Beyond the Drude model: surface and non-local effects in near-field radiative heat transfer and the Casimir puzzle

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Main Author: Wang, Jian-Sheng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Wang, Jian-Sheng
author_facet Wang, Jian-Sheng
contents We study the charge and current response functions $P$ and $Π$ in a semi-infinite metal block using the electron surface Green's functions. The surface electrons behave similarly to a two-dimensional Fermi gas but are strongly damped due to coupling to the bulk. This substantially reduces the region of validity of the Drude model for $P$, which requires the frequency $ω\gg \max( v_F q, 1/τ)$, here $v_F$ is the Fermi velocity, $q$ is the wavevector and $τ$ is an effective relaxation time. As a consequence, for typical metal in near-field heat transfer, the Coulomb interaction goes as $1/d^4$ with the distance of the vacuum gap instead of the well-known $1/d^2$ of Drude model result. The current response $Π$ is shown to be highly anisotropic. The Drude model describes well the transverse directions parallel to the surface but is very different in the normal direction up to about 100 lattice sites away from the surface. These ideas and the residue diamagnetic effect of a nonzero $Π$ on the surface at zero frequency still cannot resolve the Casimir puzzle.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_10656
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Beyond the Drude model: surface and non-local effects in near-field radiative heat transfer and the Casimir puzzle
Wang, Jian-Sheng
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
We study the charge and current response functions $P$ and $Π$ in a semi-infinite metal block using the electron surface Green's functions. The surface electrons behave similarly to a two-dimensional Fermi gas but are strongly damped due to coupling to the bulk. This substantially reduces the region of validity of the Drude model for $P$, which requires the frequency $ω\gg \max( v_F q, 1/τ)$, here $v_F$ is the Fermi velocity, $q$ is the wavevector and $τ$ is an effective relaxation time. As a consequence, for typical metal in near-field heat transfer, the Coulomb interaction goes as $1/d^4$ with the distance of the vacuum gap instead of the well-known $1/d^2$ of Drude model result. The current response $Π$ is shown to be highly anisotropic. The Drude model describes well the transverse directions parallel to the surface but is very different in the normal direction up to about 100 lattice sites away from the surface. These ideas and the residue diamagnetic effect of a nonzero $Π$ on the surface at zero frequency still cannot resolve the Casimir puzzle.
title Beyond the Drude model: surface and non-local effects in near-field radiative heat transfer and the Casimir puzzle
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.10656