Casimir-Lifshitz Force Out of Thermal Equilibrium and Asymptotic Nonadditivity

Journal Article · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 2006 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.97.223203· OSTI ID:20861418

Antezza, Mauro; Stringari, Sandro ^[1]; Pitaevskii, Lev P ^[1]; Svetovoy, Vitaly B ^[2]

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1. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Trento and CNR-INFM R and D Center on Bose-Einstein Condensation, Via Sommarive 14, I-38050 Povo, Trento (Italy)
2. MESA Research Institute, University of Twente, PO 217, 7500 AE Enschede (Netherlands)

We investigate the force acting between two parallel plates held at different temperatures. The force reproduces, as limiting cases, the well-known Casimir-Lifshitz surface-surface force at thermal equilibrium and the surface-atom force out of thermal equilibrium recently derived by M. Antezza et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 113202 (2005). The asymptotic behavior of the force at large distances is explicitly discussed. In particular when one of the two bodies is a rarefied gas the force is not additive, being proportional to the square root of the density. Nontrivial crossover regions at large distances are also identified.

• OSTI ID: 20861418
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 97; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
SURFACE FORCES
SURFACES
THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM
TWO-BODY PROBLEM