Eur. Phys. J. D (2014) 68: 61
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-40766-6

Regular Article

Casimir friction at zero and finite temperatures

¹ Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
² Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway

^a e-mail: iver.h.brevik@ntnu.no

Received: 6 December 2013
Received in final form: 28 January 2014
Published online: 21 March 2014

Abstract

The Casimir friction problem for dielectric plates that move parallell to each other is treated by assuming one of the plates to be at rest. The other performs a closed loop motion in the longitudinal direction. Therewith by use of energy dissipation the formalism becomes more manageable and transparent than in the conventional setting where uniform sliding motion is assumed from t =  −∞ to t =  +∞. One avoids separating off a reversible interparticle force (independent of friction) from the total force. Moreover, the cases of temperatures T = 0 and finite T are treated on the same footing. For metal plates we find the friction force to be proportional to v³ at T = 0 while at finite T it is proportional to v for small v as found earlier. Comparisons with earlier results of Pendry [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 9, 10301 (1997); New J. Phys. 12, 033028 (2010)] and Barton [New J. Phys. 13, 043023 (2011)] are made.