No Arabic abstract
In this paper we compute the Casimir energy for a coupled fermion-pseudoscalar field system. In the model considered in this paper the pseudoscalar field is textit{static} and textit{prescribed} with two adjustable parameters. These parameters determine the values of the field at infinity ($pm theta_0$) and its scale of variation ($mu$). One can build up a field configuration with arbitrary topological charge by changing $theta_0$, and interpolate between the extreme adiabatic and non-adiabatic regimes by changing $mu$. This system is exactly solvable and therefore we compute the Casimir energy exactly and unambiguously by using an energy density subtraction scheme. We show that in general the Casimir energy goes to zero in the extreme adiabatic limit, and in the extreme non-adiabatic limit when the asymptotic values of the pseudoscalar field properly correspond to a configuration with an arbitrary topological charge. Moreover, in general the Casimir energy is always positive and on the average an increasing function of $theta_0$ and always has local maxima when there is a zero mode, showing that these configurations are energetically unfavorable. We also compute and display the energy densities associated with the spectral deficiencies in both of the continua, and those of the bound states. We show that the energy densities associated with the distortion of the spectrum of the states with $E>0$ and $E<0$ are mirror images of each other. We also compute and display the Casimir energy density. Finally we compute the energy of a system consisting of a soliton and a valance electron and show that the Casimir energy of the system is comparable with the binding energy.
We compute the Casimir energy for a system consisting of a fermion and a pseudoscalar field in the form of a prescribed kink. This model is not exactly solvable and we use the phase shift method to compute the Casimir energy. We use the relaxation method to find the bound states and the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method to obtain the scattering wavefunctions of the fermion in the whole interval of $x$. The resulting phase shifts are consistent with the weak and strong forms of the Levinson theorem. Then, we compute and plot the Casimir energy as a function of the parameters of the pseudoscalar field, i.e. the slope of $phi(x)$ at x=0 ($mu$) and the value of $phi(x)$ at infinity ($theta_0$). In the graph of the Casimir energy as a function of $mu$ there is a sharp maximum occurring when the fermion bound state energy crosses the line of E=0. Furthermore, this graph shows that the Casimir energy goes to zero for $murightarrow 0$, and also for $murightarrow infty$ when $theta_0$ is an integer multiple of $pi$. Moreover, the graph of the Casimir energy as a function of $theta_0$ shows that this energy is on the average an increasing function of $theta_0$ and has a cusp whenever there is a zero fermionic mode. We finally compute the total energy of a system consisting of a valence fermion in the ground state. Most importantly, we show that this energy (the sum of the Casimir energy and the energy of the fermion) is minimum when the background field has winding number one, independent of the details of the background profile. Throughout the paper we compare our results with those of a simple exactly solvable model, where a piece-wise linear profile approximates the kink. We find that the kink is an almost reflectionless barrier for the fermions, within the context of our model.
We consider a fermion chirally coupled to a prescribed pseudoscalar field in the form of the soliton of the sine-Gordon model and calculate and investigate the Casimir energy and all of the relevant quantities for each parity channel, separately. We present and use a simple prescription to construct the simultaneous eigenstates of the Hamiltonian and parity in the continua from the scattering states. We also use a prescription we had introduced earlier to calculate unique expressions for the phase shifts and check their consistency with both the weak and strong forms of the Levinson theorem. In the graphs of the total and parity decomposed Casimir energies as a function of the parameters of the pseudoscalar field distinctive deformations appear whenever a fermionic bound state energy level with definite parity crosses the line of zero energy. However, the latter graphs reveal some properties of the system which cannot be seen from the graph of the total Casimir energy. Finally we consider a system consisting of a valence fermion in the ground state and find that the most energetically favorable configuration is the one with a soliton of winding number one, and this conclusion does not hold for each parity, separately.
We investigate a coupled system of a Dirac particle and a pseudoscalar field in the form of a soliton in (1+1) dimensions and find some of its exact solutions numerically. We solve the coupled set of equations self-consistently and non-perturbatively by the use of a numerical method and obtain the bound states of the fermion and the shape of the soliton. That is the shape of the static soliton in this problem is not prescribed and is determined by the equations themselves. This work goes beyond the perturbation theory in which the back reaction of the fermion on soliton is its first order correction. We compare our results to those of an exactly solvable model in which the soliton is prescribed. We show that, as expected, the total energy of our system is lower than the prescribed one. We also compute non-perturbatively the vacuum polarization of the fermion induced by the presence of the soliton and display the results. Moreover, we compute the soliton mass as a function of the boson and fermion masses and find that the results are consistent with Skyrmes phenomenological conjecture. Finally, we show that for fixed values of the parameters, the shape of the soliton obtained from our exact solutions depends slightly on the fermionic state to which it is coupled. However, the exact shape of the soliton is always very close to the isolated kink.
In this paper we study the behavior of the Casimir energy of a multi-cavity across the transition from the metallic to the superconducting phase of the constituting plates. Our analysis is carried out in the framework of the ARCHIMEDES experiment, aiming at measuring the interaction of the electromagnetic vacuum energy with a gravitational field. For this purpose it is foreseen to modulate the Casimir energy of a layered structure composing a multi-cavity coupled system by inducing a transition from the metallic to the superconducting phase. This implies a thorough study of the behavior of the cavity, where normal metallic layers are alternated with superconducting layers, across the transition. Our study finds that, because of the coupling between the cavities, mainly mediated by the transverse magnetic modes of the radiation field, the variation of energy across the transition can be very large.
The fermion condensate (FC) is investigated for a (2+1)-dimensional massive fermionic field confined on a truncated cone with an arbitrary planar angle deficit and threaded by a magnetic flux. Different combinations of the boundary conditions are imposed on the edges of the cone. They include the bag boundary condition as a special case. By using the generalized Abel-Plana-type summation formula for the series over the eigenvalues of the radial quantum number, the edge-induced contributions in the FC are explicitly extracted. The FC is an even periodic function of the magnetic flux with the period equal to the flux quantum. Depending on the boundary conditions, the condensate can be either positive or negative. For a massless field the FC in the boundary-free conical geometry vanishes and the nonzero contributions are purely edge-induced effects. This provides a mechanism for time-reversal symmetry breaking in the absence of magnetic fields. Combining the results for the fields corresponding to two inequivalent irreducible representations of the Clifford algebra, the FC is investigated in the parity and time-reversal symmetric fermionic models and applications are discussed for graphitic cones.