In one minute

Panja, Inacio, Pal and Boström present theory and numerical results on the magnetic Casimir interaction produced by vacuum fluctuations of the quantised field, at nuclear distances. They investigate how the zero-temperature Casimir effect at those scales can reach the black-body temperatures needed to create a magnetic electron-positron plasma. The plasma's magnetic permeability and any magnetic fields shape the screened Casimir-Yukawa potentials between perfectly conducting surfaces. They draw out consequences for that potential, its screening length, and a permeability-dependent quantity resembling the meson mass. The work connects to results showing magnetic fields can tune the measured Casimir force and create electrons and positrons from the vacuum.

Casimir forces across magnetic plasmas at nuclear separations