paper

Casimir forces in Bose-Einstein condensates: finite size effects in three-dimensional rectangular cavities

arXiv:hep-th/0510238 · doi:10.1088/1742-5468/2006/06/P06007

Abstract

The Casimir force due to {\it thermal} fluctuations (or pseudo-Casimir force) was previously calculated for the perfect Bose gas in the slab geometry for various boundary conditions. The Casimir pressure due to {\it quantum} fluctuations in a weakly-interacting dilute Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) confined to a parallel plate geometry was recently calculated for Dirichlet boundary conditions. In this paper we calculate the Casimir energy and pressure due to quantum fluctuations in a zero-temperature homogeneous weakly-interacting dilute BEC confined to a parallel plate geometry with periodic boundary conditions and include higher-order corrections which we refer to as Bogoliubov corrections. The leading order term is identified as the Casimir energy of a massless scalar field moving with wave velocity equal to the speed of sound in the BEC. We then obtain the leading order Casimir pressure in a general three-dimensional rectangular cavity of arbitrary lengths and obtain the finite-size correction to the parallel plate scenario.

12 pages; no figures; v.2: version accepted for publication in JSTAT v.3: references added

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