First analytic correction to the proximity force approximation in the Casimir effect between two parallel cylinders

Abstract

We consider the small separation asymptotic expansions of the Casimir interaction energy and the Casimir interaction force between two parallel cylinders. The leading order terms and the next-to-leading order terms are computed analytically. Four combinations of boundary conditions are considered, which are Dirichlet-Dirichlet (DD), Neumann-Neumann (NN), Dirichlet-Neumann (DN) and Neumann-Dirichlet (ND). For the case where one cylinder is inside another cylinder, the computations are shown in detail. In this case, we restrict our attention to the situation where the cylinders are strictly eccentric and the distance between the cylinders $d$ is much smaller than the distance between the centers of the cylinders. The computations for the case where the two cylinders are exterior to each other can be done in the same way and we only present the results, which turn up to be similar to the results for the case where one cylinder is inside another except for some changes of signs. In all the scenarios we consider, the leading order terms are of order $d^{-7/2}$ and they agree completely with the proximity force approximations. The results for the next-to-leading order terms are new. In the limiting case where the radius of the larger cylinder approaches infinity, the well-known results for the cylinder-plate configuration with DD or NN boundary conditions are recovered.