Casimir energy of a spherical shell

M. E. Bowers and C. R. Hagen
Phys. Rev. D 59, 025007 – Published 10 December 1998
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Abstract

The Casimir energy for a conducting spherical shell of radius a is computed using a direct mode summation approach. An essential ingredient is the implementation of a recently proposed method based on Cauchy’s theorem for an evaluation of the eigenfrequencies of the system. It is shown, however, that this earlier calculation uses an improper set of modes to describe the waves exterior to the sphere. Upon making the necessary corrections and taking care to ensure that no mathematically ill-defined expressions occur, the technique is shown to leave numerical results unaltered while avoiding a long-standing criticism raised against earlier calculations of the Casimir energy.

  • Received 19 June 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.59.025007

©1998 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. E. Bowers and C. R. Hagen*

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627

  • *Electronic address: hagen@urhep.pas.rochester.edu

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Vol. 59, Iss. 2 — 15 January 1999

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