Casimir Effect: The Classical Limit

Feinberg, Joshua; Mann, A.; Revzen, M.

doi:10.1006/aphy.2000.6118

Cited by 102 publications

(113 citation statements)

References 113 publications

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“…It was shown that the dielectric permittivity of the plasma model leads to small thermal corrections to the Casimir pressure at short separations in qualitative agreement with the case of ideal metals. At large separations it leads to the same result as for ideal metals in accordance to the classical limit [73,74].…”

Section: As Well]supporting

confidence: 66%

Thermal correction to the Casimir force, radiative heat transfer, and an experiment

et al. 2007

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Abstract. The low-temperature asymptotic expressions for the Casimir interaction between two real metals described by Leontovich surface impedance are obtained in the framework of thermal quantum field theory. It is shown that the Casimir entropy computed using the impedance of infrared optics vanishes in the limit of zero temperature. By contrast, the Casimir entropy computed using the impedance of the Drude model attains at zero temperature a positive value which depends on the parameters of a system, i.e., the Nernst heat theorem is violated. Thus, the impedance of infrared optics withstands the thermodynamic test, whereas the impedance of the Drude model does not. We also perform a phenomenological analysis of the thermal Casimir force and of the radiative heat transfer through a vacuum gap between real metal plates. The characterization of a metal by means of the Leontovich impedance of the Drude model is shown to be inconsistent with experiment at separations of a few hundred nanometers. A modification of the impedance of infrared optics is suggested taking into account relaxation processes. The power of radiative heat transfer predicted from this impedance is several times less than previous predictions due to different contributions from the transverse electric evanescent waves. The physical meaning of low frequencies in the Lifshitz formula is discussed. It is concluded that new measurements of radiative heat transfer are required to find out the adequate description of a metal in the theory of electromagnetic fluctuations.

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Section: As Well]supporting

confidence: 66%

Thermal correction to the Casimir force, radiative heat transfer, and an experiment

et al. 2007

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“…As in [17], this amounts to subtracting the diagonal contributions to the determinant which are not sensitive to the distance between the bodies (i.e., only contributes to their self-energies). This yields…”

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confidence: 99%

Opposites Attract: A Theorem about the Casimir Force

2006

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We consider the Casimir interaction between (nonmagnetic) dielectric bodies or conductors. Our main result is a proof that the Casimir force between two bodies related by reflection is always attractive, independent of the exact form of the bodies or dielectric properties. Apart from being a fundamental property of fields, the theorem and its corollaries also rule out a class of suggestions to obtain repulsive forces, such as the two hemisphere repulsion suggestion and its relatives. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.160401 PACS numbers: 12.20.ÿm, 03.65.ÿw, 03.70.+k The Casimir effect has been a fundamental issue in quantum physics since its prediction [1]. The effect has become increasingly approachable in recent years with the achievement of precise experimental measurements of the effect [2 -5], probing the detailed dependence of the force on the properties of the materials, and measuring new variants such as corrugation effects. The theory and experiment have good agreement for simple geometries.In spite of the vast body of work on the subject (for a review, see [6] ), some properties of the force are yet under controversy. Because of the computational complexity of the problem, the main body of work on the effect is a collection of explicit calculations for simple geometries. In this Letter we resolve one of these controversies and supply general statements about Casimir forces, applicable to a broad class of geometries.The interest in repulsive Casimir and van der Waals forces has grown substantially recently due to possible practical importance in nanoscience, where such forces may play a role as a solution to stiction problems. It is known that repulsive forces are possible between molecules immersed in a medium whose properties are intermediate between the properties of two polarizable molecules [7]. Conditions for repulsion between paramagnetic materials and dielectrics without recourse for an intermediate medium were given in [8]. However, the prospect of realizing materials with nontrivial permeability on a large enough frequency range is unclear [9].It is common knowledge, based on the Casimir-Polder interaction, that small dielectric bodies interacting at large distance attract [10]. Based on summation of two-body forces one may speculate that any two dielectrics would attract at all distances. In this Letter we show that at least for the case of a symmetric configuration of two dielectrics or conductors this prediction holds independently of their distance and shape for models which can be described by a local dielectric function. Of course, in any real material as distances become small enough, i.e., compared with interatomic distances, Casimir treatment of the problem is not adequate anymore.We first emphasize that the two-body picture is not enough to prove this. Calculations of the interaction between macroscopic bodies by summation of pair interactions are only justified within second order perturbation theory. Indeed, in [8] it was demonstrated how summing two-body forces may give wrong predic...

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“…Since all polarizabilities (8), (9) or (24) are proportional to the transition frequency, the S z transitions connecting identical states do not contribute and we obtain the result of Eq. (32).…”

Section: Appendix B: Magnetic Transition Matrix Elementsmentioning

confidence: 78%

Temperature dependence of the magnetic Casimir-Polder interaction

et al. 2009

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We analyze the magnetic dipole contribution to atom-surface dispersion forces. Unlike its electrical counterpart, it involves small transition frequencies that are comparable to thermal energy scales. A significant temperature dependence is found near surfaces with a nonzero dc conductivity, leading to a strong suppression of the dispersion force at T > 0. We use thermal response theory for the surface material and discuss both normal metals and superconductors. The asymptotes of the free energy of interaction and of the entropy are calculated analytically over a large range of distances. Near a superconductor, the onset of dissipation at the phase transition strongly changes the interaction, including a discontinuous entropy. We discuss the similarities with the Casimir interaction between two surfaces and suggest that precision measurements of the atom-surface interaction may shed light upon open questions around the temperature dependence of dispersion forces between lossy media.PACS numbers: 03.70.+k -theory of quantized fields; 34.35.+a -interactions of atoms with surfaces; 42.50.Pq -cavity quantum electrodynamics; 42.50.Nn -quantum optical phenomena in conducting media.

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Casimir Effect: The Classical Limit

Cited by 102 publications

References 113 publications

Thermal correction to the Casimir force, radiative heat transfer, and an experiment

Thermal correction to the Casimir force, radiative heat transfer, and an experiment

Opposites Attract: A Theorem about the Casimir Force

Temperature dependence of the magnetic Casimir-Polder interaction

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