Vacuum Energy as Spectral Geometry

Quantum vacuum energy (Casimir energy) is reviewed for a mathematical audience as a topic in spectral theory. Then some one-dimensional systems are solved exactly, in terms of closed classical paths and periodic orbits. The relations among local spectral densities, energy densities, global eigenvalu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Stephen A. Fulling
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: National Academy of Science of Ukraine 2007-09-01
Series:Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.emis.de/journals/SIGMA/2007/094/
Description
Summary:Quantum vacuum energy (Casimir energy) is reviewed for a mathematical audience as a topic in spectral theory. Then some one-dimensional systems are solved exactly, in terms of closed classical paths and periodic orbits. The relations among local spectral densities, energy densities, global eigenvalue densities, and total energies are demonstrated. This material provides background and motivation for the treatment of higher-dimensional systems (self-adjoint second-order partial differential operators) by semiclassical approximation and other methods.
ISSN:1815-0659