In order to settle the fundamental question whether the nuclear forces involve the long range components, the S-wave amplitude of the proton-proton scattering is analysed in search for the extra singularity at ν = 0, which corresponds to the long range force. To facilitate the search, a function, which is free from the singularities in the neighborhood of ν = 0 when all the interactions are sho...

English ivy (Hedera helix) is well known for its ability to climb onto and strongly adhere to a variety of solid substrates. It has been discovered that the ivy aerial rootlet secretes an adhesive composed of polysaccharide and spherical nanoparticles. This study aims to characterize the mechanical properties of the nanocomposite adhesive using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The adhesive was fi...

We derive van der Waals-London and Casimir forces by calculating the eigenmodes of the electromagnetic field interacting with two semi-infinite bodies (two halves of space) with parallel surfaces separated by distance d. We adopt simple models for metals and dielectrics, well-known in the elementary theory of dispersion. In the non-retarded (Coulomb) limit we get a d−3-force (van der Waals-Lond...

We have evaluated the performance of a set of widely used force fields by calculating the geometries and stabilization energies for a large collection of intermolecular complexes. These complexes are representative of a range of chemical and biological systems for which hydrogen bonding, electrostatic, and van der Waals interactions play important roles. Benchmark energies are taken from the hi...

The importance of accurately treating van der Waals interactions between the quantum mechanical (QM) and molecular mechanical (MM) atoms in hybrid QM/MM simulations has been investigated systematically. First, a set of van der Waals (vdW) parameters was optimized for an approximate density functional method, the self-consistent charge-tight binding density functional (SCC-DFTB) approach, based ...

Working at the Lifshitz level, we investigate the van der Waals interactions across a series of layers with a periodic motif. We derive the complete form of the van der Waals interaction as an explicit function of the number of periodic layers. We then compare our result with an approximation based on an anisotropic-continuum representation of the stratified medium. Satisfactory agreement betwe...

Monopolar charge disorder effects are studied in the context of fluctuation-induced interactions between neutral dielectric slabs. It is shown that quenched bulk charge disorder gives rise to an additive contribution to the net interaction force which decays as the inverse distance between the slabs and may thus completely mask the standard Casimir-van der Waals force at large separations. By c...

The problem of designing an atom interferometer with optimum sensitivity to de Broglie wave phase shifts is revisited. Because van der Waals interactions affect how efficiently material gratings work as beam splitters, we find the optimum open fraction for each of the gratings in a three-grating Mach Zehnder atom interferometer depends on the van der Waals interaction strength as well as the at...

The physics of operation of nanotube NEMS devices is reviewed. Special attention is paid to non-classical effects, rarely described in MEMS analysis, such as van der Waals/Casimir interactions, quantum effects in electrostatics, atomistic parameterization of elasticity. As an example of a breakdown of a classical MEMS theory, the NEMS scaling limitation is derived in a lump model taking into ac...

A mathematical derivation of an analytical expression is presented to evaluate the van der Waals interaction between a sphere and a cylindrical rod. This expression then is applied to study the growth of one-dimensional nanostructures, such as nanorods, using a common growth mechanism in colloidal chemistry, the oriented attachment growth mechanism. Parameters associated with the dimensions and...