Rectified Lorentz Force from Thermal Current Fluctuations

Abstract

In a conducting medium held at finite temperature, free carriers are performing Brownian motion and generate fluctuating electromagnetic fields. We compute the averaged Lorentz force density that turns out nonzero in a thin sub-surface layer, pointing towards the surface, while vanishing in the bulk. This is an elementary example of rectified fluctuations, similar to the Casimir force or radiative heat transport. Our results also provide an experimental way to distinguish between the Drude and so-called plasma models.