Related papers: Quantum Friction near the Instability Threshold
We investigate the frictional force arising from quantum fluctuations when two dissipative metallic plates are set in a shear motion. While early studies showed that the electromagnetic fields in the quantum friction setup reach…
Here, we develop a comprehensive quantum theory for the phenomenon of quantum friction. Based on a theory of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics for unstable systems, we calculate the quantum expectation of the friction force, and link the…
Quantum friction, the electromagnetic fluctuation-induced frictional force decelerating an atom which moves past a macroscopic dielectric body, has so far eluded experimental evidence despite more than three decades of theoretical studies.…
A quantum analog of friction (understood as a completely positive, Markovian, translation-invariant and phenomenological model of dissipation) is known to be in odds with the detailed balance in the thermodynamic limit. We show that this is…
We use general concepts of statistical mechanics to compute the quantum frictional force on an atom moving at constant velocity above a planar surface. We derive the zero-temperature frictional force using a non-equilibrium…
It has long been recognized that the key to understand kinetic friction force $F_k$ is the analysis of microscopic instabilities that lead to sudden irreversible "pops" of certain degrees of freedom. In this Letter, the nature of such…
Thermodynamic principles are often deceptively simple and yet surprisingly powerful. We show how a simple rule, such as the net flow of energy in and out of a moving atom under nonequilibrium steady state condition, can expose the…
We study the phenomenon of quantum friction in a system consisting of a polarizable atom moving at a constant speed parallel to a metallic plate. The metal is described using a charged hydrodynamic model for the electrons. This model…
The contribution of sliding-induced, atomic-scale instabilities to the kinetic friction force is investigated by molecular dynamics. For this purpose, we derive a relationship between the kinetic friction force $F_{\rm k}$ and the…
Instabilities of equilibrium quantum mechanics are common and well-understood. They are manifested for example in phase transitions, where a quantum system becomes so sensitive to perturbations that a symmetry can be spontaneously broken.…
This article traces the development of fluctuation theory and its deep connection to irreversibility, from equilibrium to near-equilibrium, and finally to far-from-equilibrium systems. Classical fluctuation theorems, which capture the…
We investigate the frictional forces due to quantum fluctuations acting on a small sphere rotating near a surface. At zero temperature, we find the frictional force near a surface to be several orders of magnitude larger than that for the…
We numerically analyse quantum survival probability fluctuations in an open, classically chaotic system. In a quasi-classical regime, and in the presence of classical mixed phase space, such fluctuations are believed to exhibit a fractal…
When two or more objects move relative to one another in vacuum, they experience a drag force which, at zero temperature, usually goes under the name of quantum friction. This contactless non-conservative interaction is mediated by the…
Recent progress in manipulating atomic and condensed matter systems has instigated a surge of interest in non-equilibrium physics, including many-body dynamics of trapped ultracold atoms and ions, near-field radiative heat transfer, and…
We report on a microscopic theory of quantum friction. Our approach investigates the interplay between the dispersive response and the relative center-of-mass motion of two ground-state atoms. This coupling yields a quantum force, which can…
We discuss the thermodynamics of closed quantum systems driven out of equilibrium by a change in a control parameter and undergoing a unitary process. We compare the work actually done on the system with the one that would be performed…
Friction incorporates the close connection between classical mechanics in irreversible thermodynamics. The translation to a quantum mechanical foundation is not trivial and requires a generalization of the Lagrange function. A change to…
Friction is usually a very complicated process. It appears in its most elementary form when two flat surfaces separated by vacuum gap are sliding relative to each other at zero Kelvin and the friction is generated by the relative movement…
Quantum metrology fundamentally relies upon the efficient management of quantum uncertainties. We show that, under equilibrium conditions, the management of quantum noise becomes extremely flexible around the quantum critical point of a…