Universal thermal radiation drag on neutral objects
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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Characterization of Thermal Transport in One-dimensional Solid Materials
Published on: January 26, 2014
Vanik Mkrtchian1, V Adrian Parsegian, Rudi Podgornik
1Institute for Physical Research, Armenian Academy of Sciences, 378410 Ashtarak-2, Armenia.
Abstract:
We compute the force on a small neutral polarizable object moving at velocity v--> relative to a photon gas equilibrated at a temperature T. We find a drag force linear in v-->. Its physical basis is related to that in recent formulations of the dissipative component of the Casimir force, i.e., the change in photon momentum in emission and absorption between the moving body and the stationary thermal bath. We estimate the strength of this universal drag force for different dielectric response functions and comment on its relevance in various contexts, especially to radiation-matter coupling in the cosmos.
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