Resonance Dipole-Dipole Interaction Between Two Accelerated Atoms in the Presence of a Reflecting Plane Boundary

Abstract

We study the resonant dipole-dipole interaction energy between two non-inertial identical atoms, one excited and the other in the ground state, prepared in a correlated Bell-type state, and interacting with the scalar field or the electromagnetic field nearby a perfectly reflecting plate. We suppose the two atoms move with the same uniform acceleration, parallel to the plane boundary, and that their separation is constant during the motion. By separating the contributions of radiation reaction field and vacuum fluctuations to the resonance energy shift of the two-atom system, we show that Unruh thermal fluctuations do not affect the resonance interaction, which is exclusively related to the radiation reaction field. However, non-thermal effects of acceleration in the radiation-reaction contribution, beyond the Unruh acceleration-temperature equivalence, affect the resonance interaction energy. By considering specific geometric configurations of the two-atom system relative to the plate, we show that the presence of the mirror significantly modifies the resonance interaction energy between the two accelerated atoms. In particular, we find that new and different features appear with respect to the case of atoms in the free-space, related to the presence of the boundary and to the peculiar structure of the quantum electromagnetic field vacuum in the locally inertial frame. Our results suggest the possibility to exploit the resonance interaction between accelerated atoms as a probe for detecting the elusive effects of atomic acceleration on radiative processes. * zhouwenting@nbu.edu.cn † roberto.passante@unipa.it ‡ lucia.rizzuto@unipa.it been argued that the Unruh effect is a fundamental requirement to ensure the consistency of quantum field theory [19]. In any case, a direct verification of the effect, and in general of acceleration-dependent effects, could allow us to solve some fundamental controversies about its physical interpretation.Recently, the effects of an accelerated motion on the radiative properties of atoms/molecules in vacuum have been discussed in the literature [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Changes in the spontaneous emission rate [20,[27][28][29] or in the Lamb shift of single uniformly accelerating atoms [21,22], as well as the dispersion Casimir-Polder interaction between a uniformly accelerated atom and a reflecting plate [30][31][32][33][34] or between two uniformly accelerated atoms [35,36], have been investigated, and their relation with the Unruh effect was discussed. The effect of non-equilibrium boundaries on radiative properties of atoms has been also considered [37,38].Another, albeit related, problem, recently addressed in the literature, concerns the equivalence between acceleration and temperature. For example, it has been discussed that non-thermal features (related to a uniform acceleration) manifest in the dispersion (van der Waals/Casimir-Polder) and resonance interaction between non inertial atoms in the free-space [25,26,36,39]. These investigations reveal that the effects of a ...

New Trends in Quantum Electrodynamics

“…In such a case, the resonance interaction is a unique signature of the accelerated motion of the atoms [161]. Similar results are also found in the coaccelerated frame [162], and for atoms nearby a reflecting boundary [163]. Finally, we wish to mention that very recently the Casimir-Polder and resonance interactions between atoms has been also investigated in the case of a curved-spacetime background [164][165][166].…”

“…In conclusion, the results outlined in this section give a strong indication that the radiation-mediated interactions, specifically dispersion and resonance interactions, between uniformly accelerated atoms could provide a promising setup to detect the effect of a noninertial motion on radiative processes, possibly allowing an indirect detection of the Unruh effect through the measurement of dispersion or resonance interaction between accelerating atoms [151,159,161,163].…”

Resonance energy transfer between two atoms in a conducting cylindrical waveguide

“…(19). Since the waveguide Green's tensor (26) is symmetric with respect to the exchange of the atomic positions, Im G ij (r A , r B , ω) = Im G ij (r B , r A , ω) (∀i, j, ω), the energy transfer amplitude (19) becomes…”

“…Recently, investigations on how to control and tailor radiative processes through the environment have become a very active field of research, even in the case of time-modulated environments [17][18][19]. For example, the effect of a structured environment such as a photonic crystal on the dipoledipole interaction [20][21][22][23][24], or on the resonance interaction force between two entangled atoms [5,25,26], has been investigated, showing possibility of enhancement or inhibition of the interaction. The effect of dispersive and absorbing surrounding media on the energy transfer between two atoms has been investigated [27,28], as well as the possibility to control the resonance energy transfer between nanostructured emitters through a reflecting plate [29,30].…”

Van der Waals and resonance interactions between accelerated atoms in vacuum and the Unruh effect

“…Resonance interaction between two accelerated atoms in the presence of a perfectly conducting plate In this section we briefly illustrate preliminary results on the resonance interaction between two atoms moving with a uniform acceleration parallel to a perfectly conducting plate [25]. The presence of the reflecting plate changes the field modes and it is of great interest to investigate its effect on the resonance interaction between the two atoms.…”