Casimir forces from a loop integral formulation

Abstract

Abstract. We reformulate the Casimir force between bodies in non-trivial background media. The force may be written in terms of loop variables, the loop being a curve around the scattering sites. A natural path ordering of exponentials takes place when a particular representation of the scattering centres is given. The basic object to be evaluated is a reduced (or abbreviated) classical pseudo-action that can be operator valued, and can be obtained from a classical path integral description.