Electromagnetic field correlators, Maxwell stress tensor, and the Casimir effect for parallel walls

Abstract

We evaluate the quantum electromagnetic field correlators associated with the electromagnetic vacuum distorted by the presence of two plane parallel conducting walls and in the presence of a conducting wall parallel to a perfectly magnetically permeable one. Regularization is performed through the generalized zeta funtion technique. Results are applied to rederive the atractive and repulsive Casimir effect through Maxwell stress tensor. Surface divergences are shown to cancel out when stresses on both sides of the material surface are taken into account.