dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaThe limits of the rotating wave approximation in the electromagnetic field propagation in a cavity
| Authors | I. Dolce, R. Passante, F. Persico |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0512146 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0512146 |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.physleta.2006.02.018 |
Abstract
We consider three two-level atoms inside a one-dimensional cavity, interacting with the electromagnetic field in the rotating wave approximation (RWA), commonly used in the atom-radiation interaction. One of the three atoms is initially excited, and the other two are in their ground state. We numerically calculate the propagation of the field spontaneously emitted by the excited atom and scattered by the second atom, as well as the excitation probability of the second and third atom. The results obtained are analyzed from the point of view of relativistic causality in the atom-field interaction. We show that, when the RWA is used, relativistic causality is obtained only if the integrations over the field frequencies are extended to $-\infty$; on the contrary, noncausal tails remain even if the number of field modes is increased. This clearly shows the limit of the RWA in dealing with subtle problems such as relativistic causality in the atom-field interaction.
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"abstract": "We consider three two-level atoms inside a one-dimensional cavity,\ninteracting with the electromagnetic field in the rotating wave approximation\n(RWA), commonly used in the atom-radiation interaction. One of the three atoms\nis initially excited, and the other two are in their ground state. We\nnumerically calculate the propagation of the field spontaneously emitted by the\nexcited atom and scattered by the second atom, as well as the excitation\nprobability of the second and third atom. The results obtained are analyzed\nfrom the point of view of relativistic causality in the atom-field interaction.\nWe show that, when the RWA is used, relativistic causality is obtained only if\nthe integrations over the field frequencies are extended to $-\\infty$; on the\ncontrary, noncausal tails remain even if the number of field modes is\nincreased. This clearly shows the limit of the RWA in dealing with subtle\nproblems such as relativistic causality in the atom-field interaction.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0512146",
"authors": [
"I. Dolce",
"R. Passante",
"F. Persico"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1016/j.physleta.2006.02.018",
"title": "The limits of the rotating wave approximation in the electromagnetic field propagation in a cavity",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0512146"
},
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