The thermal Casimir effect for conducting plates and the Bohr-van Leeuwen theorem

Abstract

We examine recent prescriptions for estimating the thermal Casimir force between two metallic plates from the point of view of their consistency with the Bohr-van Leeuwen theorem of classical statistical physics. We find that prescriptions including the effect of ohmic dissipation satisfy the theorem, while prescriptions that neglect ohmic dissipation do not.

3 pages, contribution to the proceedings of the QFEXT09 conference, 21-25 September, 2009, Norman, Oklahoma, USA