Brownian motion of a charged test particle in vacuum between two conducting plates

Abstract

The Brownian motion of a charged test particle caused by quantum electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations between two perfectly conducting plates is examined and the mean squared fluctuations in the velocity and position of the test particle are calculated. Our results show that the Brownian motion in the direction normal to the plates is reinforced in comparison to that in the single-plate case. The effective temperature associated with this normal Brownian motion could be three times as large as that in the single-plate case. However, the negative dispersions for the velocity and position in the longitudinal directions, which could be interpreted as reducing the quantum uncertainties of the particle, acquire positive corrections due to the presence of the second plate, and are thus weakened.

10 pages, Revtex4