Exact Renormalized One-Loop Quantum Corrections to Energies of Solitonic Field Configurations

Abstract

We develop a method for computing exact one-loop quantum corrections to the energies of static classical backgrounds in renormalizable quantum field theories. We use a continuum density of states formalism to construct a regularized Casimir energy in terms of phase shifts and their Born approximations. This method unambiguously incorporates definite counterterms fixed in the standard way by physical renormalization conditions. The result is a robust computation that can be efficiently implemented both numerically and analytically. We carry out such calculations in models of bosons and fermions in one and three dimensions.