Casimir-Polder forces between two accelerating atoms and the Unruh effect
arXiv:0911.2910 · doi:10.1142/9789814289931_0040
Abstract
The Casimir-Polder force between two atoms with equal uniform acceleration and separated by a constant distance R is considered. We show that, in the low-acceleration limit, while the near-zone R^{-6} behavior of the interatomic interaction energy is not changed by the acceleration of the atoms, the far-zone interaction energy decreases as R^{-5} instead of the well-known R^{-7} behavior for inertial atoms. Possibility of an indirect detection of the Unruh effect through measurements of the Casimir-Polder force between the two accelerating atoms is also suggested. We also consider a heuristic model for calculating the Casimir-Polder potential energy between the two atoms in the high-acceleration limit.
Contribution to the Proceedings of the QFEXT09 Conference, Norman, Oklahoma, USA