Conservative-dissipative forces and heating mediated by fluctuation electromagnetic field: two plates in relative nonrelativistic motion

TL;DR

This paper calculates electromagnetic forces and heating effects between two closely spaced plates in relative nonrelativistic motion using relativistic fluctuation electrodynamics, and critiques existing theories for their shortcomings.

Contribution

It provides a detailed calculation of fluctuation electromagnetic forces and heating for moving plates and challenges the validity of recent relativistic out-of-equilibrium theories.

Findings

Calculated heating rate and electromagnetic forces between plates.

Identified limitations in recent relativistic fluctuation electrodynamics theories.

Highlighted the importance of relativistic effects in nonrelativistic motion scenarios.

Abstract

We calculate heating rate, attractive conservative and tangential dissipative fluctuation electromagnetic forces felt by a thick plate moving with nonrelativistic velocity parallel to a closely spaced another plate in rest using relativistic fluctuation electrodynamics. We argue that recently developed relativistic out of equilibrium theory of fluctuation electromagnetic interactions (Volokitin et. al., Phys.Rev. B78, 155437 (2008))has serious drawbacks.