On the Derivative Expansion for the Electromagnetic Casimir Free Energy at High Temperatures

Abstract

We study the contribution of the thermal zero modes to the Casimir free energy, in the case of a fluctuating electromagnetic (EM) field in the presence of real materials described by frequency-dependent, local and isotropic permittivity ($\epsilon$) and permeability ($\mu$) functions. Those zero modes, present at any finite temperature, become dominant at high temperatures, since the theory is dimensionally reduced. Our work, within the context of the Derivative Expansion (DE) approach, focusses on the emergence of non analyticities in that dimensionally reduced theory. We conclude that the DE is well defined whenever the function $\Omega(\omega)$, defined by $[\Omega(\omega)]^2 \equiv \omega^2\epsilon(\omega)$, vanishes in the zero-frequency limit, for at least one of the two material media involved.