{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/62652"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/62652","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Scattering theory approach to electrodynamic Casimir forces","abstract":"We give a comprehensive presentation of methods for calculating the Casimir force to arbitrary accuracy, for any number of objects, arbitrary shapes, susceptibility functions, and separations. The technique is applicable to objects immersed in media other than vacuum, nonzero temperatures, and spatial arrangements in which one object is enclosed in another. Our method combines each object's classical electromagnetic scattering amplitude with universal translation matrices, which convert between the bases used to calculate scattering for each object, but are otherwise independent of the details of the individual objects. The method is illustrated by rederiving the Lifshitz formula for infinite half spaces, by demonstrating the Casimir-Polder to van der Waals cross-over, and by computing the Casimir interaction energy of two infinite, parallel, perfect metal cylinders either inside or outside one another. Furthermore, it is used to obtain recent results: the Casimir energies of i) a sphere or ii) a cylinder opposite a plate, all with finite permittivity and permeability, to leading order at large separation, iii) a parabolic cylinder opposite a plate, both representing perfect metal boundaries, and iv) a sphere or spheroid inside a cavity, where both the inside object and the cavity walls have realistic material properties. We also examine whether electrodynamic Casimir forces can lead to stable levitation. Neglecting permeabilities, we find that any equilibrium position of objects subject to such forces is unstable if the permittivities of all objects are higher or lower than that of the enveloping medium; the former being the generic case for ordinary materials in vacuum.","abstract_html":"We give a comprehensive presentation of methods for calculating the Casimir force to arbitrary accuracy, for any number of objects, arbitrary shapes, susceptibility functions, and separations. The technique is applicable to objects immersed in media other than vacuum, nonzero temperatures, and spatial arrangements in which one object is enclosed in another. Our method combines each object's classical electromagnetic scattering amplitude with universal translation matrices, which convert between the bases used to calculate scattering for each object, but are otherwise independent of the details of the individual objects. The method is illustrated by rederiving the Lifshitz formula for infinite half spaces, by demonstrating the Casimir-Polder to van der Waals cross-over, and by computing the Casimir interaction energy of two infinite, parallel, perfect metal cylinders either inside or outside one another. Furthermore, it is used to obtain recent results: the Casimir energies of i) a sphere or ii) a cylinder opposite a plate, all with finite permittivity and permeability, to leading order at large separation, iii) a parabolic cylinder opposite a plate, both representing perfect metal boundaries, and iv) a sphere or spheroid inside a cavity, where both the inside object and the cavity walls have realistic material properties. We also examine whether electrodynamic Casimir forces can lead to stable levitation. Neglecting permeabilities, we find that any equilibrium position of objects subject to such forces is unstable if the permittivities of all objects are higher or lower than that of the enveloping medium; the former being the generic case for ordinary materials in vacuum.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Rahi, Sahand Jamal"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Mehran Kardar and Robert L. Jaffe."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010","date_published":"2010","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:06Z","subjects":["Physics."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62652","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Mehran Kardar and Robert L. Jaffe."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Rahi, Sahand Jamal"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2011-05-09T15:14:41Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2011-05-09T15:14:41Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2010"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Physics."]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62652"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2010.","Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-123)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["We give a comprehensive presentation of methods for calculating the Casimir force to arbitrary accuracy, for any number of objects, arbitrary shapes, susceptibility functions, and separations. The technique is applicable to objects immersed in media other than vacuum, nonzero temperatures, and spatial arrangements in which one object is enclosed in another. Our method combines each object's classical electromagnetic scattering amplitude with universal translation matrices, which convert between the bases used to calculate scattering for each object, but are otherwise independent of the details of the individual objects. The method is illustrated by rederiving the Lifshitz formula for infinite half spaces, by demonstrating the Casimir-Polder to van der Waals cross-over, and by computing the Casimir interaction energy of two infinite, parallel, perfect metal cylinders either inside or outside one another. Furthermore, it is used to obtain recent results: the Casimir energies of i) a sphere or ii) a cylinder opposite a plate, all with finite permittivity and permeability, to leading order at large separation, iii) a parabolic cylinder opposite a plate, both representing perfect metal boundaries, and iv) a sphere or spheroid inside a cavity, where both the inside object and the cavity walls have realistic material properties. We also examine whether electrodynamic Casimir forces can lead to stable levitation. Neglecting permeabilities, we find that any equilibrium position of objects subject to such forces is unstable if the permittivities of all objects are higher or lower than that of the enveloping medium; the former being the generic case for ordinary materials in vacuum."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Scattering theory approach to electrodynamic Casimir forces"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Mehran Kardar and Robert L. Jaffe."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics."],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics."],"dc:creator":["Rahi, Sahand Jamal"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2011-05-09T15:14:41Z"],"dc:date.available":["2011-05-09T15:14:41Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2010"],"dc:description":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2010.","Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-123)."],"dc:description.abstract":["We give a comprehensive presentation of methods for calculating the Casimir force to arbitrary accuracy, for any number of objects, arbitrary shapes, susceptibility functions, and separations. The technique is applicable to objects immersed in media other than vacuum, nonzero temperatures, and spatial arrangements in which one object is enclosed in another. Our method combines each object's classical electromagnetic scattering amplitude with universal translation matrices, which convert between the bases used to calculate scattering for each object, but are otherwise independent of the details of the individual objects. The method is illustrated by rederiving the Lifshitz formula for infinite half spaces, by demonstrating the Casimir-Polder to van der Waals cross-over, and by computing the Casimir interaction energy of two infinite, parallel, perfect metal cylinders either inside or outside one another. Furthermore, it is used to obtain recent results: the Casimir energies of i) a sphere or ii) a cylinder opposite a plate, all with finite permittivity and permeability, to leading order at large separation, iii) a parabolic cylinder opposite a plate, both representing perfect metal boundaries, and iv) a sphere or spheroid inside a cavity, where both the inside object and the cavity walls have realistic material properties. We also examine whether electrodynamic Casimir forces can lead to stable levitation. Neglecting permeabilities, we find that any equilibrium position of objects subject to such forces is unstable if the permittivities of all objects are higher or lower than that of the enveloping medium; the former being the generic case for ordinary materials in vacuum."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62652"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Physics."],"dc:title":["Scattering theory approach to electrodynamic Casimir forces"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:06Z"}