Casimir effect in Lorentz-violating scalar field theory: a local approach

Abstract

We study the Casimir effect in the classical geometry of two parallel conductive plates, separated by a distance $L$, for a Lorentz-breaking extension of the scalar field theory. The Lorentz-violating part of the theory is characterized by the term $\lambda \left( u \cdot \partial \phi \right )^{2}$, where the parameter $\lambda$ and the background four-vector $u ^{\mu}$ codify Lorentz symmetry violation. We use Green's function techniques to study the local behavior of the vacuum stress-energy tensor in the region between the plates. Closed analytical expressions are obtained for the Casimir energy and pressure. We show that the energy density $\mathcal{E}_{C}$ (and hence the pressure) can be expressed in terms of the Lorentz-invariant energy density $\mathcal{E}_{0}$ as follows \begin{align} \mathcal{E}_{C} (L) = \sqrt{\frac{1-\lambda u_{n} ^{2}}{1 + \lambda u ^{2}}} \mathcal{E}_{0} (\tilde{L}) , \notag \end{align} where $\tilde{L} = L / \sqrt{1-\lambda u_{n} ^{2}}$ is a rescaled plate-to-plate separation and $u_{n}$ is the component of $\vec{{u}}$ along the normal to the plates. As usual, divergences of the local Casimir energy do not contribute to the pressure.