Size Matters: Lorentz Boosted Casimir Effect

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Lorentz boosts affect the vacuum energy and momentum of a Casimir cavity, revealing unique transformation behaviors due to its extended structure, with implications for understanding vacuum effects in relativistic contexts.

Contribution

It introduces the analysis of Lorentz boosts on Casimir cavities, highlighting differences in energy and momentum transformation caused by the cavity's extension.

Findings

Vacuum energy and momentum transform differently under Lorentz boosts due to cavity extension.

Mass-shell condition remains consistent for finite cavities along the motion direction.

Extension of the cavity influences the relativistic behavior of vacuum properties.

Abstract

Many evidences appear in the past decades and show that the negativity of Casimir energy is responsible for exotic mechanical and gravitational effects. We study in this work the Lorentz boost of a Casimir cavity, on which little attention is paid to its momentum in historical works. We find that the vacuum energy and momentum carried by the cavity transform differently from those of point particles due to the cavity's extension feature. However, the mass-shell condition of the two are identical as long as the cavity is finite along the moving direction only.