Zero-point energy of massless scalar fields in the presence of soft and semihard boundaries in D dimensions

Abstract

The renormalized energy density of a massless scalar field defined in a D-dimensional flat spacetime is computed in the presence of "soft" and "semihard" boundaries, modeled by some smoothly increasing potential functions. The sign of the renormalized energy densities for these different confining situations is investigated. The dependence of this energy on $D$ for the cases of "hard" and "soft/semihard" boundaries are compared.

36 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Zeta Functions and the Casimir Energy
• Path Integral Approach to the Dynamic Casimir Effect with Fluctuating Boundaries
• Vacuum Energy Density near Fluctuating Boundaries

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