Thursday, October 4, 2007, 16:00
WHGA Auditorium
B. van Tiggelen,
Grenoble University
Abstract:
Casimir energy is undoubtedly one of the most facinating products of
quantum physics. Changes in Casimir energy give rise to Van de Waals
forces and produce the well-known attractive force between two metallic
plates. Direct manifestations of Casimir energy seem more controversal.
The difficult theoretical problem is how to cope with the UV catastrophe
of Casimir energy. Regularized forms have been brought in relation with
the stability of electrons and nuclei, sonoluminescence, and even with
the value of the cosmological constant. Quite recently the possibility
of Casimir momentum has been proposed to exist in certain so-called
"bi-anisotropic" complex media. Momentum is unambiguously observable.
This constitutes a unique observational test for field regularization
techniques. The talk is introductionary, reports on the present
state-of-the-art, and of course speculates about the future.