Generalized quantum spring

Abstract

Recently, it was found that after imposing a helix boundary condition on a scalar field, the Casimir force coming from the quantum effect is linearly proportional to r, which is the ratio of the pitch to the circumference of the helix. This linear behavior of the Casimir force is just like that of the force obeying Hooke’s law on a spring. In this paper, inspired by some complex structures that live in the cells of human body like DNA, protein, collagen, etc., we generalize the helix boundary condition to a more general one, in which the helix consists of a tiny helix structure, and makes up a hierarchy of helix. After imposing this kind of boundary condition on a massless and a massive scalar, we calculate the Casimir energy and force by using the so-called zeta function regularization method. We find that Hooke’s law with the generalized helix boundary condition is not exactly the same as the usual one. In this case, the force is proportional to the cube of r instead. So, we regard it as a generalized Hooke’s law, which is complied by a generalized quantum spring.