Thermal corrections to quantum friction and decoherence: A closed-time-path approach to atom-surface interaction

Abstract

In this paper we study the dissipative effects and decoherence induced on a particle moving at constant speed in front of a dielectric plate in quantum vacuum, developing a Closed-Time-Path (CTP) integral formulation in order to account for the corrections to these phenomena generated by finite temperatures. We compute the frictional force of the moving particle and find that it contains two different contributions: a pure quantum term due to quantum fluctuations (even present at vanishing temperatures) and a temperature dependent component generated by thermal fluctuations (bigger contribution the higher the temperature). We further estimate the decoherence timescale for the internal degree of freedom of the quantum particle. As expected, decoherence time is reduced by temperature, however, this feature is stronger for large velocities and for resonant situations. When the particle approaches relativistic speed, decoherence time becomes independent of temperature. The finite temperatures corrections to the force or even in the decoherence timescale could be used to track traces of quantum friction through the study of the velocity dependence since the solely evidence of this dependence provides an indirect testimony of the existence of a quantum frictional force.

Electromagnetic Viscosity in Complex Structured Environments: From black-body to Quantum Friction

“…( 20) always identically vanishes since G (q, R a , 0) = 0 due to the crossing relation [58]. In other words, in the steady state, we always have lim T →0 µ T = 0, which is equivalent to say that at zero temperature the frictional force does not have a linear dependence in velocity [26,28,65]. In empty space, this can be understood as a consequence of the system's Lorentz invariance.…”

“…where F the is total electromagnetic drag acting on the atom. Although the viscosity has already been investigated in various contexts [15,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] -including decoherence [28], thermodynamic considerations [29,30], its connection to Cherenkov [31] and Hawking radiation [32,33] -some interesting and relevant features have been overlooked. In the following, we generalize the earlier findings by incorporating the net transfer of angular momentum from the field to the particle.…”

Detectable Signature of Quantum Friction on a Sliding Particle in Vacuum

“…Due to the experimental challenges involved in the implementation of precision measurements for the observation of such a small force acting on objects near a surface, there has been lately a set of works devoted to finding favorable conditions for its detection. [ 25–31 ] In refs. [32, 33], authors have investigated the van der Waals friction between graphene and an amorphous SiO 2 substrate.…”

Wading through the void: Exploring quantum friction and nonequilibrium fluctuations

“…Next to an atom or an atom-like system (e.g. a nano-particle) moving near a macroscopic body 50,[61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72] , the most common scenarios involve two planar macroscopic bodies 49,[73][74][75][76][77][78] . A related, but slightly different setup consists of rotating particles in vacuum or near other objects [79][80][81][82][83][84] .…”

“…This behavior is strictly related to drag effects that Einstein and Hopf have analyzed in their pioneering work 1,86 . Eventually, both thermal and quantum effects have to be considered together when characterizing the full dynamics of an object moving within a complex structured electromagnetic environment at finite temperature 42,71,[87][88][89][90] .…”