1204.6475 (Nicola Bartolo et al.)

Electromagnetic field fluctuations near a dielectric-vacuum boundary and
surface divergences in the ideal conductor limit    [PDF]

Nicola Bartolo, Roberto Passante

We consider the electric and magnetic field fluctuations in the vacuum state in the region external to a half-space filled with a homogeneous non-dissipative dielectric. We discuss appropriate limits to a real and an ideal metal and concentrate our interest on the renormalized field fluctuations (or equivalently energy densities) in the proximity of the dielectric-vacuum interface. We show that, whereas in the real conductor case the renormalized field fluctuations are finite in any point of space, surface divergences at the interface arise in the ideal conductor limit, and we discuss in detail their structure. We stress that field fluctuations close to the surface can be investigated through the retarded Casimir-Polder interaction with an appropriate polarizable body.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.6475