Eur. Phys. J. C (2007) 52: 721-733
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-007-0409-1

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Electromagnetic Casimir densities for a wedge with a coaxial cylindrical shell

Department of Physics, Yerevan State University, 1 Alex Manoogian Street, 375025, Yerevan, Armenia

^* e-mail: saharian@ictp.it

Received: 24 July 2007
Revised: 25 August 2007
Published online: 15 September 2007

Abstract

Vacuum expectation values of the field square and the energy-momentum tensor for the electromagnetic field are investigated for the geometry of a wedge with a coaxial cylindrical boundary. All boundaries are assumed to be perfectly conducting, and both regions inside and outside the shell are considered. By using the generalized Abel–Plana formula, the vacuum expectation values are presented in the form of the sum of two terms. The first one corresponds to the geometry of the wedge without the cylindrical shell, and the second term is induced by the presence of the shell. The vacuum energy density induced by the shell is negative for the interior region and positive for the exterior region. The asymptotic behavior of the vacuum expectation values are investigated in various limiting cases. It is shown that the vacuum forces acting on the wedge sides due to the presence of the cylindrical boundary are always attractive.