arXiv subjects

Larissa Inácio

Publications and source records attributed to Larissa Inácio.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Casimir effect with dielectric matter in salted water and implications at the cell scale

The Casimir interaction in salted water contains a universal contribution of electromagnetic fluctuations that makes it of a longer range than previously thought. The universal contribution dominates non universal ones at the distances relevant for actin fibers inside the cell. We discuss universal and non-universal contributions with a model mimicking biological matter. We also show that the universal Casimir effect should have important implications at the cell scale.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Prediction of a measurable sign change in the Casimir force using a magnetic fluid

We demonstrate quantum levitation controlled by Casimir forces acting between a polystyrene surface and a Teflon-coated metallic substrate immersed in a mixture of Toluene and magnetite particles. This system experiences repulsion-attraction transitions in the Casimir interaction for distances where the effect is measurable. This Casimir trapping can be controlled by clever choices of metallic and ferrofluid materials, which are directly linked to the emergence of the trapping effect. Thermal and quantum contributions are investigated in detail, showing how the optical and magnetic properties of the ferrofluid and other materials affect the magnitude of the trapping and its distance range of observability.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Casimir repulsion turned into attraction by the nonlocal response of salted water

The Dzyaloshinskii-Lifshitz-Pitaevskii (DLP) theory of Casimir forces predicts a repulsion between two material surfaces separated by a third medium with an intermediate dielectric function. This DLP repulsion paradigm constitutes an important example with many applications. We show here that it is broken when the surfaces interact across salted water due to the nonlocal response of the ions in solution. We consider the interaction between silica and gold and show that the zero-frequency contribution, which is the only one affected by the nonlocal response, is dominant for distances in the range near $100\,{\rm nm}$ and beyond. As a result, the total Casimir force between gold and silica surfaces in salted water is always attractive in spite of the DLP repulsion paradigm.

quant-ph↗