dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaFluctuations of the Retarded Van der Waals Force
| Authors | Chun-Hsien Wu, Chung-I Kuo, L. H. Ford |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0112056 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0112056 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.65.062102 |
| Journal | Phys.Rev. A65 (2002) 062102 |
Abstract
The retarded Van der Waals force between a polarizable particle and a perfectly conducting plate is re-examined. The expression for this force given by Casimir and Polder represents a mean force, but there are large fluctuations around this mean value on short time scales which are of the same order of magnitude as the mean force itself. However, these fluctuations occur on time scales which are typically of the order of the light travel time between the atom and the plate. As a consequence, they will not be observed in an experiment which measures the force averaged over a much longer time. In the large time limit, the magnitude of the mean squared velocity of a test particle due to this fluctuating Van der Waals force approaches a constant, and is similar to a Brownian motion of a test particle in an thermal bath with an effective temperature. However the fluctuations are not isotropic in this case, and the shift in the mean square velocity components can even be negative. We interpret this negative shift to correspond to a reduction in the velocity spread of a wavepacket. The force fluctuations discussed in this paper are special case of the more general problem of stress tensor fluctuations. These are of interest in a variety of areas fo physics, including gravity theory. Thus the effects of Van der Waals force fluctuations serve as a useful model for better understanding quantum effects in gravity theory.
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"abstract": "The retarded Van der Waals force between a polarizable particle and a\nperfectly conducting plate is re-examined. The expression for this force given\nby Casimir and Polder represents a mean force, but there are large fluctuations\naround this mean value on short time scales which are of the same order of\nmagnitude as the mean force itself. However, these fluctuations occur on time\nscales which are typically of the order of the light travel time between the\natom and the plate. As a consequence, they will not be observed in an\nexperiment which measures the force averaged over a much longer time. In the\nlarge time limit, the magnitude of the mean squared velocity of a test particle\ndue to this fluctuating Van der Waals force approaches a constant, and is\nsimilar to a Brownian motion of a test particle in an thermal bath with an\neffective temperature. However the fluctuations are not isotropic in this case,\nand the shift in the mean square velocity components can even be negative. We\ninterpret this negative shift to correspond to a reduction in the velocity\nspread of a wavepacket. The force fluctuations discussed in this paper are\nspecial case of the more general problem of stress tensor fluctuations. These\nare of interest in a variety of areas fo physics, including gravity theory.\nThus the effects of Van der Waals force fluctuations serve as a useful model\nfor better understanding quantum effects in gravity theory.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0112056",
"authors": [
"Chun-Hsien Wu",
"Chung-I Kuo",
"L. H. Ford"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
"gr-qc",
"hep-th"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.65.062102",
"journal_ref": "Phys.Rev. A65 (2002) 062102",
"title": "Fluctuations of the Retarded Van der Waals Force",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0112056"
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