Parity violating cylindrical shell in the framework of QED

Abstract

We present calculations of Casimir energy (CE) in a system of quantized electromagnetic (EM) field interacting with an infinite circular cylindrical shell (which we call ‘the defect’). Interaction is described in the only QFT-consistent way by Chern–Simon action concentrated on the defect, with a single coupling constant a. For the regularization of UV divergencies of the theory, we use the Pauli–Villars regularization of the free-EM action. The divergencies are extracted as a polynomial in the regularization mass M, and they renormalize the classical part of the surface action. We reveal the dependence of CE on the coupling constant a. Corresponding Casimir force is attractive for all values of a. For a → ∞, we reproduce the known results for CE for perfectly conducting cylindrical shell first obtained by DeRaad and Milton. As a future task for solving existing arguments on observational status of (rigid) self-pressure of a single object, we propose for investigation a system which we call ‘Casimir drum’.