We study the thermal Casimir effect between two thick slabs composed of plane-parallel layers of random dielectric materials interacting across an intervening homogeneous dielectric. It is found that the effective interaction at long distances is self averaging and is given by a description in terms of effective dielectric functions. The behavior at short distances becomes random (sample dependent) and is dominated by the local values of the dielectric function proximal to each other across the dielectrically homogeneous slab.
We study the thermal fluctuation induced interactions between two surfaces containing Brownian charges which are held at different temperatures. Using a dynamical form of Debye-Huckel theory implemented within the stochastic equation for the density of mobile Brownian charges, we derive expressions for the average force between the two surfaces as well as its variance. The latter is found both for the normal, of finite mean, as well as the lateral force, of zero mean, between the surfaces.
We present a general extension of a field-theoretic approach developed in earlier papers to the calculation of the free energy of symmetrically layered electrolytic systems which is based on the Sine-Gordon field theory for the Coulomb gas. The method is to construct the partition function in terms of the Feynman evolution kernel in the Euclidean time variable associated with the coordinate normal to the surfaces defining the layered structure. The theory is applicable to cylindrical systems and its development is motivated by the possibility that a static van der Waals or thermal Casimir force could provide an attractive force stabilising a dielectric tube formed from a lipid bilayer, an example of which are t-tubules occurring in certain muscle cells. In this context, we apply the theory to the calculation of the thermal Casimir effect for a dielectric tube of radius $R$ and thickness $delta$ formed from such a membrane in water. In a grand canonical approach we find that the leading contribution to the Casimir energy behaves like $-k_BTLkappa_C/R$ which gives rise to an attractive force which tends to contract the tube radius. We find that $kappa_C sim 0.3$ for the case of typical lipid membrane t-tubules. We conclude that except in the case of a very soft membrane this force is insufficient to stabilise such tubes against the bending stress which tend to increase the radius. We briefly discuss the role of lipid membrane reservoir implicit in the approach and whether its nature in biological systems may possibly lead to a stabilising mechanism for such lipid tubes.
We study interface thermal resistance (ITR) in a system consisting of two dissimilar anharmonic lattices exemplified by Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) model and Frenkel-Kontorova (FK) model. It is found that the ITR is asymmetric, namely, it depends on how the temperature gradient is applied. The dependence of the ITR on the coupling constant, temperature, temperature difference, and system size are studied. Possible applications in nanoscale heat management and control are discussed.
In net-neutral systems correlations between charge fluctuations generate strong attractive thermal Casimir forces and engineering these forces to optimize nanodevice performance is an important challenge. We show how the normal and lateral thermal Casimir forces between two plates containing Brownian charges can be modulated by decorrelating the system through the application of an electric field, which generates a nonequilibrium steady state with a constant current in one or both plates, reducing the ensuing fluctuation-generated normal force while at the same time generating a lateral drag force. This hypothesis is confirmed by detailed numerical simulations as well as an analytical approach based on stochastic density functional theory.
This paper is concerned with the connection between the properties of dielectric relaxation and ac (alternating-current) conduction in disordered dielectrics. The discussion is divided between the classical linear-response theory and a self-consistent dynamical modeling. The key issues are, stretched exponential character of dielectric relaxation, power-law power spectral density, and anomalous dependence of ac conduction coefficient on frequency. We propose a self-consistent model of dielectric relaxation, in which the relaxations are described by a stretched exponential decay function. Mathematically, our study refers to the expanding area of fractional calculus and we propose a systematic derivation of the fractional relaxation and fractional diffusion equations from the property of ac universality.