3,701 research outputs found
Casimir Force between a Small Dielectric Sphere and a Dielectric Wall
The possibility of repulsive Casimir forces between small metal spheres and a
dielectric half-space is discussed. We treat a model in which the spheres have
a dielectric function given by the Drude model, and the radius of the sphere is
small compared to the corresponding plasma wavelength. The half-space is also
described by the same model, but with a different plasma frequency. We find
that in the retarded limit, the force is quasi-oscillatory. This leads to the
prediction of stable equilibrium points at which the sphere could levitate in
the Earth's gravitational field. This seems to lead to the possibility of an
experimental test of the model. The effects of finite temperature on the force
are also studied, and found to be rather small at room temperature. However,
thermally activated transitions between equilibrium points could be significant
at room temperature.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
A generalized Kramers-Kronig transform for Casimir effect computations
Recent advances in experimental techniques now permit to measure the Casimir
force with unprecedented precision. In order to achieve a comparable precision
in the theoretical prediction of the force, it is necessary to accurately
determine the electric permittivity of the materials constituting the plates
along the imaginary frequency axis. The latter quantity is not directly
accessible to experiments, but it can be determined via dispersion relations
from experimental optical data. In the experimentally important case of
conductors, however, a serious drawback of the standard dispersion relations
commonly used for this purpose, is their strong dependence on the chosen
low-frequency extrapolation of the experimental optical data, which introduces
a significant and not easily controllable uncertainty in the result. In this
paper we show that a simple modification of the standard dispersion relations,
involving suitable analytic window functions, resolves this difficulty, making
it possible to reliably determine the electric permittivity at imaginary
frequencies solely using experimental optical data in the frequency interval
where they are available, without any need of uncontrolled data extrapolations.Comment: 10 pages, 6 encapsulated figures. A few typos corrected, some
references added. The new version matches the one accepted for publication on
Phys. Rev.
FeAs-based superconductivity: a case study of the effects of transition metal doping on BaFe2As2
The recently discovered FeAs-based superconductors are a new, promising set
of materials for both technological as well as basic research. They offer
transition temperatures as high as 55 K as well as essentially isotropic and
extremely large upper, superconducting critical fields in excess of 40 T at 20
K. In addition they may well provide insight into exotic superconductivity that
extends beyond just FeAs-based superconductivity, perhaps even shedding light
on the still perplexing CuO-based high-Tc materials. Whereas superconductivity
can be induced in the RFeAsO (R = rare earth) and AEFe2As2 (AE = Ba, Sr, Ca))
families by a number of means, transition metal doping of BaFe2As2, e.g.
Ba(Fe1-xTMx)2As2, offers the easiest experimental access to a wide set of
materials. In this review we present an overview and summary of the effect of
TM doping (TM = Co, Ni, Cu, Pd, and Rh) on BaFe2As2. The resulting phase
diagrams reveal the nature of the interaction between the structural, magnetic
and superconducting phase transitions in these compounds and delineate a region
of phase space that allows for the stabilization of superconductivity.Comment: edited and shortened version is accepted to AR:Condensed Matter
Physic
Matter Bounce in Horava-Lifshitz Cosmology
Horava-Lifshitz gravity, a recent proposal for a UV-complete renormalizable
gravity theory, may lead to a bouncing cosmology. In this note we argue that
Horava-Lifshitz cosmology may yield a concrete realization of the matter bounce
scenario, and thus give rise to an alternative to inflation for producing a
scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological perturbations. In this scenario,
quantum vacuum fluctuations exit the Hubble radius in the pre-bounce phase and
the spectrum is transformed into a scale-invariant one on super-Hubble scales
before the bounce because the long wavelength modes undergo squeezing of their
wave-functions for a longer period of time than shorter wavelength modes. The
scale-invariance of the spectrum of curvature fluctuations is preserved during
and after the bounce. A distinctive prediction of this scenario is the
amplitude and shape of the bispectrum.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, a couple of minor wording change
Bohr-van Leeuwen theorem and the thermal Casimir effect for conductors
The problem of estimating the thermal corrections to Casimir and
Casimir-Polder interactions in systems involving conducting plates has
attracted considerable attention in the recent literature on dispersion forces.
Alternative theoretical models, based on distinct low-frequency extrapolations
of the plates reflection coefficient for transverse electric (TE) modes,
provide widely different predictions for the magnitude of this correction. In
this paper we examine the most widely used prescriptions for this reflection
coefficient from the point of view of their consistency with the Bohr-van
Leeuwen theorem of classical statistical physics, stating that at thermal
equilibrium transverse electromagnetic fields decouple from matter in the
classical limit. We find that the theorem is satisfied if and only if the TE
reflection coefficient vanishes at zero frequency in the classical limit. This
criterion appears to rule out some of the models that have been considered
recently for describing the thermal correction to the Casimir pressure with
non-magnetic metallic plates.Comment: 12 pages, no figures. Presentation has been significantly improved,
more references included. The new version matches the one accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev.
Exact results for Casimir interactions between dielectric bodies: The weak-coupling or van der Waals Limit
In earlier papers we have applied multiple scattering techniques to calculate
Casimir forces due to scalar fields between different bodies described by delta
function potentials. When the coupling to the potentials became weak,
closed-form results were obtained. We simplify this weak-coupling technique and
apply it to the case of tenuous dielectric bodies, in which case the method
involves the summation of van der Waals (Casimir-Polder) interactions. Once
again exact results for finite bodies can be obtained. We present closed
formulas describing the interaction between spheres and between cylinders, and
between an infinite plate and a retangular slab of finite size. For such a
slab, we consider the torque acting on it, and find non-trivial equilibrium
points can occur.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Application of the Lifshitz theory to poor conductors
The Lifshitz formula for the dispersive forces is generalized to the
materials, which cannot be described with the local dielectric response.
Principal nonlocality of poor conductors is related with the finite screening
length of the penetrating field and the collisional relaxation; at low
temperatures the role of collisions plays the Landau damping. The spatial
dispersion makes the theory self consistent. Our predictions are compared with
the recent experiment. It is demonstrated that at low temperatures the
Casimir-Lifshitz entropy disappears as in the case of degenerate plasma and
as for the nondegenerate one.Comment: Accepted for publication in PR
A theory of electromagnetic fluctuations for metallic surfaces and van der Waals interactions between metallic bodies
A new general expression is derived for the fluctuating electromagnetic field
outside a metal surface, in terms of its surface impedance. It provides a
generalization to real metals of Lifshitz theory of molecular interactions
between dielectric solids. The theory is used to compute the radiative heat
transfer between two parallel metal surfaces at different temperatures. It is
shown that a measurement of this quantity may provide an experimental
resolution of a long-standing controversy about the effect of thermal
corrections on the Casimir force between real metal plates.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; typos corrected, minor changes to match the
published version in Physical Review Letter
Gradient expansion, curvature perturbations and magnetized plasmas
The properties of magnetized plasmas are always investigated under the
hypothesis that the relativistic inhomogeneities stemming from the fluid
sources and from the geometry itself are sufficiently small to allow for a
perturbative description prior to photon decoupling. The latter assumption is
hereby relaxed and pre-decoupling plasmas are described within a suitable
expansion where the inhomogeneities are treated to a given order in the spatial
gradients. It is argued that the (general relativistic) gradient expansion
shares the same features of the drift approximation, customarily employed in
the description of cold plasmas, so that the two schemes are physically
complementary in the large-scale limit and for the low-frequency branch of the
spectrum of plasma modes. The two-fluid description, as well as the
magnetohydrodynamical reduction, are derived and studied in the presence of the
spatial gradients of the geometry. Various solutions of the coupled system of
evolution equations in the anti-Newtonian regime and in the quasi-isotropic
approximation are presented. The relation of this analysis to the so-called
separate Universe paradigm is outlined. The evolution of the magnetized
curvature perturbations in the nonlinear regime is addressed for the magnetized
adiabatic mode in the plasma frame.Comment: 40 pages, no figure
Vacuum force on an atom in a magnetodielectric cavity
We demonstrate that, according to a recently suggested Lorentz-force approach
to the Casimir effect, the vacuum force on an atom embedded in a material
cavity differs substantially from the force on an atom of the cavity medium.
The force on an embedded atom is of the familiar (van der Waals and
Casimir-Polder) type, however, more strongly modified by the cavity medium than
usually considered. The force on an atom of the cavity medium is of the
medium-assisted force type with rather unusual properties, as demonstrated very
recently [M. S. Tomas, Phys. Rev. A 71, 060101(R) (2005)]. This implies similar
properties of the vacuum force between two atoms in a medium.Comment: RevTeX 4, 4 pages, 1 eps figure, corrected and slightly revise
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