Casimir energy-momentum tensor for a brane in de Sitter spacetime

Vacuum expectation values of the energy-momentum tensor for a conformally coupled scalar field is investigated in de Sitter (dS) spacetime in presence of a curved brane on which the field obeys the Robin boundary condition with coordinate dependent coefficients. To generate the corresponding vacuum densities we use the conformal relation between dS and Rindler spacetimes and the results previously obtained by one of the authors for the Rindler counterpart. The resulting energy-momentum tensor is non-diagonal and induces anisotropic vacuum stresses. The asymptotic behaviour of this tensor is investigated near the dS horizon and the boundary.Comment: 10 pages, no figur

Surface Casimir densities on a spherical brane in Rindler-like spacetimes

The vacuum expectation value of the surface energy-momentum tensor is evaluated for a scalar field obeying Robin boundary condition on a spherical brane in (D+1)-dimensional spacetime $Ri\times S^{D-1}$, where $Ri$ is a two-dimensional Rindler spacetime. The generalized zeta function technique is used in combination with the contour integral representation. The surface energies on separate sides of the brane contain pole and finite contributions. Analytic expressions for both these contributions are derived. For an infinitely thin brane in odd spatial dimensions, the pole parts cancel and the total surface energy, evaluated as the sum of the energies on separate sides, is finite. For a minimally coupled scalar field the surface energy-momentum tensor corresponds to the source of the cosmological constant type.Comment: 12 pages, discussion and references adde

Topological Casimir effect in nanotubes and nanoloopes

The Casimir effect is investigated in cylindrical and toroidal carbon nanotubes within the framework of the Dirac-like model for the electronic states. The topological Casimir energy is positive for metallic cylindrical nanotubes and is negative for semiconducting ones. The toroidal compactification of a cylindrical nanotube along its axis increases the Casimir energy for metallic-type (periodic) boundary conditions along its axis and decreases the Casimir energy for the semiconducting-type compactifications. For finite length metallic nanotubes the Casimir forces acting on the tube edges are always attractive, whereas for semiconducting-type ones they are attractive for small lengths of the nanotube and repulsive for large lengths.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, Contribution to Proceedings of QFEXT09, 21-25 September 2009, Oklahoma, US

Surface vacuum energy and stresses for a brane in de Sitter spacetime

Vacuum expectation values of the surface energy-momentum tensor is investigated for a massless scalar field obeying mixed boundary condition on a brane in de Sitter bulk. To generate the corresponding vacuum surface densities we use the conformal relation between de Sitter and Rindler spacetimes.Comment: 8 pages, no figure, an appendix added, version to appear in PL