Electrodynamic friction of a charged particle passing a conducting plate

Abstract

The classical electromagnetic friction of a charged particle, moving with prescribed constant velocity v parallel to a planar imperfectly conducting surface, is reinvestigated. As a concrete example, the Drude model is used to describe the conductor. The transverse electric and transverse magnetic contributions have very different characters both in the low-velocity (nonrelativistic) and high-velocity (ultrarelativistic) regimes. Both numerical and analytical results are given. Most remarkably, the transverse magnetic contribution to the friction has a maximum for |v|