6533b824fe1ef96bd12801a4

RESEARCH PRODUCT

van der Waals Interaction Energy Between Two Atoms Moving With Uniform Acceleration

Antonio NotoRoberto Passante

subject

PhysicsHigh Energy Physics - TheoryNuclear and High Energy PhysicsQuantum PhysicsField (physics)Zero-point energyFOS: Physical sciencesCasimir-Polder interactionInteraction energyGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)van der Waals forceGeneral Relativity and Quantum CosmologyCasimir effectDipolesymbols.namesakeUnruh effectHigh Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)Quantum mechanicssymbolsUnruh effectvan der Waals forceAtomic physicsQuantum Physics (quant-ph)Energy (signal processing)

description

We consider the interatomic van der Waals interaction energy between two neutral ground-state atoms moving in the vacuum space with the same uniform acceleration. We assume the acceleration orthogonal to their separation, so that their mutual distance remains constant. Using a model for the van der Waals dispersion interaction based on the interaction between the instantaneous atomic dipole moments, which are induced and correlated by the zero-point field fluctuations, we evaluate the interaction energy between the two accelerating atoms in terms of quantities expressed in the laboratory reference frame. We find that the dependence of the van der Waals interaction between the atoms from the distance is different with respect to the case of atoms at rest, and the relation of our results with the Unruh effect is discussed. We show that in the near zone a new term proportional to $R^{-5}$ adds to the usual $R^{-6}$ behavior, and in the far zone a term proportional to $R^{-6}$ adds to the usual $R^{-7}$ behavior, making the interaction of a longer range. We also find that the interaction energy is time-dependent, and the physical meaning of this result is discussed. In particular, we find acceleration-dependent corrections to the $R^{-7}$ (far zone) and $R^{-6}$ (near zone) proportional to $a^2t^2/c^2$; this suggests that significant changes to the van der Waals interaction between the atoms could be obtained if sufficiently long times are taken, without necessity of the extremely high accelerations required by other known manifestations of the Unruh effect.

10.1103/physrevd.88.025041http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.5786