Casimir energy can divirge

[selfAdjoint]

This new research paper (http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0309130) shows that more realistic boundary conditions on the Casimir energy calculation can lead it to diverge in the neighborhood of the plates. Obvious applications to sf devices are left as an excercise [:D]

[Ontoplankton]

Very interesting.

Does this still square with the "quantum inequalities" on negative energy densities?

[jeff]

Originally posted by selfAdjoint
This new research paper (http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0309130) shows that more realistic boundary conditions on the Casimir energy calculation can lead it to diverge...

You got it backwards: Realistic BCs are the cure, as one would expect. Here are the final two sentences in the abstract:

"This result implies that the energy depends in detail on the properties of the material, which are not captured by the idealized boundary conditions. This divergence...does invalidate calculations of Casimir stresses based on idealized boundary conditions."