Gravitation of the Casimir Effect and the Cosmological Non-Constant

TL;DR

This paper investigates how vacuum energy, exemplified by the Casimir effect between plates, interacts with gravity, suggesting that if the cosmological constant originates from zero-point energy, it could fluctuate due to gravitational influences.

Contribution

It provides a calculation of the Casimir effect in a weak gravitational field, exploring the gravitational and inertial properties of vacuum energy.

Findings

Gravitational corrections to the Casimir effect are derived.

Vacuum energy may fluctuate under gravitational influence.

Implications for the nature of the cosmological constant are discussed.

Abstract

Whereas the total energy in zero-point fluctuations of the particle physics vacuum gives rise to the cosmological constant problem, differences in the vacuum give rise to real physical phenomena, such as the Casimir effect. Hence we consider the zero-point energy bound between two parallel conducting plates -- proxy for a solid slice of cosmological constant -- as a convenient laboratory in which to investigate the gravitation and inertia of vacuum energy. We calculate the Casimir effect in a weak gravitational field, obtaining corrections to the vacuum stress-energy and attractive force on the plates due to the curvature of spacetime. These results suggest that if the cosmological constant is due to zero-point energy then it is susceptible to fluctuations induced by gravitational sources.