Finite temperature Casimir effect on spherical shells in (D+1)-dimensional spacetime and its high temperature limit

Abstract

We consider the finite temperature Casimir free energy acting on a spherical shell in (D+1)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime due to the vacuum fluctuations of scalar and electromagnetic fields. Dirichlet, Neumann, perfectly conducting and infinitely permeable boundary conditions are considered. The Casimir free energy is regularized using zeta functional regularization technique. To renormalize the Casimir free energy, we compute the heat kernel coefficients $c_n$, $0\leq n\leq D+1$, from the zeta function $\zeta(s)$. After renormalization, the high temperature leading term of the Casimir free energy is $-c_DT\ln T-T \zeta'(0)/2$. Explicit expressions for the renormalized Casimir free energy and $\zeta'(0)$ are derived. The dependence of the renormalized Casimir free energy on temperature is shown graphically.