Universal Thermal Radiation Drag on Neutral Objects

2003/07/10 by Vanik E. Mkrtchian, Vanik Mkrtchian, V. Adrian Parsegian +2 · 3 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies #cond-mat.soft

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.91.220801

7 pages, 2 figures

arxiv created 2003/07/10 · openalex publication_date 2003/11/25 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

We compute the force on a small neutral polarizable object moving at velocity v--> relative to a photon gas equilibrated at a temperature T. We find a drag force linear in v-->. Its physical basis is related to that in recent formulations of the dissipative component of the Casimir force, i.e., the change in photon momentum in emission and absorption between the moving body and the stationary thermal bath. We estimate the strength of this universal drag force for different dielectric response functions and comment on its relevance in various contexts, especially to radiation-matter coupling in the cosmos.

Citations

• Friction traced to the single atom

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