The Casimir Effect on the Light-Cone

TL;DR

This paper explores the Casimir effect within light-cone quantization, revealing conditions under which the standard pressure result holds and identifying issues with regularization in light-cone directions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the behavior of the Casimir effect in light-cone quantization and discusses the implications for vacuum properties and thermodynamic calculations in this framework.

Findings

Standard Casimir pressure is obtained for spacelike separations.

No finite pressure exists for walls separated along the light-cone direction.

Implications for vacuum properties and thermodynamics in light-cone quantization are discussed.

Abstract

The Casimir effect is investigated in light-cone quantization. It is shown that for spacelike separation of the walls enclosing the system the standard result for the pressure exerted on the walls is obtained. For walls separated in light-cone space direction no regularization of the quantum fluctuations exists which would yield a finite pressure. The origin of this failure and its implications for other vacuum properties are discussed by analyzing the Casimir effect as seen from a moving observer approaching the speed of light. The possibility for calculation of thermodynamic quantities in light-cone quantization via the Casimir effect is pointed out.