Casimir effect around a screw dislocation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a screw dislocation in an elastic solid induces a measurable Casimir energy density for a scalar field, with exact formulas derived for various temperatures.

Contribution

It provides the first exact expression for Casimir energy around a screw dislocation, linking topological defects to quantum vacuum effects.

Findings

Casimir energy density is non-zero around screw dislocations.

Exact formulas are derived for zero and finite temperatures.

The energy depends on the Burgers vector of the defect.

Abstract

In this work, it is shown that a non-zero vacuum energy density (the Casimir energy) for a scalar field appears in a continuous elastic solid due to the presence of a topological defect, the screw dislocation. An exact expression is obtained for this energy density in terms of the Burgers vector describing the defect, for zero and finite temperature.