Casimir Effects



Peter W Milonni

Los Alamos, New Mexico

Seminar at Louisiana State University, May 2, 2008



Casimir effects refer to forces associated with changes in the zero-point energy of a quantum field. The origins of the concept of zero-point field energy will be reviewed, and attention will then be focused on the most famous Casimir effect---the force between uncharged, parallel conducting plates that has in recent years been confirmed in several experiments. Since this effect has been regarded as ìone of the least intuitive effects in quantum electrodynamics, an attempt will be made to explain the effect in fairly simple and intuitive terms.