Science Colloquium
Empty Space is Not so Empty: The Reality of Casimir Energies
Dr. Ariel Edery
Bishop's University
Thursday, September 29, 2005
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Johnson Room 20
A landmark 1997 experiment confirmed the reality of a somewhat esoteric force called the Casimir force predicted more than 50 years ago by the Dutch scientist H.G.B. Casimir. Empty space or the vacuum is actually filled with energy due to quantum fluctuations. This energy is in general everywhere and infinite and part of the background. If it is part of the background, how can we detect it? When fields are constrained by boundaries, say between two plates, then there is a finite difference between the infinite energy of empty space with boundaries and the infinite energy of empty space without boundaries. This difference is called the Casimir energy and it leads to a tiny force if the two plates are a micron or less apart. One can make theoretical calculations of the Casimir force and such calculations were done way back starting in 1948. I will illustrate some simple examples. However, the experiments are very difficult due to the tiny nature of the force and was only confirmed by a series of modern experiments starting in 1997.
