Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Theory Of Noncontact Friction For Atom-Surface Interactions, Ulrich D. Jentschura, M. Janke, Maarten F M De Kieviet

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The noncontact (van der Waals) friction is an interesting physical effect, which has been the subject of controversial scientific discussion. The direct friction term due to the thermal fluctuations of the electromagnetic field leads to a friction force proportional to 1/Z⁵ (where Z is the atom-wall distance). The backaction friction term takes into account the feedback of thermal fluctuations of the atomic dipole moment onto the motion of the atom and scales as 1/Z⁸. We investigate noncontact friction effects for the interactions of hydrogen, ground-state helium, and metastable helium atoms with α-quartz (SiO₂), gold (Au), …