Blackbody Friction: Analytic expressions for velocity and position

TL;DR

This paper derives analytical solutions for the velocity and position of objects experiencing blackbody friction at relativistic speeds, considering perfect absorption and mass maintenance, with applications to cosmic background radiation effects.

Contribution

It provides new analytic expressions for relativistic blackbody friction effects on objects, including models with constant rest mass and perfect absorption.

Findings

Maximum distances for light sail and dust grain calculated

Blackbody radiation at 3000K significantly affects dust cloud dynamics

Analytic solutions enable better understanding of relativistic motion under blackbody friction

Abstract

The equations of motion are solved analytically for speed and position for the case of blackbody friction on objects traveling at relativistic speeds with respect to observers fixed in the frame of the blackbody radiation. Two model cases are considered, both assume an object which is a perfect absorber of light, and one of which also assumes that the object maintains a constant rest mass by emitting photons in a momentum neutral process. The maximum distances attained for a light sail and a micron-size sand grain are determined under the assumption that the relevant blackbody source is that of cosmic background radiation. At a temperature of 3000K, the temperature at the time the universe became transparent, cosmic background radiation would cause a significant decay of speed fluctuations in dust clouds.