Abstract
The role of the vacuum in the Casimir Effect is a matter of some dispute: the Casimir force has been variously described as a phenomenon resulting “from the alteration, by the boundaries, of the zero-point electromagnetic energy” or a “van der Waals force between the metal plates” that can be “computed without reference to zero point energies”. Here, we will consider a third account (a ‘via media’) in which the force is considered to arise due to the coupling of fluctuating currents to the zero-point radiation.
Natura abhorret vacuum (Translated: Nature abhors a vacuum).
Franois Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel
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- 1.
Inevitably, this is an interim position. We know that a better theory will eventually be required because of the deep problems in reconciling quantum field theory and gravity.
- 2.
See Chap. 1 for a discussion of the original Casimir Effect.
- 3.
This additional term appears as the second term in Eq. (1.1.21).
- 4.
Lifshitz theory predicts repulsive Casimir forces, under certain circumstances [35].
- 5.
- 6.
See Sect. 2.2.
- 7.
Some argue for the consistency of Lifshitz theory with Casimir’s approach. Bordag writes: “Lifshitz considered the fluctuations in the medium as source. In the modern understanding, these two are equivalent. However, the discussion about two ways continues until present time” [28]. Schwinger, on the other hand, seems to exploit the ambiguity of Lifshitz’ theory with his ‘source theory’, replacing the fluctuations of the vacuum with source fields in the plates, with the intention of removing any references to a vacuum state with non-zero physical properties [27].
- 8.
The zero-point term is suppressed in the statement of the diagonalised Hamiltonian in the original paper [21], but a zero-point energy is present nonetheless.
- 9.
See Sect. 2.3.3.
- 10.
- 11.
The dynamics are obtained by extremising the action.
- 12.
That is, a thing in itself.
- 13.
Saunders’ observation is sapiential. He writes: ‘on every other of the major schools of thought on the interpretation of quantum mechanics [besides stochastic hidden variable theories]... there is no reason to suppose that the observed properties of the vacuum, when correlations are set up between fields in vacuuo and macroscopic systems, are present in the absence of such correlations’ [6]. Boi notes the possibility of taking ‘the vacuum as a kind of pre-substance, an underlying substratum having a potential substantiality. It can... become physical reality if various other properties are injected into it’ [7].
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Simpson, W.M.R. (2015). The Quantum Nature of the Casimir Force. In: Surprises in Theoretical Casimir Physics. Springer Theses. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09315-4_3
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