Matter-field theory of the Casimir force

Abstract

A matter-field theory of the Casimir force is formulated in which the electromagnetic field and collective modes of dielectric media are treated on an equal footing. In our theory, the Casimir force is attributed to zero-point energies of the combined matter-field modes. We analyze why some of the existing theories favor the interpretation of the Casimir force as originating from zero-point energies of the electromagnetic field and others from those of the matter.Comment: 12pages, 1 Postscript figur