One-loop effective action and the Riemann Zeros

We present a remarkable connection between the asymptotic behavior of the Riemann zeros and one-loop effective action in Euclidean scalar field theory. We show that in a two-dimensional space, the asymptotic behavior of the Fourier transform of two-point correlation functions fits the asymptotic distribution of the non-trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function. We work out an explicit example, namely the non-linear sigma model in the leading order in $1/N$ expansion.

Casimir Energy Corrections by Light-Cone Fluctuations

We study the effects of light-cone fluctuations on the renormalized zero-point energy associated with a free massless scalar field in the presence of boundaries. In order to simulate light-cone fluctuations we introduce a space-time dependent random coefficient in the Klein-Gordon operator. We assume that the field is defined in a domain with one confined direction. For simplicity, we choose the symmetric case of two parallel plates separated by a distance $a$. The correction to the renormalized vacuum energy density between the plates goes as $1/a^{8}$ instead of the usual $1/a^{4}$ dependence for the free case. In turn we also show that light-cone fluctuations break down the vacuum pressure homogeneity between the plates.