Exact classical sphere-plate Casimir interaction in (D+1)-dimensional spacetime

Abstract: We consider the high temperature limit of the Casimir interaction between a Dirichlet sphere and a Dirichlet plate due to the vacuum fluctuations of a scalar field in $(D+1)$-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. The high temperature leading term of the Casimir free interaction energy is known as the classical term since it does not depend on the Planck constant $\hbar$. From the functional representation of the zero temperature Casimir interaction energy, we use Matsubara formalism to derive the classical term. It can be expressed as a weighted sum over logarithms of determinants. Using similarity transforms of matrices, we re-express this classical term as an infinite series. This series is then computed exactly using generalized Abel-Plana summation formula. From this, we deduce the short distance asymptotic expansions of the classical Casimir interaction force. As expected, the leading term agrees with the proximity force approximation. The next two terms in the asymptotic expansion are also computed. It is observed that the ratio of the next-to-leading order term to the leading order term is proportional to the dimension of spacetime. Hence, a larger correction to the proximity force approximation is expected in spacetime with higher dimensions. This is similar to a previous result deduced for the zero temperature case.