A theory of electromagnetic fluctuations for metallic surfaces and van der waals interactions between metallic bodies.
A new general expression is derived for the fluctuating electromagnetic field outside a metal surface in terms of its surface impedance. It provides a generalization to real metals of Lifshitz theory of molecular interactions between dielectric solids. The theory is used to compute the radiative heat transfer between two parallel metal surfaces at different temperatures. It is shown that a measurement of this quantity may provide an experimental resolution of a long-standing controversy about the effect of thermal corrections on the Casimir force between real metal plates.
Bimonte
Giuseppe
G
Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario MSA, Via Cintia I-80126 Napoli, Italy. Bimonte@na.infn.it