literature.Comment: 16 pages, 1 eps figure, uses REVTeX

Surface Divergences and Boundary Energies in the Casimir Effect

Although Casimir, or quantum vacuum, forces between distinct bodies, or self-stresses of individual bodies, have been calculated by a variety of different methods since 1948, they have always been plagued by divergences. Some of these divergences are associated with the volume, and so may be more or less unambiguously removed, while other divergences are associated with the surface. The interpretation of these has been quite controversial. Particularly mysterious is the contradiction between finite total self-energies and surface divergences in the local energy density. In this paper we clarify the role of surface divergences.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, submitted to proceedings of QFEXT0

Green's Dyadic Approach of the Self-Stress on a Dielectric-Diamagnetic Cylinder with Non-Uniform Speed of Light

We present a Green's dyadic formulation to calculate the Casimir energy for a dielectric-diamagnetic cylinder with the speed of light differing on the inside and outside. Although the result is in general divergent, special cases are meaningful. It is pointed out how the self-stress on a purely dielectric cylinder vanishes through second order in the deviation of the permittivity from its vacuum value, in agreement with the result calculated from the sum of van der Waals forces.Comment: 8 pages, submitted to proceedings of QFEXT0

Scalar Casimir Energies for Separable Coordinate Systems: Application to Semi-transparent Planes in an Annulus

We derive a simplified general expression for the two-body scalar Casimir energy in generalized separable coordinate systems. We apply this technique to the case of radial semi-transparent planes in the annular region between two concentric Dirichlet cylinders. This situation is explored both analytically and numerically.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Contribution to Proceedings of 9th Conference on Quantum Field Theory Under the Influence of External Conditions, QFEXT0

Casimir energy, dispersion, and the Lifshitz formula

Despite suggestions to the contrary, we show in this paper that the usual dispersive form of the electromagnetic energy must be used to derive the Lifshitz force between parallel dielectric media. This conclusion follows from the general form of the quantum vacuum energy, which is the basis of the multiple-scattering formalism. As an illustration, we explicitly derive the Lifshitz formula for the interaction between parallel dielectric semispaces, including dispersion, starting from the expression for the total energy of the system. The issues of constancy of the energy between parallel plates and of the observability of electrostrictive forces are briefly addressed.Comment: 11 pages, no figure

The Reality of Casimir Friction

For more than 35 years theorists have studied quantum or Casimir friction, which occurs when two smooth bodies move transversely to each other, experiencing a frictional dissipative force due to quantum electromagnetic fluctuations, which break time-reversal symmetry. These forces are typically very small, unless the bodies are nearly touching, and consequently such effects have never been observed, although lateral Casimir forces have been seen for corrugated surfaces. Partly because of the lack of contact with phenomena, theoretical predictions for the frictional force between parallel plates, or between a polarizable atom and a metallic plate, have varied widely. Here we review the history of these calculations, show that theoretical consensus is emerging, and offer some hope that it might be possible to experimentally confirm this phenomenon of dissipative quantum electrodynamics.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

What is the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir Effect?

There has been recent criticism of our approach to the Casimir force between real metallic surfaces at finite temperature, saying it is in conflict with the third law of thermodynamics and in contradiction with experiment. We show that these claims are unwarranted, and that our approach has strong theoretical support, while the experimental situation is still unclear.Comment: 6 pages, REVTeX, final revision includes two new references and related discussio