On the interaction of a charge with a plasma sheet

M. Bordag

(University of Leipzig)

arXiv0704.3845v1 [quant-ph], Phys.Rev.D, to appear

Motivation

Call it: thick boundary conditions

Call it: thin boundary conditions

Heuristic explanation:1. Thick boundary conditions apply if there is a conducting bulk behind the

surface enforcing the normal component of the electric field to vanish too2. Thin boundary conditions are not applicable to real conductors because of

their finite thickness

Question: is there a physical situation where thin boundary conditions could apply?

Answer: yes Plasma shell model

g_3

g_TM

g_TE

Conclusions

•Now there is a physical realization for ‘thin’ boundary conditions

•The reduced Casimir-Polder force is reproduced

•The origin of the discrepancy with the standard treatment is still unclear

•There should be a smooth transition from a bulk conductor to a thin one

(assuming a regularization like the plasma shell is present)