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The Mathematics of the Casimir Effect - School of Mathematical ...

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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Casimir</strong> <strong>Effect</strong><br />

Making Sense <strong>of</strong> Infinity - Infinity<br />

Conclusion<br />

Summing Divergent Series<br />

<strong>The</strong> Ma<strong>the</strong>matical Setting<br />

Divergent Series<br />

Euler-Maclaurin Formula<br />

Abel-Plana Formula<br />

Some divergent series can be summed in a sensible way . . .<br />

S =<br />

∞∑<br />

(−1) n = 1 − 1 + 1 − 1 + 1 − 1 + . . .<br />

n=0<br />

Cesaro summation: let S N = P N<br />

n=0 (−1)n and compute<br />

Abel summation:<br />

1<br />

S = lim<br />

N→∞ N + 1<br />

S = lim<br />

x→1 −<br />

∞<br />

X<br />

n=0<br />

NX<br />

S N = 1 2<br />

n=0<br />

(−1) n x n = 1 2<br />

Borel summation, Euler summation, . . . : again S = 1 2<br />

∞∑<br />

. . . but some (such as n) cannot<br />

n=0<br />

Thomas Prellberg<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Ma<strong>the</strong>matics</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Casimir</strong> <strong>Effect</strong>

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