Intermolecular Casimir-Polder forces in water and near surfaces

Thiyam P;Persson C;Sernelius BE;Parsons D;Malthe-Sorenssen A;Bostrom M

2014-01-01

---

Abstract

The Casimir-Polder force is an important long-range interaction involved in adsorption and desorption of molecules in fluids. We explore Casimir-Polder interactions between methane molecules in water, and between a molecule in water near SiO2 and hexane surfaces. Inclusion of the finite molecular size in the expression for the Casimir-Polder energy leads to estimates of the dispersion contribution to the binding energies between molecules and between one molecule and a planar surface