Radiative heat transfer and vacuum friction between nanostructures

We use the general theory of the fluctuating electromagnetic field and a ge neralised Kirchhoff's law [8] to calculate the heat transfer and vacuum fri ction between macroscopic and nanoscale bodies of arbitrary shape, dispersi ve and absorptive dielectric properties. We study the heat transfer and vac uum friction between: (a) two parallel semi-infinite bodies, (b) a semi,inf inite body and a spherical body. We consider the dependence of the heat tra nsfer and vacuum friction on the temperature T, the shape and separation d, and discuss the role of non-local and retardation effects. We find that fo r low-resistivity material the heat transfer and vacuum friction are Domina ted by retardation effects even for the very short separations.