Scalar Casimir Energies of Tetrahedra and Prisms

TL;DR

This paper calculates scalar Casimir energies for tetrahedral and prismatic cavities using mode summation, revealing universal behaviors and exploring geometric influences on quantum vacuum energies.

Contribution

It provides the first direct mode-summation calculations of Casimir energies for tetrahedral cavities with known eigenmodes, including boundary condition effects and geometric analysis.

Findings

Finite energies are obtained with correct divergences, confirming mode counting accuracy.

Energies scaled by volume-to-surface ratio follow a universal curve across different geometries.

Systematic behavior of energies in relation to geometric invariants is demonstrated.

Abstract

New results for scalar Casimir self-energies arising from interior modes are presented for the three integrable tetrahedral cavities. Since the eigenmodes are all known, the energies can be directly evaluated by mode summation, with a point-splitting regulator, which amounts to evaluation of the cylinder kernel. The correct Weyl divergences, depending on the volume, surface area, and the edges, are obtained, which is strong evidence that the counting of modes is correct. Because there is no curvature, the finite part of the quantum energy may be unambiguously extracted. Cubic, rectangular parallelepipedal, triangular prismatic, and spherical geometries are also revisited. Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions are considered for all geometries. Systematic behavior of the energy in terms of geometric invariants for these different cavities is explored. Smooth interpolation between short and long prisms is further demonstrated. When scaled by the ratio of the volume to the surface area, the energies for the tetrahedra and the prisms of maximal isoareal quotient lie very close to a universal curve. The physical significance of these results is discussed.