Energetics of quantum vacuum friction. II. Dipole fluctuations and field fluctuations: Dipole fluctuations and field fluctuations
Energetics of quantum vacuum friction. II. Dipole fluctuations and field fluctuations: Dipole fluctuations and field fluctuations
Quantum vacuum friction experienced by an atom, where the only dissipative mechanism is through its interaction with the radiation field, has been studied in our recent paper [Phys. Rev. D 104, 116006 (2021)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.104.116006]. Quantum vacuum friction on an intrinsically dissipative particle is different in that the friction arises not only from the field fluctuations but also from the dipole fluctuations intrinsic to the particle. As a result, the dissipative particle can be out of the nonequilibrium steady state (NESS), and therefore loses or gains internal energy (rest mass). Only if the temperature of the particle equals a special NESS temperature will the particle be in NESS. In this paper, general NESS conditions are derived which give the NESS temperature of the particle as a function of the temperature of the radiation and the velocity of the particle. Imposing the NESS conditions, we also obtain an expression for the quantum vacuum friction in NESS. The NESS quantum vacuum friction is shown to be negative definite (opposing the motion of the particle) and equivalent to that found in our previous paper if the dissipation mechanism is restricted to radiation reaction. The NESS temperature and quantum vacuum friction are calculated numerically for various models. In particular, we show that, for a gold nanosphere, the deviation of its NESS temperature from the temperature of the radiation can be substantial and it is also possible to detect the NESS quantum vacuum friction directly at sufficiently high temperatures. Out of NESS, even though the quantum vacuum friction no longer has a definite sign in the rest frame of the radiation, the friction in the rest frame of the particle is still negative definite. Also, the external force needed to keep the particle moving must be in the same direction as the motion of the particle, therefore excluding the possibility of a perpetual motion machine, which could convert the vacuum energy into useful mechanical work. In addition, we find that the deviation of the temperature of the particle from its NESS temperature causes the particle to lose or gain internal energy in such a way that the particle would return to NESS after deviating from it. This enables experimental measurements of the NESS temperature of the particle to serve as a feasible signature for these quantum vacuum frictional effects.
016008-016032
Guo, Xin
b2ea544e-fef3-4e4e-9a55-0df06042362f
Milton, Kimball A.
32b2e838-92a4-4f2d-a33d-ab54ddaf8e08
Kennedy, Gerard
47b61664-2d2d-45fa-a73a-5af7a7c740cd
McNulty, William P.
ed3757f1-d7cd-46d9-835c-aa70fbb69faa
Pourtolami, Nima
b43c7cb9-06b9-4dde-ba1a-8936230f6d04
Li, Yang
4f067119-66c6-48c9-8da6-408037692d76
20 July 2022
Guo, Xin
b2ea544e-fef3-4e4e-9a55-0df06042362f
Milton, Kimball A.
32b2e838-92a4-4f2d-a33d-ab54ddaf8e08
Kennedy, Gerard
47b61664-2d2d-45fa-a73a-5af7a7c740cd
McNulty, William P.
ed3757f1-d7cd-46d9-835c-aa70fbb69faa
Pourtolami, Nima
b43c7cb9-06b9-4dde-ba1a-8936230f6d04
Li, Yang
4f067119-66c6-48c9-8da6-408037692d76
Guo, Xin, Milton, Kimball A., Kennedy, Gerard, McNulty, William P., Pourtolami, Nima and Li, Yang
(2022)
Energetics of quantum vacuum friction. II. Dipole fluctuations and field fluctuations: Dipole fluctuations and field fluctuations.
Physical Review D, 106 (1), , [016008].
(doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.106.016008).
Abstract
Quantum vacuum friction experienced by an atom, where the only dissipative mechanism is through its interaction with the radiation field, has been studied in our recent paper [Phys. Rev. D 104, 116006 (2021)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.104.116006]. Quantum vacuum friction on an intrinsically dissipative particle is different in that the friction arises not only from the field fluctuations but also from the dipole fluctuations intrinsic to the particle. As a result, the dissipative particle can be out of the nonequilibrium steady state (NESS), and therefore loses or gains internal energy (rest mass). Only if the temperature of the particle equals a special NESS temperature will the particle be in NESS. In this paper, general NESS conditions are derived which give the NESS temperature of the particle as a function of the temperature of the radiation and the velocity of the particle. Imposing the NESS conditions, we also obtain an expression for the quantum vacuum friction in NESS. The NESS quantum vacuum friction is shown to be negative definite (opposing the motion of the particle) and equivalent to that found in our previous paper if the dissipation mechanism is restricted to radiation reaction. The NESS temperature and quantum vacuum friction are calculated numerically for various models. In particular, we show that, for a gold nanosphere, the deviation of its NESS temperature from the temperature of the radiation can be substantial and it is also possible to detect the NESS quantum vacuum friction directly at sufficiently high temperatures. Out of NESS, even though the quantum vacuum friction no longer has a definite sign in the rest frame of the radiation, the friction in the rest frame of the particle is still negative definite. Also, the external force needed to keep the particle moving must be in the same direction as the motion of the particle, therefore excluding the possibility of a perpetual motion machine, which could convert the vacuum energy into useful mechanical work. In addition, we find that the deviation of the temperature of the particle from its NESS temperature causes the particle to lose or gain internal energy in such a way that the particle would return to NESS after deviating from it. This enables experimental measurements of the NESS temperature of the particle to serve as a feasible signature for these quantum vacuum frictional effects.
Text
PhysRevD.106.016008
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 28 May 2022
Published date: 20 July 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
We thank the U.S. National Science Foundation, Grants No. 1707511, No. 2008417, for partial support of this work. We thank S. Fulling, P. Parashar, and J. J. Marchetta for insightful comments. We thank G. V. Dedkov for pointing us to their papers so that we are able to confirm the agreement with their results. This paper reflects solely the authors’ personal opinions and does not represent the opinions of the authors’ employers, present and past, in any way.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 468952
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468952
ISSN: 2470-0010
PURE UUID: 33e2cc60-07b2-4b26-a1b6-c52b49d095a0
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 01 Sep 2022 17:10
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:59
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Xin Guo
Author:
Kimball A. Milton
Author:
William P. McNulty
Author:
Nima Pourtolami
Author:
Yang Li
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
