The origin of the friction between sliding bodies establishes an outstanding scientific problem. In this article, we demonstrate that the energy loss in each microscopic slip event between the bodies readily follows from the dephasing of phonons that are generated in the slip process. The dephasing mechanism directly links the typical timescales of the lattice vibrations with those of the experienced energy 'dissipation' and manifests itself as if the slip-induced motion were close to critically damped. Graphical abstractPublisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

We are grateful to Dr. B.N.J. Persson for his prompt attention to our work (Hu et al. in Tribol Lett, https ://doi.org/10.1007/ s1124 9-019-1247-7, 2020). In his Comment, he remarks (i) that near-critical damping of motion in/on solids, one of our main results, is well known for atoms and molecules at surfaces and (ii) that this result may be invalid for real practical cases (Persson in Tribol Lett, this issue). We fully agree with both statements. However, some discussion is justified.