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arXiv:2601.00483

Prediction of a measurable sign change in the Casimir force using a magnetic fluid

Long Ma, Larissa Inácio, Dai-Nam Le, Lilia M. Woods, Mathias Boström

quant-phcond-mat.mes-hallphysics.app-phphysics.opticsSubmitted Jan 1, 2026• Announced Jan 5, 2026
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Abstract

We demonstrate quantum levitation controlled by Casimir forces acting between a polystyrene surface and a Teflon-coated metallic substrate immersed in a mixture of Toluene and magnetite particles. This system experiences repulsion-attraction transitions in the Casimir interaction for distances where the effect is measurable. This Casimir trapping can be controlled by clever choices of metallic and ferrofluid materials, which are directly linked to the emergence of the trapping effect. Thermal and quantum contributions are investigated in detail, showing how the optical and magnetic properties of the ferrofluid and other materials affect the magnitude of the trapping and its distance range of observability.

Comments
9 pages, 4 figures. Submitted

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We demonstrate quantum levitation controlled by Casimir forces acting between a polystyrene surface and a Teflon-coated metallic substrate immersed in a mixture of Toluene and magnetite particles. This system experiences repulsion-attraction transitions in the Casimir interaction for distances where the effect is measurable. This Casimir trapping can be controlled by clever choices of metallic and ferrofluid materials, which are directly linked to the emergence of the trapping effect. Thermal and quantum contributions are investigated in detail, showing how the optical and magnetic properties of the ferrofluid and other materials affect the magnitude of the trapping and its distance range of observability.
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In this work we consider a fermionic chain of finite length ℓ. Fermions are allowed to interact and are forced to obey boundary conditions, thus altering the process of condensation. Our goal is to explore how this affects the quantum vacuum energy for this system. We approach this problem by using a self-consistent method and observe a nontrivial behavior in the Casimir force, displaying a switch from an attractive to a repulsive regime. This flip stems from the competition between the attractive contribution from the usual fermionic Casimir effect and a repulsive one coming from the condensate.
We study the zero-temperature Casimir effect of a three-dimensional Bose fluid with finite-range corrections to its Bogoliubov spectrum. Beyond the universal acoustic contribution scaling as L−3L^{-3}L−3, the long-distance expansion contains a nonuniversal L−5L^{-5}L−5 correction that can compete with the phononic term. We derive this crossover analytically within a minimal isotropic finite-range model and test the asymptotic result against the full dispersion. A regulator-independent Poisson-resummed calculation confirms that sign reversals of the Casimir energy are possible, while showing that the apparent low-coupling zero inferred by balancing only the L−3L^{-3}L−3 and L−5L^{-5}L−5 terms is not quantitatively controlled. Robust sign changes instead occur in the stable regime close to roton softening, where the Casimir energy acquires an oscillatory finite-momentum contribution. Strongly dipolar atomic gases provide a natural motivation for microscopic interaction lengths in the nanometric regime. We further discuss how the resulting nonlinear force law could be probed through the frequency response of a driven nanomechanical resonator.
We investigate the fluctuation-induced Casimir interactions between two parallel graphene sheets carrying steady-state drift currents. The graphene properties are modeled based on the shifted Fermi disk model to capture the non-equilibrium optical response of the system. We find that the drift current introduces a repulsive correction to the perpendicular to the layers Casimir interaction, thereby reducing the overall attractive force. Although the correction is repulsive, it does not overcome the underlying attraction between the layers. It also generates a lateral force that opposes the carrier flow direction. Both contributions are studied in terms of distance and drift velocity functionalities showing pathways for Casimir force control.
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