arXiv · 1502.01117
Friction forces on atoms after acceleration
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to revisit the calculation of atom-surface quantum friction in the quantum field theory formulation put forward by Barton [New J. Phys. 12 (2010) 113045]. We show that the power dissipated into field excitations and the associated friction force depend on how the atom is boosted from being initially at rest to a configuration in which it is moving at constant velocity (v) parallel to the planar interface. In addition, we point out that there is a subtle cancellation between the one-photon and part of the two-photon dissipating power, resulting in a leading order contribution to the frictional power which goes as v^4. These results are also confirmed by an alternative calculation of the average radiation force, which scales as v^3.
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Francesco Intravaia, Vanik E. Mkrtchian, Stefan Buhmann, Stefan Scheel, Diego A. R. Dalvit, Carsten Henkel. 2015-02-04. Friction forces on atoms after acceleration. https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/27/21/214020
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