Exact Results for Classical Casimir Interactions: Dirichlet and Drude Model in the Sphere-Sphere and Sphere-Plane Geometry

Abstract

Analytic expressions that describe Casimir interactions over the entire range of separations have been limited to planar surfaces. Here we derive analytic expressions for the classical or high-temperature limit of Casimir interactions between two spheres (interior and exterior configurations), including the sphere-plane geometry as a special case, using bispherical coordinates. We consider both Dirichlet boundary conditions and metallic boundary conditions described by the Drude model. At short distances, closed-form expansions are derived from the exact result, displaying an intricate structure of deviations from the commonly employed proximity force approximation.