Thermal vacuum friction of objects with different dimensionality
Abstract
Radiative forces acting on neutral bodies moving through a thermal bath represent a unique manifestation of the interplay between relativistic kinematics and thermal fluctuations. Vacuum friction is commonly formulated using the fluctuation--dissipation theorem or related statistical approaches, but such treatments can obscure the elementary momentum-transfer processes, especially in relativistic regimes. Here, we develop a kinetic momentum-transfer framework based on relativistic kinematics in which the radiative force and pressure are obtained by summing individual scattering and absorption events. This approach offers a transparent physical picture while ensuring a self-consistent treatment of Doppler shifts and relativistic transformations. We apply the method to three representative geometries: an isotropic dipolar particle, a thin resonant plate moving normal to its surface, and a thin resonant plate moving parallel to its surface. In the nonrelativistic limit, we derive explicit radiative drag coefficients, providing compact expressions for predicting vacuum friction in moving structures.
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BibTeX
@misc{chalyan2026thermal,
title = {{Thermal vacuum friction of objects with different dimensionality}},
author = {Gor Chalyan and F. Javier García de Abajo},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2607.04150},
eprint = {2607.04150},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.04150},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Thermal vacuum friction of objects with different dimensionality
AU - Gor Chalyan
AU - F. Javier García de Abajo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/16
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2607.04150
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.04150
AB - Radiative forces acting on neutral bodies moving through a thermal bath represent a unique manifestation of the interplay between relativistic kinematics and thermal fluctuations. Vacuum friction is commonly formulated using the fluctuation--dissipation theorem or related statistical approaches, but such treatments can obscure the elementary momentum-transfer processes, especially in relativistic regimes. Here, we develop a kinetic momentum-transfer framework based on relativistic kinematics in which the radiative force and pressure are obtained by summing individual scattering and absorption events. This approach offers a transparent physical picture while ensuring a self-consistent treatment of Doppler shifts and relativistic transformations. We apply the method to three representative geometries: an isotropic dipolar particle, a thin resonant plate moving normal to its surface, and a thin resonant plate moving parallel to its surface. In the nonrelativistic limit, we derive explicit radiative drag coefficients, providing compact expressions for predicting vacuum friction in moving structures.
ER -