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Autores principales: Pereira, Pedro H., Impens, F., Farina, C., Neto, P. A. Maia, Souza, R. de Melo e
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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Acceso en línea:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.13265
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author Pereira, Pedro H.
Impens, F.
Farina, C.
Neto, P. A. Maia
Souza, R. de Melo e
author_facet Pereira, Pedro H.
Impens, F.
Farina, C.
Neto, P. A. Maia
Souza, R. de Melo e
contents We report on a microscopic theory of quantum friction. Our approach investigates the interplay between the dispersive response and the relative center-of-mass motion of two ground-state atoms. This coupling yields a quantum force, which can be expressed as a power series in the velocity. The significance of each contribution depends on its order parity: while even-order terms are reversible, odd-order terms are irreversible and only survive in the presence of an internal dissipation mechanism. In addition, we obtain general, model-independent properties for the work performed by these contributions for arbitrary scattering trajectories. These results enable an unambiguous identification of odd-parity terms with microscopic quantum friction. At room temperature, the dominant microscopic quantum friction is of first order in the velocity and presents a strong quantum character. Our microscopic theory reveals that several properties of quantum friction obtained in specific settings -- such as the cubic dependence on velocity at zero temperature -- are indeed universal features already present at the atomic scale.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_13265
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Microscopic Quantum Friction
Pereira, Pedro H.
Impens, F.
Farina, C.
Neto, P. A. Maia
Souza, R. de Melo e
Quantum Physics
We report on a microscopic theory of quantum friction. Our approach investigates the interplay between the dispersive response and the relative center-of-mass motion of two ground-state atoms. This coupling yields a quantum force, which can be expressed as a power series in the velocity. The significance of each contribution depends on its order parity: while even-order terms are reversible, odd-order terms are irreversible and only survive in the presence of an internal dissipation mechanism. In addition, we obtain general, model-independent properties for the work performed by these contributions for arbitrary scattering trajectories. These results enable an unambiguous identification of odd-parity terms with microscopic quantum friction. At room temperature, the dominant microscopic quantum friction is of first order in the velocity and presents a strong quantum character. Our microscopic theory reveals that several properties of quantum friction obtained in specific settings -- such as the cubic dependence on velocity at zero temperature -- are indeed universal features already present at the atomic scale.
title Microscopic Quantum Friction
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.13265