COMPLETE ZETA-FUNCTION APPROACH TO THE ELECTROMAGNETIC CASIMIR EFFECTFOR SPHERES AND CIRCLES

A method for evaluating the electromagnetic Casimir energy in situatio ns involving spherical or circular boundaries is presented. Zeta funct ion regularization is unambiguously used from the start and the proper ties of Bessel and related zeta functions are central. Non-trivial res ults concerning these functions are given. While part of their applica tion agrees with previous knowledge, new results like the zeta-regular ized electromagnetic Casimir energy for a circular wire are included. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.