A dispersive correction to the Casimir force

TL;DR

This paper calculates the first-order dispersive correction to the Casimir energy between dielectric plates, revealing a 1/L^6 decay and highlighting the potential significance of surface terms varying as 1/L^5.

Contribution

It introduces a perturbative method to compute dispersive corrections to the Casimir force, providing both zero-point energy and Lifshitz formulation derivations.

Findings

Dispersive correction decays as 1/L^6

Surface term may dominate, varying as 1/L^5

Results applicable to dielectric materials in Casimir force calculations

Abstract

Using perturbation theory the first order dispersive correction to the Casimir energy between two plates separated by a dielectric material is calculated. It falls off with the plate separation as 1/L^6. The result is derived both from evaluation of the zero-point energy and within the Lifshitz formulation. It is pointed out that a possible surface term can be more important, varying like 1/L^5.