Analytic approach to the thermal Casimir force between metal and dielectric (Q2472349)

The authors obtain the analytic expressions for the Casimir free energy, pressure and entropy at low temperatures in the configuration of one metal and one dielectric plate. Different models of the dielectric response for both metal and dielectric were considered: the simplified model of an ideal and dielectric with constant dielectric permittivity, and the realistic case of the metal and dielectric with frequency dependent dielectric permittivities. The analytic expressions for all related physical quantities at high temperature are also provided. The analytical results are compared with numerical computations using Lifshitz formula and tabulated optical data. The fundamental conclusion arrived in the paper is that the Lifshitz theory applied to the configuration of one metal and one dielectric plate is in agreement with thermodynamics if the dielectric permittivity of a dielectric plate at zero frequency is finite.