dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaMoving Atom-Field Interaction: Correction to Casimir-Polder Effect from Coherent Back-action
| Authors | S. Shresta, B. L. Hu, N. G. Phillips |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0302004 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0302004 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.68.062101 |
| Journal | Phys. Rev. A 68, 062101 (2003) |
Abstract
The Casimir-Polder force is an attractive force between a polarizable atom and a conducting or dielectric boundary. Its original computation was in terms of the Lamb shift of the atomic ground state in an electromagnetic field (EMF) modified by boundary conditions along the wall and assuming a stationary atom. We calculate the corrections to this force due to a moving atom, demanding maximal preservation of entanglement generated by the moving atom-conducting wall system. We do this by using non-perturbative path integral techniques which allow for coherent back-action and thus can treat non-Markovian processes. We recompute the atom-wall force for a conducting boundary by allowing the bare atom-EMF ground state to evolve (or self-dress) into the interacting ground state. We find a clear distinction between the cases of stationary and adiabatic motions. Our result for the retardation correction for adiabatic motion is up to twice as much as that computed for stationary atoms. We give physical interpretations of both the stationary and adiabatic atom-wall forces in terms of alteration of the virtual photon cloud surrounding the atom by the wall and the Doppler effect.
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"abstract": "The Casimir-Polder force is an attractive force between a polarizable atom\nand a conducting or dielectric boundary. Its original computation was in terms\nof the Lamb shift of the atomic ground state in an electromagnetic field (EMF)\nmodified by boundary conditions along the wall and assuming a stationary atom.\nWe calculate the corrections to this force due to a moving atom, demanding\nmaximal preservation of entanglement generated by the moving atom-conducting\nwall system. We do this by using non-perturbative path integral techniques\nwhich allow for coherent back-action and thus can treat non-Markovian\nprocesses. We recompute the atom-wall force for a conducting boundary by\nallowing the bare atom-EMF ground state to evolve (or self-dress) into the\ninteracting ground state. We find a clear distinction between the cases of\nstationary and adiabatic motions. Our result for the retardation correction for\nadiabatic motion is up to twice as much as that computed for stationary atoms.\nWe give physical interpretations of both the stationary and adiabatic atom-wall\nforces in terms of alteration of the virtual photon cloud surrounding the atom\nby the wall and the Doppler effect.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0302004",
"authors": [
"S. Shresta",
"B. L. Hu",
"N. G. Phillips"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.68.062101",
"journal_ref": "Phys. Rev. A 68, 062101 (2003)",
"title": "Moving Atom-Field Interaction: Correction to Casimir-Polder Effect from Coherent Back-action",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0302004"
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