Electromagnetic Viscosity in Complex Structured Environments: From black-body to Quantum Friction

Abstract

We investigate the nonconservative open-system dynamics of an atom in a generic complex structured electromagnetic environment at temperature $T$. In such systems, when the atom moves along a translation-invariant axis of the environment, a frictional force acts on the particle. The effective viscosity due to friction results from the nonequilibrium interaction with the fluctuating (quantum) electromagnetic field, which effectively sets a privileged reference frame. We study the impact of both quantum or thermal fluctuations on the interaction and highlight how they induce qualitatively different types of viscosity, i.e. quantum and black-body friction. To this end, we develop a self-consistent non-Markovian description that contains the latter as special cases. In particular, we show how the interplay between the nonequilibrium dynamics, the quantum and the thermal properties of the radiation, as well as the confinement of light at the vacuum-material interface is responsible for several interesting and intriguing features. Our analyses is relevant for a future experimental test of noncontact friction and the resulting electromagnetic viscosity.

16 pages, 8 figures

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Wading through the void: Exploring quantum friction and nonequilibrium fluctuations
• Quantum friction in the presence of a perfectly conducting plate
• Quantum Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relations, Generalized Current Fluctuations and Nonequilibrium Fluctuation-Dissipation Inequalities
• Foundational Issues in Dynamical Casimir Effect and Analogue Features in Cosmological Particle Creation
• Thermal Radiation Force and Torque on Moving Nanostructures with Anisotropic Optical Response
• Atom-Field-Medium Interactions I: Graded Influence Actions for $N$ Harmonic Atoms in a Dielectric-Altered Quantum Field