Abstract
In discussions of the cosmological constant, the Casimir effect is often
invoked as decisive evidence that the zero point energies of quantum fields are
"real''. On the contrary, Casimir effects can be formulated and Casimir forces
can be computed without reference to zero point energies. They are
relativistic, quantum forces between charges and currents. The Casimir force
(per unit area) between parallel plates vanishes as \alpha, the fine structure
constant, goes to zero, and the standard result, which appears to be
independent of \alpha, corresponds to the \alpha\tolimit.
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