Vacuum energy densities of a field in a cavity with a mobile boundary
We consider the zero-point field fluctuations, and the related field energy densities, inside a one-dimensional and a three-dimensional cavity with a mobile wall. The mechanical degrees of freedom of the mobile wall are described quantum mechanically and they are fully included in the overall system dynamics. In this optomechanical system, the field and the wall can interact with each other through the radiation pressure on the wall, given by the photons inside the cavity or even by vacuum fluctuations. We consider two cases: the one-dimensional electromagnetic field and the three-dimensional scalar field, and use the Green's functions formalism, which allows extension of the results obtain…
Nonequilibrium dressing in a cavity with a movable reflecting mirror
We consider a movable mirror coupled to a one-dimensional massless scalar field in a cavity. Both the field and the mirror's mechanical degrees of freedom are described quantum-mechanically, and they can interact each other via the radiation pressure operator. We investigate the dynamical evolution of mirror and field starting from a nonequilibrium initial state, and their local interaction which brings the system to a stationary configuration for long times. This allows us to study the time-dependent dressing process of the movable mirror interacting with the field, and its dynamics leading to a local equilibrium dressed configuration. Also, in order to explore the effect of the radiation …
Effect of boundaries on vacuum field fluctuations and radiation-mediated interactions between atoms
In this paper we discuss and review several aspects of the effect of boundary conditions and structured environments on dispersion and resonance interactions involving atoms or molecules, as well as on vacuum field fluctuations. We first consider the case of a perfect mirror, which is free to move around an equilibrium position and whose mechanical degrees of freedom are treated quantum mechanically. We investigate how the quantum fluctuations of the mirror's position affect vacuum field fluctuations for both a one-dimensional scalar and electromagnetic field, showing that the effect is particularly significant in the proximity of the moving mirror. This result can be also relevant for poss…
Dynamical Casimir-Polder force between an excited atom and a conducting wall
We consider the dynamical atom-surface Casimir-Polder force in the non-equilibrium configuration of an atom near a perfectly conducting wall, initially prepared in an excited state with the field in its vacuum state. We evaluate the time-dependent Casimir-Polder force on the atom, and find that it shows an oscillatory behavior from attractive to repulsive both in time and in space. We also investigate the asymptotic behavior in time of the dynamical force and of related local field quantities, showing that the static value of the force, as obtained by a time-independent approach, is recovered for times much larger than the timescale of the atomic self-dressing, but smaller than the atomic d…
Spatial correlations of field observables in two half-spaces separated by a movable perfect mirror
We consider a system of two cavities separated by a reflecting boundary of finite mass that is free to move, and bounded to its equilibrium position by a harmonic potential. This yields an effective mirror-field interaction, as well as an effective interaction between the field modes mediated by the movable boundary. Two massless scalar fields are defined in each cavity. We consider the second-order interacting ground state of the system, that contains virtual excitations of both mirror's degrees of freedom and of the scalar fields. We investigate the correlation functions between field observables in the two cavities, and find that the squared scalar fields in the two cavities, in the inte…