Vacuum fluctuations and Brownian motion of a charged test particle near a reflecting boundary

Abstract

We study the Brownian motion of a charged test particle coupled to electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations near a perfectly reflecting plane boundary. The presence of the boundary modifies the quantum fluctuations of the electric field, which in turn modifies the motion of the test particle. We calculate the resulting mean squared fluctuations in the velocity and position of the test particle. In the case of directions transverse to the boundary, the results are negative. This can be interpreted as reducing the quantum uncertainty which would otherwise be present.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, discussions added, version to appear in PR