Casimir effects: An optical approach II. Local observables and thermal corrections

We recently proposed a new approach to the Casimir effect based on classical ray optics (the optical approximation). In this paper we show how to use it to calculate the local observables of the field theory. In particular, we study the energy-momentum tensor and the Casimir pressure. We work three examples in detail: parallel plates, the Casimir pendulum and a sphere opposite a plate. We also show how to calculate thermal corrections, proving that the high temperature 'classical limit' is indeed valid for any smooth geometry. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.