Identity of the van der Waals Force and the Casimir Effect and the Irrelevance of These Phenomena to Sonoluminescence

Iver Brevik, Valery N. Marachevsky, and Kimball A. Milton
Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3948 – Published 17 May 1999
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Abstract

We show that the Casimir, or zero-point, energy of a dilute dielectric ball, or of a spherical bubble in a dielectric medium, coincides with the sum of the van der Waals energies between the molecules that make up the medium. That energy, which is finite and repulsive when self-energy and surface effects are removed, may be unambiguously calculated by either dimensional continuation or by zeta-function regularization. This physical interpretation of the Casimir energy seems to be unambiguous evidence that the bulk self-energy cannot be relevant to sonoluminescence.

  • Received 12 October 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.3948

©1999 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Iver Brevik*

  • Division of Applied Mechanics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway

Valery N. Marachevsky

  • Department of Theoretical Physics, St. Petersburg University, 198 904 St. Petersburg, Russia

Kimball A. Milton

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019

  • *Electronic address: iver.h.brevik@mtf.ntnu.no
  • Electronic address: root@vm1485.spb.edu
  • Electronic address: milton@mail.nhn.ou.edu

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Issue

Vol. 82, Iss. 20 — 17 May 1999

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