Universality versus material dependence of fluctuation forces between metallic wires

Ehsan Noruzifar ¹, Thorsten Emig ², Roya Zandi ¹

Physical Review A 84 (2011) 042501

We calculate the Casimir interaction between two parallel wires and between a wire and a metall plate. The dielectric properties of the objects are described by the plasma, Drude and perfect metal models. We find that at asymptotically large separation interactions involving plasma wires and/or plates are independent of the material properties, but depend on the dc conductivity $\sigma$ for Drude wires. Counterintuitively, at intermediate separations the interaction involving Drude wires can become independent of $\sigma$. At smaller separations, we compute the interaction numerically and observe an approach to the proximity approximation.

• 1. Department of Physics and Astronomy,
  University of California, Riverside
• 2. Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques (LPTMS),
  CNRS : UMR8626 – Université Paris XI – Paris Sud