Dissipation in finite systems: Semiconductor NEMS, graphene NEMS, and metallic nanoparticles

This thesis studies three kinds of mesoscopic systems and how one of their collective degrees of freedom is affected by a dissipative environment: a)Nanoelectromechanical systems based on semiconductor materials, and how surface friction processes limit the quality factor of their vibrational eigenmodes at low temperatures, causing as well a frequency shift; b)Graphene - based nanoresonators, and several damping mechanisms limiting the quality factor of its fundamental bending (flexural) eigenmode, and c)The dissipative dynamics of the surface plasmon created in a metallic nanocluster by a laser pulse, discussing the validity and limitations of a very common theoretical model used for its description.