Francqui Symposium:              Fluctuation-Induced phenomena             Leuven, 20 August 2013

A Plethora of

Fluctuation-Induced Interactions

Mehran Kardar

G. Bimonte, T. Emig, N. Graham, R. Jaffe

R. Golestanian, Y. Kantor, J. Rudnik, R. Zandi

Jamal Rahi, Mohammad Maghrebi


Outline

I.       Casimir force in QED: Theory, Experiment, & Application                                          

II.     Thermal Casimir force: Critical fluctuations, Superfluid films                                

III.    Membranes and more: Forces between inclusions

IV.    Scale-Invariant Shapes: Wedges and cones      

V.     Entropic Force on Polymers: Cone-tip attached polymer

Phantom polymers

Self-avoiding polymers

VI.    Summary