Calculating Vacuum Energies in Renormalizable Quantum Field Theories: A New Approach to the Casimir Problem

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method for calculating renormalized vacuum energies in quantum field theories by coupling fields to smooth potentials, providing a more physical alternative to traditional boundary condition models.

Contribution

It develops novel techniques using scattering data and Green's functions to compute finite Casimir energies, avoiding unphysical divergences associated with idealized boundary conditions.

Findings

The method yields finite energies for smooth potentials.

Divergences occur when approaching idealized boundary conditions.

Traditional boundary condition approaches can lead to invalid conclusions.

Abstract

The Casimir problem is usually posed as the response of a fluctuating quantum field to externally imposed boundary conditions. In reality, however, no interaction is strong enough to enforce a boundary condition on all frequencies of a fluctuating field. We construct a more physical model of the situation by coupling the fluctuating field to a smooth background potential that implements the boundary condition in a certain limit. To study this problem, we develop general new methods to compute renormalized one--loop quantum energies and energy densities. We use analytic properties of scattering data to compute Green's functions in time--independent background fields at imaginary momenta. Our calculational method is particularly useful for numerical studies of singular limits because it avoids terms that oscillate or require cancellation of exponentially growing and decaying factors. To renormalize, we identify potentially divergent contributions to the Casimir energy with low orders in the Born series to the Green's function. We subtract these contributions and add back the corresponding Feynman diagrams, which we combine with counterterms fixed by imposing standard renormalization conditions on low--order Green's functions. The resulting Casimir energy and energy density are finite functionals for smooth background potentials. In general, however, the Casimir energy diverges in the boundary condition limit. This divergence is real and reflects the infinite energy needed to constrain a fluctuating field on all energy scales; renormalizable quantum field theories have no place for ad hoc surface counterterms. We apply our methods to simple examples to illustrate cases where these subtleties invalidate the conclusions of the boundary condition approach.