Casimir energy for two and three superconducting coupled cavities

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the Casimir energy in multi-cavity systems changes during the transition from metallic to superconducting phases, with implications for measuring vacuum energy interactions with gravity.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of Casimir energy variation in layered multi-cavity structures across the superconducting transition, highlighting the role of cavity coupling.

Findings

Large energy variation due to cavity coupling.

Transverse magnetic modes mediate the energy change.

Potential for significant modulation of Casimir energy.

Abstract

In this paper we study the behavior of the Casimir energy of a "multi-cavity" across the transition from the metallic to the superconducting phase of the constituting plates. Our analysis is carried out in the framework of the ARCHIMEDES experiment, aiming at measuring the interaction of the electromagnetic vacuum energy with a gravitational field. For this purpose it is foreseen to modulate the Casimir energy of a layered structure composing a multi-cavity coupled system by inducing a transition from the metallic to the superconducting phase. This implies a thorough study of the behavior of the cavity, where normal metallic layers are alternated with superconducting layers, across the transition. Our study finds that, because of the coupling between the cavities, mainly mediated by the transverse magnetic modes of the radiation field, the variation of energy across the transition can be very large.