Casimir Effect and Free Fall in a Schwarzschild Black Hole

Abstract

Scalar field vacuum energy and particle creation in a 3D Casimir apparatus, freely falling in the Schwarzschild spacetime, are considered in the reference frame of a comoving observer. Following Schwinger's proper time approach, Casimir energy is evaluated from the effective action, resulting in a small correction to the flat spacetime case. Besides, a tiny amount of quanta excited out from the vacuum is found. Both effects are discussed, drawing attention to the role of the underlying spacetime dimensionality.

Talk given at the 15th Marcel Grossmann Meeting, 1-7 July 2018, Rome, Italy. This is a short version of a more exhaustive paper, to be submitted soon