Detecting traces of non-contact quantum friction in the corrections of the accumulated geometric phase

In this presentation quantum friction is proposed to be determined by means of the measurement of the geometric phase in a two level system.  The study of the open dynamics of a neutral particle while traveling at constant velocity in front of a dielectric sheet in quantum vacuum is described. The effects of the quantum vacuum are disentangled by looking into the changes associated by the presence of the dielectric sheet and the motion of the particle in quantum vacuum. As the geometric phase accumulates over cycles, the correction to the geometric phase becomes relevant at a relative short timescale, while the system still preserves purity. A proposed experiment to measure the effect of quantum friction will be described,  with particular emphasis in the velocity dependence of the corrections to the phase. The experiment consists in measuring the changes induced in the geometric phase of a NV-center embedded in a nanodiamond, kept at a constant short distance (~3-10 nm) from a rotating doped Si wafer. This experiment would be the first one in tracking traces of quantum friction through the study of decoherence effects on the two-level system.