Macroscopic approach to the Casimir friction force

Abstract

The general formula is derived for the vacuum friction force between two parallel perfectly flat planes bounding two material media separated by a vacuum gap and moving relative to each other with a constant velocity $\mathbf{v}$. The material media are described in the framework of macroscopic electrodynamics whereas the nonzero temperature and dissipation are taken into account by making use of the Kubo formulae from non-equilibrium statistical thermodynamics. The formula obtained provides a rigorous basis for calculation of the vacuum friction force within the quantum field theory methods in the condensed matter physics. The revealed $v$-dependence of the vacuum friction force proves to be the following: for zero temperature ($T=0$) it is proportional to $(v/c{)}^3$ and for $T>0$ this force is linear in $(v/c)$.

8 pages, no figures, no tables, REVTeX4-1, The paper is considerably extended, new results are obtained, presentation is improved

References in corpus (2)

• No quantum friction between uniformly moving plates
• Casimir friction at zero and finite temperatures

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Giant non-equilibrium vacuum friction: Role of singular evanescent wave resonances in moving media
• Casimir Friction Between a Magnetic and a Dielectric Material, in the Nonretarded Limit
• Dynamically and Thermally Nonequilibrium Fluctuation-Electromagnetic Interactions: Recent Results and Trends