Casimir-Lifshitz force out of thermal equilibrium

TL;DR

This paper investigates the Casimir-Lifshitz force out of thermal equilibrium, analyzing electromagnetic contributions, asymptotic behaviors, and non-additivity effects in surface-surface and surface-atom configurations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of non-equilibrium Casimir-Lifshitz forces, including new asymptotic behaviors and non-additivity effects, with both analytical and numerical insights.

Findings

Distinct behaviors of propagating and evanescent waves contributions

Identification of new asymptotic regimes out of thermal equilibrium

Demonstration of non-additivity effects in force calculations

Abstract

We study the Casimir-Lifshitz interaction out of thermal equilibrium, with particular attention devoted to the surface-surface and surface-atom configurations. A systematic investigation of the contributions to the force coming from the propagating and evanescent components of the electromagnetic radiation is performed. The large distance behaviors of such interactions is discussed, and both analytical and numerical results are compared with the equilibrium ones. A detailed analysis of the crossing between the surface-surface and the surface-rarefied body, and finally the surface-atom force is shown, and a complete derivation and discussion of the recently predicted non-additivity effects and new asymptotic behaviors is presented.