Dynamical Casimir effect and quantum cosmology - art. no. 064005

We apply the background field method and the effective action formalism to describe the four-dimensional dynamical Casimir effect. Our picture corresp onds to the consideration of quantum cosmology for an expanding FRW univers e (the boundary conditions act as a moving mirror) filled by a quantum mass less GUT which is conformally invariant. We consider cases in which the sta tic Casimir energy is attractive and repulsive. Inserting the simplest poss ible inertial term, we find, in the adiabatic (and semiclassical) approxima tion, the dynamical evolution of the scale factor and the dynamical Casimir stress analytically and numerically [for SU(2) super Yang-Mills theory]. A lternative kinetic energy terms are explored in the appendix.