Notes to the Casimir effect

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The Casimir effect

The Casimir effect is a small attractive force that acts between two close parallel uncharged conducting plates. It is due to quantum vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field1. Example: according to the standard Casimir formula Fc / A = h c / (480 * d4) the pressure (Fc / A) between two plates (with area A): at a distance of d = 190 nm causes a pressure of 1Pa (1 N/m2), and at a distance of d = 11 nm causes a pressure of 100kPa (~1 bar or 105 N/m2).

In the study of harmonic oscillators 2 I investigated the characteristics of the Casimir effect and the idea of solving the experiments' results as a standard explanation for the Maxwell-oriented waveguide theory. No suddenly arising quantum of energy between plates and an external sea of quantum energy is needed to explain the mechanism.

Concept of the alternative model setup for the Casimir experiment

In a warm-up phase I compared the Casimir setup of two plates at the typical distance of a few nanometers (11 nm) with a similar plate capacitor (ca. 1mF). A plate capacitor generally may be characterized by a main capacitor and a parasitic capacitor, in which the main capacitor behaves as a selective microwave cavity, which only allows special energy components to be entered. All other energy components entering from the parasitic capacitor section C2 will be reflected back to their sources. The reflected energy generates a repellant force from outside the plates, which behaves like an attractive force. Probably such experiments may also be performed at a microwave setup without quantum theory. I noted some of my calculations as references for further study.

External pressure
In the web there is a fine analog of the Casimir effect3 which explains the attraction of two plates in a sea of kinetic energy4, supplied by a bath of vibrating alcohol. The zone between the plates explains the attractive force (by the absence of internal energy) as the pressure of the external kinetic energy from outside the plates' structure. This analog model describes the force in the Casimir setup as an external force. The following model presents an equivalent analog with a microwave cavity.
1 2 3 4 The Casimir Effect The Origin of Matter Casimir Effects: Peter Milonni's lecture at the Institute for Quantum Computing Water Wave Analog of the Casimir Effect

Coulomb Forces between Charged Plates

The two plates at a distance of 11 nm also represent a capacitor with a capacitance of : C = A/d = 800 F for A=1 m2 The Electric Coulomb Forces between the charged plates are calculated5 (for 1 N/m2 and 105 N/m2) by applying: Fatt = AV2 / 2d2 If used as a capacitor a value of 1mF at a voltage of 1.1V would develop the same force F = 10 5 N/m2 at the plates as the uncharged plates in a Casimir setup. Force F = 1 N/m2 F = 105 N/m2 Casimir force d = 190 nm d = 11 nm Capacitance 50 F 1mF voltage 0.06V 1.1V 1.1*10-3 J Energy CV2

Table 1: Comparing the forces for a Casimir and an equivalent Coulomb setup Normally a small correction factor is needed to account for the finite size of the circular plates: Fatt = (1 + 2d/D) * AV2 / 2d2

The part 2d/D describes the field lines which are found outside the plates and depend on the d/Drelation which must be very small for the Casimir setup.

Fig. 1: Electric field of simple capacitor.

GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 6 The capacitor consists of two parallel rectangular plates perpendicular the the image plane and expanding to infinity.

5 Electric Forces between Charged Plates 6 VFPt_capacitor.svg published by Geek3

In fact the formula describes a parallel circuit of two capacitors C1 and C2, which may be interpreted as the ideal or main capacitor C1 = A/d and a parasitic capacitor C2 = (2d/D) * C1. In a DC-model the parasitic capacitor C2 is directly connected to main capacitor C1. If d = 11 nm and the D-value is 1 m 2 the relation 2d/D will be approximately 10 -9, which is a relatively high attenuation between parasitic and main component sections. C1 = 1 mF and C2 is ca. 1 pF.

Fig. 2: Alternative Casimir Circuit Setup The alternative Casimir Circuit Setup uses an antenna which is interpreted as a receiver to gather microwave radiation components from free space. Basically these might be white noise signals. Physically the antenna is to be implemented as the outside plates of the Casimir circuits, representing the parasite capacitor C2 (1pF) in the circuit setup. The values for the components C1 and C2 have been calculated from the plate area A = 1 m2 and the distance d = 1 nm. The filter X1 is a frequency band-filter, which selects the energy components to be admitted to the waveguide cavity which has been designed to only allows access to these frequencies.

Waveguides and cavities7

Boundary conditions: Near the surface of a conductor an electric field must be perpendicular to the conductor. For a varying magnetic field to exist, it must form closed loops in parallel with the conductors and be perpendicular to the electric field. The widest8 dimension of a waveguide determines the range of operating frequencies, and the narrowest9 dimension the waveguide's maximal power capability (limited by the breakdown potential of the dielectric, usually air). In theory the waveguide could function at an infinite number of frequencies higher than the designed frequency, but practically an upper frequency limit is caused by modes of operation. The cutoff frequency of an electromagnetic waveguide is the lowest frequency for which a mode will propagate in it. It is the frequency at which two quarter-wavelengths are longer than the wide dimension of a waveguide and energy will no longer pass through the waveguide. At frequencies below the cutoff frequency, the waves may be reflected back and forth across the guide (setting up standing waves) and no energy will be conducted down the waveguide. In the end the wave may be dissipated in the ohmic losses or partly be reflected to the input port.
7 waveguide theory and application - Altronics 8 often called the "a" dimension of a waveguide 9 often called the "b" dimension of a waveguide

Forming alternative resonators

A pair of wires may be transformed to a waveguide:

Fig. 3: Opening the metallic core at the top and the bottom...

Fig. 4: Opening the wire by bending the metal...

Fig. 5: bringing the electric field between the upper and lower electrode

Fig. 8: The problem of enclosing the H-lines

Fig. 7: Optimal waveguide structure

Fig. 6: Magnetically conducting walls for a waveguide

In microwaves we may convert short circuits to open circuits by expanding the wall elements one quarter of a wavelength10.

10 Maxwell's Legacy - Another View of Maxwell's Equations

Horn antenna11
The energy from free space may also be applied to the split at the side of the plates. Slots or apertures are sometimes used when very loose (inefficient) coupling is desired, as shown. In this method energy enters through a small slot in the waveguide and the E field expands into the waveguide. The E lines expand first across the slot and then across the interior of the waveguide. Minimum reflections occur when energy is injected or removed if the size of the slot is properly proportioned to the frequency of the energy. A better attenuation match and optimized coupling to the waveguide may be achieved by tapering the slit to a horn-shaped aperture, which allows the electromagnetic waves to smoothly enter the microwave cavity. Electromagnetic energy is often passed through a waveguide to transfer the energy from free space to a waveguide. The impedance of a waveguide does not match the impedance of space, and without proper impedance matching, standing waves cause a large decrease in the efficiency of the waveguide. Any abrupt change in impedance causes standing waves, but when the change in impedance at the end of a waveguide is gradual, almost no standing waves are formed. Gradual changes in impedance can be obtained by terminating the waveguide with a funnel-shaped horn. The type of horn used depends upon the frequency and the desired radiation pattern.

Fig. 9: family of microwave horn antennas manufactured by Tactron Electronik GmBH, Germany
A family of microwave horn antennas manufactured by Tactron Electronik GmBH, Germany. These are pyramidal horn antennas with flanges to bolt onto standard waveguide12.

11 waveguide theory and application - Altronics 12 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Considerations the Casimir effect

In a DC-model any incoming charge respectively quantum is to be spread over the parallel circuit C1 and C2. For RF-frequencies however the metallic plates guide the frequency to waveguide C1. Although the plates are being used as a capacitor system the DC-voltage is zero. Only some minor RF-frequencies are allowed to enter the C1-section. For the Casimir effect a signal or a quantum may be restricted to enter the system from the free space outside. This energy may only enter the capacitor system by entering the C2-section, which serves as an antenna for remote contacts. In fact the C1-section may hermetically be shielded to the outside by metallic walls. Let us suppose C1 is a waveguide or a microwave cavity, which except for the signals inside the bandwidth does not allow electromagnetic modes to enter the capacitor C1. In fact C1 must be seen as an LC-circuit which behaves as a bandpass filter (X1). The filter will only allow frequencies, which fit to the waveguide's profile. Other frequencies will be rejected and sent back to C2. This system behaves just like the Casimir setup. Inside C1 only a minority of the incoming signals will be accepted. Outside C1 the antenna section C2 receives a great variety of signals, but the selectivity of the waveguide will eliminate most of the components just like an FM-radio may be tuned to one special channel for communication by excluding all others. The pressure of the excluded signals now may cause a force on the waveguide's conductors. The calculation of the forces and the balance of energy is quite similar to Casimir setup. The only difference is that no quantum elements are needed to be generated inside the capacitor C1 and in the free space. In fact in the RF-model the shielding of C1 should inhibit any energy generation inside the C1-section, whereas the Casimir setup would also generate some quantum energy inside a hermetically encapsulated and shielded plate-section.

Some additional notes

Soup of photons
One reason [a vacuum is not empty] is that the walls of a vacuum chamber emit light in the form of black-body radiation... If this soup of photons is in thermodynamic equilibrium with the walls, it can be said to have a particular temperature, as well as a pressure13. Has it really been proven that the virtual photons14 in the Casimir setup have not been generated by the metallic plates and did arise from the vacuum between the plates?

Zero-point energy
The Zero-point energy15 is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical physical system may have; it is the energy of its ground state. The variation in zero-point energy as the boundaries of a region of vacuum move leads to the Casimir effect, which is observable in nanoscale devices16. The proof of a zero-point energy as a source between the plates is to be discussed.

Energy density17
The zero-point energy has been associated with an enormous energy density of 10 24- 1058 Joules/m3.18

The dynamical Casimir effect

The dynamical Casimir effect may be applied to convert the virtual photons into real photons. An acoustic analogue of the dynamical Casimir effect (DCE) has been demonstrated for the first time in France19.

Lamb shift
According to Dirac, the 2S1/2 and 2P1/2 orbitals should have the same energies. However, the interaction between the electron and the vacuum causes a tiny energy shift on 2S1/2. Lamb and Robert Retherford measured this shift in 1947, and this measurement provided the stimulus for renormalization theory to handle the divergences. In 1947 Willis Lamb carried out an experiment using microwaves to stimulate RF transitions between orbital levels of hydrogen. There was an anomaly and the energy difference found was a rise of about 1 GHz for one orbital compared to the other. This energy is supplied (or detracted) by the quantum vacuum, but there is normally no net gain or loss.

13 Luciano Boi, Creating the physical world ex nihilo? p. 55 (quoted in QED_vacuum) 14 The Casimir Effect 15 The term zero-point energy originates from the German Nullpunktsenergie. The German name is also spelled Nullpunktenergie (without the "s") 16 Zero-point energy 17 Zero Point Energy 2 from "Tom Valone, PhD, Speaks on Zero-point Energy Extraction from the Quantum Vacuum" 18 Zero Point Energy - Panacea-BOCAF 19 Virtual phonons get real - physicsworld.com

This particular difference is a looping effect of QED quantum electrodynamics, and can be interpreted as the influence of virtual photons from the ZPE which have been emitted and reabsorbed by the atom20.

Vibrating 0 and 0 in a QED-vacuum

As a result of quantization, the quantum electrodynamic vacuum can be considered as a material medium. In particular, the force law between charged particles is affected. The electrical permittivity of quantum electrodynamic vacuum can be calculated, and it differs slightly from the simple 0 of the classical vacuum. Likewise, its permeability can be calculated and differs slightly from 0. This medium is a dielectric with relative dielectric constant > 1, and is diamagnetic, with relative magnetic permeability < 121. These differences will turn 0 0, the free space impedance and the velocity of light into non constant variables.

Schwinger limit
In quantum electrodynamics (QED), the Schwinger limit (1.3 x 1018 V/m) is a scale above which the electromagnetic field is expected to become nonlinear22. The Schwinger limit would limit the near component of the electrostatic field of an electron, which according to E = q / (4R2) ~ 1021 (V/m) is beyond the Schwinger limit (?).

20 The casimir effect | The Froarty Blog 21 QED_vacuum 22 Schwinger limit

Contents
The Casimir effect.......................................................................................................................1 Concept of the alternative model setup for the Casimir experiment...........................................1 External pressure.........................................................................................................................1 Coulomb Forces between Charged Plates...................................................................................2 Waveguides and cavities.............................................................................................................3 Forming alternative resonators....................................................................................................4 Horn antenna...............................................................................................................................5 Considerations the Casimir effect...............................................................................................6 Some additional notes...........................................................................................................................7 Soup of photons..........................................................................................................................7 Zero-point energy........................................................................................................................7 Energy density.............................................................................................................................7 The dynamical Casimir effect.....................................................................................................7 Lamb shift...................................................................................................................................7 Vibrating 0 and 0 in a QED-vacuum.......................................................................................8 Schwinger limit ..........................................................................................................................8