How does Casimir energy fall? IV. Gravitational interaction of regularized quantum vacuum energy

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Hauptverfasser: Milton, K. A., Shajesh, K. V., Fulling, S. A., Parashar, Prachi
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2014
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author Milton, K. A.
Shajesh, K. V.
Fulling, S. A.
Parashar, Prachi
author_facet Milton, K. A.
Shajesh, K. V.
Fulling, S. A.
Parashar, Prachi
contents Several years ago we demonstrated that the Casimir energy for perfectly reflecting and imperfectly reflecting parallel plates gravitated normally, that is, obeyed the equivalence principle. At that time the divergences in the theory were treated only formally, without proper regularization, and the coupling to gravity was limited to the canonical energy-momentum-stress tensor. Here we strengthen the result by removing both of those limitations. We consider, as a toy model, massless scalar fields interacting with semitransparent ($δ$-function) potentials defining parallel plates, which become Dirichlet plates for strong coupling. We insert space and time point-split regulation parameters, and obtain well-defined contributions to the self- energy of each plate, and the interaction energy between the plates. (This self-energy does not vanish even in the conformally-coupled, strong-coupled limit.) We also compute the local energy density, which requires regularization near the plates. In general, the energy density includes a surface energy that resides precisely on the boundaries. This energy is also regulated. The gravitational interaction of this well-defined system is then investigated, and it is verified that the equivalence principle is satisfied.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_1401_0784
institution arXiv
publishDate 2014
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How does Casimir energy fall? IV. Gravitational interaction of regularized quantum vacuum energy
Milton, K. A.
Shajesh, K. V.
Fulling, S. A.
Parashar, Prachi
High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Quantum Physics
Several years ago we demonstrated that the Casimir energy for perfectly reflecting and imperfectly reflecting parallel plates gravitated normally, that is, obeyed the equivalence principle. At that time the divergences in the theory were treated only formally, without proper regularization, and the coupling to gravity was limited to the canonical energy-momentum-stress tensor. Here we strengthen the result by removing both of those limitations. We consider, as a toy model, massless scalar fields interacting with semitransparent ($δ$-function) potentials defining parallel plates, which become Dirichlet plates for strong coupling. We insert space and time point-split regulation parameters, and obtain well-defined contributions to the self- energy of each plate, and the interaction energy between the plates. (This self-energy does not vanish even in the conformally-coupled, strong-coupled limit.) We also compute the local energy density, which requires regularization near the plates. In general, the energy density includes a surface energy that resides precisely on the boundaries. This energy is also regulated. The gravitational interaction of this well-defined system is then investigated, and it is verified that the equivalence principle is satisfied.
title How does Casimir energy fall? IV. Gravitational interaction of regularized quantum vacuum energy
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/1401.0784