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Friction on a Spinning Piece of Matter

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Abstract

In our Universe rotating motion, contrary to translational motion, is defined absolutely. I examine some physical consequences of the existence of absolute rotation. One of them is a resistive torque on a rotating piece of dielectric induced by the scattering of the fluctuations of the QED vacuum. This torque rests on the estimation of the emission of angular momentum by a wave scattered by a rotating dipole. This phenomenon per se could also yield a method for cooling the rotational degrees of freedom of molecules

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l’Ecole normale supérieure, 24 Rue Lhomond, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Yves Pomeau

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  1. Yves Pomeau
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Correspondence to Yves Pomeau.

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Pomeau, Y. Friction on a Spinning Piece of Matter. J Stat Phys 121, 1083–1095 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-005-5966-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-005-5966-9

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