Resolution of an apparent inconsistency in the electromagnetic Casimir effect

Abstract

The vacuum expectation value of the electromagnetic energy-momentum tensor between two parallel plates in spacetime dimensions D > 4 is calculated in the axial gauge. While the pressure between the plates agrees with the global Casimir force, the energy density is divergent at the plates and not compatible with the total energy which follows from the force. However, subtracting the divergent self-energies of the plates, the resulting energy is finite and consistent with the force. In analogy with the corresponding scalar case for spacetime dimensions D > 2, the divergent self-energy of a single plate can be related to the lack of conformal invariance of the electromagnetic Lagrangian for dimensions D > 4.

arXiv commentv2: 7 pages, minor update, one reference added, published version

References in corpus (6)

• The Casimir effect: Recent controversies and progress
• The Dirichlet Casimir Problem
• Systematics of the Relationship between Vacuum Energy Calculations and Heat Kernel Coefficients
• Hamiltonian approach to the dynamical Casimir effect
• Electromagnetic Casimir energy with extra dimensions
• Surface Divergences and Boundary Energies in the Casimir Effect

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Finite Temperature Casimir Effect in Randall-Sundrum Models
• Casimir Energies: Temperature Dependence, Dispersion, and Anomalies
• Electromagnetic two-point functions and Casimir densities for a conducting plate in de Sitter spacetime
• Electromagnetic Casimir effect for conducting plates in de Sitter spacetime
• Electromagnetic two-point functions and the Casimir effect in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies
• Higher-dimensional violations of the holographic entropy bound
• Hyperentropic systems and the generalized second law of thermodynamics
• The holographic entropy bound in higher-dimensional spacetimes: As strong as ever