Stochastic Lorentz forces on a point charge moving near the conducting plate

The influence of quantized electromagnetic fields on a nonrelativistic charged particle moving near a conducting plate is studied. We give a field-theoretic derivation of the nonlinear, non-Markovian Langevin equation of the particle by the method of Feynman-Vernon influence functional. This stochastic approach incorporates not only the stochastic noise manifested from electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations, but also dissipation backreaction on a charge in the form of the retarded Lorentz forces. Since the imposition of the boundary is expected to anisotropically modify the effects of the fields on the evolution of the particle, we consider the motion of a charge undergoing small-amplitude oscillations in the direction either parallel or normal to the plane boundary. Under the dipole approximation for nonrelativistic motion, velocity fluctuations of the charge are found to grow linearly with time in the early stage of the evolution at the rather different rate, revealing strong anisotropic behavior. They are then asymptotically saturated as a result of the fluctuation-dissipation relation, and the same saturated value is found for the motion in both directions. The observational consequences are discussed.