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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
Published on: May 1, 2018
Giant Casimir effect in fluids in nonequilibrium steady states
T R Kirkpatrick1, J M Ortiz de Zárate2, J V Sengers3
1Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20877, USA and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20877, USA.
Abstract:
In this Letter, we consider the fluctuation-induced force exerted between two plates separated by a distance L in a fluid with a temperature gradient. We predict that for a range of distances L, this nonequilibrium force is anomalously large compared to other Casimir forces. The physical reason is that correlations in a nonequilibrium fluid are generally of longer range than other correlations, even than those near an equilibrium critical point. This giant Casimir force is related to a divergent Burnett coefficient that characterizes an Onsager cross effect between the pressure and the temperature gradient. The predicted Casimir force should be detectable with currently available experimental techniques.
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