173 research outputs found
The Casimir Effect
After a review of the standard calculation of the Casimir force between two
metallic plates at zero and non-zero temperatures, we present the study of
microscopic models to determine the large-distance asymptotic force in the
high-temperature regime. Casimir's conducting plates are modelized by plasmas
of interacting charges at temperature T. The charges are either classical, or
quantum-mechanical and coupled to a (classical) radiation field. In these
models, the force obtained is twice weaker than that arising from standard
treatments neglecting the microscopic charge fluctutations inside the bodies.
The enforcement of inert boundary conditions on the field in the usual
calculations turns out to be inadequate in this regime.
Other aspects of dispersion forces are also reviewed. The status of
(non-retarded) van der Waals-London forces in a dilute medium of non-zero
temperature and density is investigated. In a proper scaling regime called the
atomic limit (high dilution and low temperature), one is able to give the exact
large-distance atomic correlations up to exponentially small terms as T->0.
Retarded van der Waals forces and forces between dielectric bodies are also
reviewed.
Finally, the Casimir effect in critical phenomena is addressed by considering
the free Bose gas. It is shown that the grand-canonical potential of the gas in
a slab at the critical value of the chemical potential has finite size
corrections of the standard Casimir type. They can be attributed to the
existence of long-range order generated by gapless excitations in the phase
with broken continuous symmetry.Comment: Lecture notes prepared for the proceedings of the 1st Warsaw School
of Statistical Physics, Kazimierz, Poland, June 2005. To appear in Acta
Physica Polonica (2006). 52 pages, 0 figures. Available at
http://th-www.if.uj.edu.pl/acta/vol37/pdf/v37p2503.pd
A multiscale mechanobiological model of bone remodelling predicts site-specific bone loss in the femur during osteoporosis and mechanical disuse
We propose a multiscale mechanobiological model of bone remodelling to
investigate the site-specific evolution of bone volume fraction across the
midshaft of a femur. The model includes hormonal regulation and biochemical
coupling of bone cell populations, the influence of the microstructure on bone
turnover rate, and mechanical adaptation of the tissue. Both microscopic and
tissue-scale stress/strain states of the tissue are calculated from macroscopic
loads by a combination of beam theory and micromechanical homogenisation.
This model is applied to simulate the spatio-temporal evolution of a human
midshaft femur scan subjected to two deregulating circumstances: (i)
osteoporosis and (ii) mechanical disuse. Both simulated deregulations led to
endocortical bone loss, cortical wall thinning and expansion of the medullary
cavity, in accordance with experimental findings. Our model suggests that these
observations are attributable to a large extent to the influence of the
microstructure on bone turnover rate. Mechanical adaptation is found to help
preserve intracortical bone matrix near the periosteum. Moreover, it leads to
non-uniform cortical wall thickness due to the asymmetry of macroscopic loads
introduced by the bending moment. The effect of mechanical adaptation near the
endosteum can be greatly affected by whether the mechanical stimulus includes
stress concentration effects or not.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figure
The Casimir force at high temperature
The standard expression of the high-temperature Casimir force between perfect
conductors is obtained by imposing macroscopic boundary conditions on the
electromagnetic field at metallic interfaces. This force is twice larger than
that computed in microscopic classical models allowing for charge fluctuations
inside the conductors. We present a direct computation of the force between two
quantum plasma slabs in the framework of non relativistic quantum
electrodynamics including quantum and thermal fluctuations of both matter and
field. In the semi-classical regime, the asymptotic force at large slab
separation is identical to that found in the above purely classical models,
which is therefore the right result. We conclude that when calculating the
Casimir force at non-zero temperature, fluctuations inside the conductors can
not be ignored.Comment: 7 pages, 0 figure
Testing the existence of optical linear polarization in young brown dwarfs
Linear polarization can be used as a probe of the existence of atmospheric
condensates in ultracool dwarfs. Models predict that the observed linear
polarization increases withthe degree of oblateness, which is inversely
proportional to the surface gravity. We aimed to test the existence of optical
linear polarization in a sample of bright young brown dwarfs, with spectral
types between M6 and L2, observable from the Calar Alto Observatory, and
cataloged previously as low gravity objects using spectroscopy. Linear
polarimetric images were collected in I and R-band using CAFOS at the 2.2 m
telescope in Calar Alto Observatory (Spain). The flux ratio method was employed
to determine the linear polarization degrees. With a confidence of 3,
our data indicate that all targets have a linear polarimetry degree in average
below 0.69% in the I-band, and below 1.0% in the R-band, at the time they were
observed. We detected significant (i.e. P/ 3) linear polarization
for the young M6 dwarf 2MASS J04221413+1530525 in the R-band, with a degree of
= 0.81 0.17 %.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Small vs large dust grains in transitional disks: do different cavity sizes indicate a planet?
Transitional disks represent a short stage of the evolution of circumstellar
material. Studies of dust grains in these objects can provide pivotal
information on the mechanisms of planet formation. Dissimilarities in the
spatial distribution of small (micron-size) and large (millimeter-size) dust
grains have recently been pointed out. Constraints on the small dust grains can
be obtained by imaging the distribution of scattered light at near-infrared
wavelengths. We aim at resolving structures in the surface layer of
transitional disks (with particular emphasis on the inner 10 - 50 AU), thus
increasing the scarce sample of high resolution images of these objects. We
obtained VLT/NACO near-IR high-resolution polarimetric differential imaging
observations of SAO 206462 (HD135344B). This technique allows one to image the
polarized scattered light from the disk without any occulting mask and to reach
an inner working angle of 0.1''. A face-on disk is detected in H and Ks bands
between 0.1'' and 0.9''. No significant differences are seen between the H and
Ks images. In addition to the spiral arms, these new data allow us to resolve
for the first time an inner cavity for small dust grains. The cavity size
(about 28 AU) is much smaller than what is inferred for large dust grains from
(sub)mm observations (39 to 50 AU). The interaction between the disk and
potential orbiting companion(s) can explain both the spiral arm structure and
the discrepant cavity sizes for small and large dust grains. One planet may be
carving out the gas (and, thus, the small grains) at 28 AU, and generating a
pressure bump at larger radii (39 AU), which holds back the large grains. We
analytically estimate that, in this scenario, a single giant planet (with a
mass between 5 and 15 Jupiter masses) at 17 to 20 AU from the star is
consistent with the observed cavity sizes.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in A&
Direct imaging constraints on planet populations detected by microlensing
Results from gravitational microlensing suggested the existence of a large
population of free-floating planetary mass objects. The main conclusion from
this work was partly based on constraints from a direct imaging survey. This
survey determined upper limits for the frequency of stars that harbor giant
exoplanets at large orbital separations. Aims. We want to verify to what extent
upper limits from direct imaging do indeed constrain the microlensing results.
We examine the current derivation of the upper limits used in the microlensing
study and re-analyze the data from the corresponding imaging survey. We focus
on the mass and semi-major axis ranges that are most relevant in context of the
microlensing results. We also consider new results from a recent M-dwarf
imaging survey as these objects are typically the host stars for planets
detected by microlensing. We find that the upper limits currently applied in
context of the microlensing results are probably underestimated. This means
that a larger fraction of stars than assumed may harbor gas giant planets at
larger orbital separations. Also, the way the upper limit is currently used to
estimate the fraction of free-floating objects is not strictly correct. If the
planetary surface density of giant planets around M-dwarfs is described as
df_Planet ~ a^beta da, we find that beta ~ 0.5 - 0.6 is consistent with results
from different observational studies probing semi-major axes between ~0.03 - 30
AU. Having a higher upper limit on the fraction of stars that may have gas
giant planets at orbital separations probed by the microlensing data implies
that more of the planets detected in the microlensing study are potentially
bound to stars rather than free-floating. The current observational data are
consistent with a rising planetary surface density for giant exoplanets around
M-dwarfs out to ~30 AU.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A as Research Note, 3 page
Microscopic theory of the Casimir force at thermal equilibrium: large-separation asymptotics
We present an entirely microscopic calculation of the Casimir force
between two metallic plates in the limit of large separation . The models of
metals consist of mobile quantum charges in thermal equilibrium with the photon
field at positive temperature . Fluctuations of all degrees of freedom,
matter and field, are treated according to the principles of quantum
electrodynamics and statistical physics without recourse to approximations or
intermediate assumptions. Our main result is the correctness of the asymptotic
universal formula f(d) \sim -\frac{\zeta(3) \kB T}{8\pi d^3}, .
This supports the fact that, in the framework of Lifshitz' theory of
electromagnetic fluctuations, transverse electric modes do not contribute in
this regime. Moreover the microscopic origin of universality is seen to rely on
perfect screening sum rules that hold in great generality for conducting media.Comment: 34 pages, 0 figures. New version includes restructured intro and
minor typos correcte
Thermal quantum electrodynamics of nonrelativistic charged fluids
The theory relevant to the study of matter in equilibrium with the radiation
field is thermal quantum electrodynamics (TQED). We present a formulation of
the theory, suitable for non relativistic fluids, based on a joint functional
integral representation of matter and field variables. In this formalism
cluster expansion techniques of classical statistical mechanics become
operative. They provide an alternative to the usual Feynman diagrammatics in
many-body problems which is not perturbative with respect to the coupling
constant. As an application we show that the effective Coulomb interaction
between quantum charges is partially screened by thermalized photons at large
distances. More precisely one observes an exact cancellation of the dipolar
electric part of the interaction, so that the asymptotic particle density
correlation is now determined by relativistic effects. It has still the
decay typical for quantum charges, but with an amplitude strongly
reduced by a relativistic factor.Comment: 32 pages, 0 figures. 2nd versio
Equilibrium correlations in charged fluids coupled to the radiation field
We provide an exact microscopic statistical treatment of particle and field
correlations in a system of quantum charges in equilibrium with a classical
radiation field. Using the Feynman-Kac-Ito representation of the Gibbs weight,
the system of particles is mapped onto a collection of random charged wires.
The field degrees of freedom can be integrated out, providing an effective
pairwise magnetic potential. We then calculate the contribution of the
transverse field coupling to the large-distance particle correlations. The
asymptotics of the field correlations in the plasma are also exactly
determined.Comment: 31 pages, 0 figures. PACS 05.30.-d, 05.40.-a, 11.10.Wx. Changes:
Improved comparison with existing literature on field correlations. Added
Concluding Remarks. References update
- …