Finite temperature and boundary effects in static space-times

Abstract

Expressions are derived for the free energy of a massless scalar gas confined to a spatial cavity in a static space-time at a finite temperature. A high temperature expansion is presented in terms of the Minakshisundaram coefficients. This gives curvature and boundary corrections to the Planckian form. The regularisation used is the zeta function one, and yields a finite total internal energy. However, it is known that the local energy density diverges in a non-integrable way as the boundary is approached. A 'surface energy' is suggested to reconcile these two facts. Explicit expressions for the total energy inside two infinite rectangular waveguides are obtained.