Medium-induced interactions in confined geometries

Haim Diamant

Tel Aviv University, School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv, Israel

Confining boundaries affect the response of a medium to perturbations and its fluctuation spectrum. Consequently, they influence medium-induced and fluctuation-induced interactions between embedded particles. By considering the effect of the boundaries on the conserved fields of the medium one can distinguish between interactions that are suppressed by confinement and those which can be enhanced by it. We demonstrate in detail both suppression and enhancement of interactions for two cases: (a) the electromagnetic dispersion interaction of particles confined in a dielectric slab between two plates of another dielectric medium; (b) the hydrodynamic interaction of particles suspended in a liquid between two rigid plates and in a linear channel.

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