DISPERSION FORCES AND DUALITY

We formulate a symmetry principle on the basis of the duality of electric and magnetic fields and apply it to dispersion forces. Within the context of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics, we rigorously establish duality invariance for the free electromagnetic field in the presence of causal magnetoelectrics. Dispersion forces are given in terms of the Green tensor for the electromagnetic field and the atomic response functions. After discussing the behavior of the Green tensor under a duality transformation, we are able to show that Casimir forces on bodies in free space as well as local-field corrected Casimir–Polder and van der Waals forces are duality invariant.