Motion-driven quantum dissipation in an open electronic system with nonlocal interaction

Abstract: In this paper, we study excitations and dissipation in two infinite parallel metallic plates with relative motion. We model the degrees of freedom of the electrons in both plates using the 1+2 dimensional Dirac field and select a nonlocal potential to describe the interaction between the two plates. The internal relative motion is introduced via a Galilean boost, assuming one plate slides relative to the other. We then calculate the effective action of the system and derive the vacuum occupation number in momentum space using a perturbative method. The numerical plots show that, as a function of momentum the vacuum occupation number is isotropic for a motion speed v = 0 and anisotropic for nonzero v. Due to energy transfer between the plates, the process of relative motion induces on-shell excitations, similar to the dissipative process of the Schwinger effect. Therefore, we can study the motion-induced dissipation effects and the dissipative forces via quantum action. The numerical results demonstrate that both the imaginary part of the quantum action for the motion boost and the dissipative force have a threshold as a function of v, and both are positively correlated with v.