On the Casimir energy of the electromagnetic field in the dispersive and absorptive medium

Abstract

The microscopic theory of the Casimir effect in the dielectric is studied in the framework when absorption is realized via a reservoir modeled by a set of oscillators with continuously distributed frquencies with the aim to see if the effects depend on the form of interaction with the reservoir. A simple case of the one-dimensional dielectric between two metallic plates is considered. Two possible models are investigated, the direct interaction of the electromagnetic field with the reservoir and indirect interaction via an intermediate oscillator imitating the atom. It is found that with the same dielectric constant the Casimir effect is different in these two cases, which implies that in the second model it cannot be entirely expressed via the dielectric constant as in the well-known Lifshitz formula.