Comparison of theory and experiments on Van der Waals forces in media -- a survey

TL;DR

This survey critically compares theoretical predictions and experimental measurements of Van der Waals forces in media, highlighting that theoretical uncertainties often surpass experimental errors and supporting the Lifshitz theory over alternatives.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of theory and experiment for Van der Waals forces, emphasizing the importance of accounting for uncertainties and validating the Lifshitz theory.

Findings

Theoretical errors are often larger than experimental errors.

Lifshitz theory aligns well with experimental data within uncertainties.

Alternative models based on Maxwell stress tensor are less supported.

Abstract

We present a critical overview comparing theoretical predictions and measurements of Van der Waals dispersion forces in media on the basis of the respective Hamaker constants. To quantify the agreement, we complement the reported experimental errors with those for the theoretical predictions, which are due to uncertainties in the underlying spectroscopic data. Our main finding is that the theoretical errors are often larger than their experimental counterparts. Within these uncertainties, the comparison confirms the standard Lifshitz theory based on the Abraham electromagnetic stress tensor against the recently suggested alternative account on the basis of the Maxwell stress tensor.