document: A fluctuating vacuum is a general feature of quantum fields, of which the free Maxwell field considered in [1–12] is but one example. Fermionic fields such as that describing the electron, also undergo vacuum fluctuations, consequently one expects to find Casimir effects associated with such fields whenever they are confined in some way. Such effects were first investigated in the context of nuclear physics, within the so-called “MIT bag model” of the nucleon [13]. In the bag-model one envisages the nucleon as a collection of fermionic fields describing confined quarks. These quarks are subject to a boundary condition at the surface of the ‘bag’ that represents the nucleon’s surface. Just as in the electromagnetic case, the bag boundary condition modifies the vacuum fluctuations of the field, which results in the appearance of a Casimir force [14–18]. This force, although very weak at a macroscopic scale, can be significant on the small length scales encountered in nuclear physics. It therefore has important consequences for the physics of the bag-model nucleon [19].
doc_bio_tags: O B I O O O O O B I O O O B I I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O B I O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O B I I I I I O O O O O O O B O B I I I I I I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I I I I I I I I I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B O
extractive_keyphrases: a collection of fermionic fields describing confined quarks casimir effects casimir force fermionic fields fluctuating vacuum free maxwell field “mit bag model” of the nucleon nuclear physics nucleon quantum fields such fields the bag boundary condition modifies the vacuum fluctuations of the field undergo vacuum fluctuations
abstractive_keyphrases: bag-model nucleon