What the Casimir-Effect really is telling about Zero-Point Energy

Casimir predicted an attractive force between metallic surfaces, which according to his model is caused by the zero-point oscillations of the quantized electromagnetic field. Following a suggestion by Casimir, we assume in this article that the reflection spectra of metals are at least approximately identical for the reflection of photons and the reflection of zero-point oscillations. It is shown that this assumption turns Casimir’s argument to the exact opposite: The observed Casimir-force positively proves, that the electromagnetic field’s zero-point energy does not exert forces onto metallic surfaces, if that assumption on reflectivity should be correct. We add reasons for the assertion, that Casimir’s assumption on reflectivity is probably wrong, and that an improved assumption is still disproving Casimir’s model. PACS numbers: 03.70.+k, 04.20.Cv 1. Zero-point energy When Heisenberg discovered quantum mechanics in 1925 [1], har-monic and anharmonic oscillators were the first systems, to which he applied his novel formalism. His equations led to the quantized energy-spectru