Torque Anomaly in Quantum Field Theory

Abstract

The expectation values of energy density and pressure of a quantum field inside a wedge-shaped region appear to violate the expected relationship between torque and total energy as a function of angle. In particular, this is true of the well-known Deutsch--Candelas stress tensor for the electromagnetic field, whose definition requires no regularization except possibly at the vertex. Unlike a similar anomaly in the pressure exerted by a reflecting boundary against a perpendicular wall, this problem cannot be dismissed as an artifact of an ad hoc regularization.

3 pages

References in corpus (5)

• Casimir Effect for a Semitransparent Wedge and an Annular Piston
• Surface Vacuum Energy in Cutoff Models: Pressure Anomaly and Distributional Gravitational Limit
• Whightman function and scalar Casimir densities for a wedge with a cylindrical boundary
• Wightman function and scalar Casimir densities for a wedge with two cylindrical boundaries
• Wedges, Cones, Cosmic Strings, and the Reality of Vacuum Energy

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Electromagnetic $\delta$-function sphere
• Casimir forces in inhomogeneous media: renormalization and the principle of virtual work
• Vacuum energy density and pressure near a soft wall
• Investigations of the torque anomaly in an annular sector. I. Global calculations, scalar case
• Investigations of the torque anomaly in an annular sector. II. Global calculations, electromagnetic case
• Casimir torque in weak coupling
• Comment on `Wedges, cones, cosmic strings and their vacuum energy'