1,150 research outputs found
Casimir attractive-repulsive transition in MEMS
Unwanted stiction in micro- and nanomechanical (NEMS/MEMS) systems due to
dispersion (van der Waals, or Casimir) forces is a significant hurdle in the
fabrication of systems with moving parts on these length scales. Introducing a
suitably dielectric liquid in the interspace between bodies has previously been
demonstrated to render dispersion forces repulsive, or even to switch sign as a
function of separation. Making use of recently available permittivity data
calculated by us we show that such a remarkable non-monotonic Casimir force,
changing from attractive to repulsive as separation increases, can in fact be
observed in systems where constituent materials are in standard NEMS/MEMS use
requiring no special or exotic materials. No such nonmonotonic behaviour has
been measured to date. We calculate the force between a silica sphere and a
flat surface of either zinc oxide or hafnia, two materials which are among the
most prominent for practical microelectrical and microoptical devices. Our
results explicate the need for highly accurate permittivity functions of the
materials involved for frequencies from optical to far-infrared frequencies. A
careful analysis of the Casimir interaction is presented, and we show how the
change in the sign of the interaction can be understood as a result of multiple
crossings of the dielectric functions of the three media involved in a given
set-up.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Repulsive Casimir and Casimir-Polder Forces
Casimir and Casimir-Polder repulsion have been known for more than 50 years.
The general "Lifshitz" configuration of parallel semi-infinite dielectric slabs
permits repulsion if they are separated by a dielectric fluid that has a value
of permittivity that is intermediate between those of the dielectric slabs.
This was indirectly confirmed in the 1970s, and more directly by Capasso's
group recently. It has also been known for many years that electrically and
magnetically polarizable bodies can experience a repulsive quantum vacuum
force. More amenable to practical application are situations where repulsion
could be achieved between ordinary conducting and dielectric bodies in vacuum.
The status of the field of Casimir repulsion with emphasis on recent
developments will be surveyed. Here, stress will be placed on analytic
developments, especially of Casimir-Polder (CP) interactions between
anisotropically polarizable atoms, and CP interactions between anisotropic
atoms and bodies that also exhibit anisotropy, either because of anisotropic
constituents, or because of geometry. Repulsion occurs for wedge-shaped and
cylindrical conductors, provided the geometry is sufficiently asymmetric, that
is, either the wedge is sufficiently sharp or the atom is sufficiently far from
the cylinder.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, contribution to the special issue of J. Phys. A
honoring Stuart Dowker. This revision corrects typos and adds additional
references and discussio
Methanol Masers as Tracers of Circumstellar Disks
We show that in many methanol maser sources the masers are located in lines,
with a velocity gradient along them which suggests that the masers are situated
in edge-on circumstellar, or protoplanetary, disks. We present VLBI
observations of the methanol maser source G309.92+0.48, in the 12.2 GHz
transition, which confirm previous observations that the masers in this source
lie along a line. We show that such sources are not only linear in space but,
in many cases, also have a linear velocity gradient. We then model these and
other data in both the 6.7 GHz and the 12.2 GHz transition from a number of
star formation regions, and show that the observed spatial and velocity
distribution of methanol masers, and the derived Keplerian masses, are
consistent with a circumstellar disk rotating around an OB star. We consider
this and other hypotheses, and conclude that about half of these methanol
masers are probably located in edge-on circumstellar disks around young stars.
This is of particular significance for studies of circumstellar disks because
of the detailed velocity information available from the masers.Comment: 38 pages, 13 figures accepted by Ap
Casimir-Polder interaction of fullerene molecules with surfaces
We calculate the thermal Casimir--Polder potential of C60 and C70 fullerene
molecules near gold and silicon nitride surfaces, motivated by their relevance
for molecular matter wave interference experiments. We obtain the coefficients
governing the asymptotic power laws of the interaction in the thermal, retarded
and nonretarded distance regimes and evaluate the full potential numerically.
The interaction is found to be dominated by electronic transitions, and hence
independent of the internal temperature of the molecules. The contributions
from phonon transitions, which are affected by the molecular temperature, give
rise to only a small correction. Moreover, we find that the sizeable molecular
line widths of thermal fullerenes may modify the nonretarded interaction,
depending on the model used. Detailed measurements of the nonretarded potential
of fullerene thus allow one to distinguish between different theories of
incorporating damping.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, 9 table
Casimir attraction in multilayered plane parallel magnetodielectric systems
A powerful procedure is presented for calculating the Casimir attraction
between plane parallel multilayers made up of homogeneous regions with
arbitrary magnetic and dielectric properties by use of the Minkowski
energy-momentum tensor. The theory is applied to numerous geometries and shown
to reproduce a number of results obtained by other authors. Although the
various pieces of theory drawn upon are well known, the relative ease with
which the Casimir force density in even complex planar structures may be
calculated, appears not to be widely appreciated, and no single paper to the
author's knowledge renders explicitly the procedure demonstrated herein.
Results may be seen as an important building block in the settling of issues of
fundamental interest, such as the long-standing dispute over the thermal
behaviour of the Casimir force or the question of what is the correct stress
tensor to apply, a discussion re-quickened by the newly suggested alternative
theory due to Raabe and Welsch.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. Version 2: Updated contact details. Minor
changes and correction
Analytical and Numerical Verification of the Nernst Theorem for Metals
In view of the current discussion on the subject, an effort is made to show
very accurately both analytically and numerically how the Drude dispersion
model gives consistent results for the Casimir free energy at low temperatures.
Specifically, for the free energy near T=0 we find the leading term to be
proportional to T^2 and the next-to-leading term proportional to T^{5/2}. These
terms give rise to zero Casimir entropy as T approaches zero, and is thus in
accordance with Nernst's theorem.Comment: 19 pages latex, 3 figures. v4: Figures updated. This is the final
version, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Cliophysics: Socio-political Reliability Theory, Polity Duration and African Political (In)stabilities
Quantification of historical sociological processes have recently gained
attention among theoreticians in the effort of providing a solid theoretical
understanding of the behaviors and regularities present in sociopolitical
dynamics. Here we present a reliability theory of polity processes with
emphases on individual political dynamics of African countries. We found that
the structural properties of polity failure rates successfully capture the risk
of political vulnerability and instabilities in which 87.50%, 75%, 71.43%, and
0% of the countries with monotonically increasing, unimodal, U-shaped and
monotonically decreasing polity failure rates, respectively, have high level of
state fragility indices. The quasi-U-shape relationship between average polity
duration and regime types corroborates historical precedents and explains the
stability of the autocracies and democracies.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
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