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Conformal field theory of critical Casimir forces between surfaces with alternating boundary conditions in two dimensions

TitleConformal field theory of critical Casimir forces between surfaces with alternating boundary conditions in two dimensions
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsDubail J, Santachiara R, Emig T
JournalJournal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment
Pagination Article Number 033201
Date PublishedMar-2017
KeywordsCasimir effect; conformal field theory; critical exponents and amplitudes
Abstract

Systems as diverse as binary mixtures and inclusions in biological membranes, and many more, can be described effectively by interacting spins. When the critical fluctuations in these systems are constrained by boundary conditions, critical Casimir forces (CCF) emerge. Here we analyze CCF between boundaries with alternating boundary conditions in two dimensions, employing conformal field theory (CFT). After presenting the concept of boundary changing operators, we specifically consider two different boundary configurations for a strip of critical Ising spins: (I) alternating equi-sized domains of up and down spins on both sides of the strip, with a possible lateral shift, and (II) alternating domains of up and down spins of different size on one side and homogeneously fixed spins on the other side of the strip. Asymptotic results for the CCF at small and large distances are derived. We introduce a novel modified Szego formula for determinants of real antisymmetric block Toeplitz matrices to obtain the exact CCF and the corresponding scaling functions at all distances. We demonstrate the existence of a surface renormalization group flow between universal force amplitudes of different magnitude and sign. The Casimir force can vanish at a stable equilibrium position that can be controlled by parameters of the boundary conditions. Lateral Casimir forces assume a universal simple cosine form at large separations.

URLhttp://stacks.iop.org/1742-5468/2017/i=3/a=033201?key=crossref.e58e04fb8593248b573c53589bed0f1d
DOI10.1088/1742-5468/aa5a68
Short TitleJ. Stat. Mech.
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