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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15410 |
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| _version_ | 1866909746988056576 |
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| author | Kaushal, Jivesh Boldt, Chris Scheel, Stefan Laliotis, Athanasios Pedri, Paolo |
| author_facet | Kaushal, Jivesh Boldt, Chris Scheel, Stefan Laliotis, Athanasios Pedri, Paolo |
| contents | Light-matter interaction models invariably rely on the multipole expansion of the electromagnetic potentials generated by complex charge distributions. These multipoles are typically taken to be traceless, however, for a correct evaluation of dispersion forces at all distances, the validity of this assumption has to be checked carefully. Here, we revisit the concept of dispersion forces on an atom near a dielectric surface from the perspective of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics and find that, beyond the quadrupole, the multipoles cannot always be taken as fully traceless. In particular, we show that the trace of the octupole moment contributes to Casimir-Polder interactions beyond the electrostatic regime. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_15410 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Multipole expansion for dispersion forces -- watch this trace Kaushal, Jivesh Boldt, Chris Scheel, Stefan Laliotis, Athanasios Pedri, Paolo Quantum Physics Atomic Physics Light-matter interaction models invariably rely on the multipole expansion of the electromagnetic potentials generated by complex charge distributions. These multipoles are typically taken to be traceless, however, for a correct evaluation of dispersion forces at all distances, the validity of this assumption has to be checked carefully. Here, we revisit the concept of dispersion forces on an atom near a dielectric surface from the perspective of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics and find that, beyond the quadrupole, the multipoles cannot always be taken as fully traceless. In particular, we show that the trace of the octupole moment contributes to Casimir-Polder interactions beyond the electrostatic regime. |
| title | Multipole expansion for dispersion forces -- watch this trace |
| topic | Quantum Physics Atomic Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15410 |