Spontaneous excitation of a centripetally accelerated atom coupled to electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations near a reflecting boundary

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Autori principali: Peng, Yan, Hu, Jiawei, Yu, Hongwei
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Peng, Yan
Hu, Jiawei
Yu, Hongwei
author_facet Peng, Yan
Hu, Jiawei
Yu, Hongwei
contents We investigate the rate of change of the mean atomic energy for centripetally accelerated atoms interacting with electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations near a reflecting boundary, using the Dalibard-Dupont-Roc-Cohen-Tannoudji formalism. The distinct contributions from vacuum fluctuations and radiation reaction are analyzed separately. Our results reveal that, when the centripetal acceleration significantly exceeds the characteristic acceleration set by the atomic transition frequency, vacuum fluctuations dominates over radiation reaction, irrespective of the atom-boundary distance and the atomic polarization. In the near-zone regime, where the atom-boundary distance is much smaller than both the characteristic length associated with the acceleration and the transition wavelength of the atom, the boundary introduces substantial corrections to the rate of change of the mean atomic energy. These corrections are comparable in magnitude to those in free space and exhibit strong dependence on the atomic polarization. Remarkably, in the intermediate and far regions, contributions stemming from the combined effects of the boundary and acceleration can become the leading and subleading terms, respectively. An acceleration-independent term also arises from their interplay. These findings highlight the significant interplay between acceleration and the presence of a boundary in shaping atomic radiative properties and may have potential implications for experimentally probing the circular Unruh effect.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_16488
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spontaneous excitation of a centripetally accelerated atom coupled to electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations near a reflecting boundary
Peng, Yan
Hu, Jiawei
Yu, Hongwei
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
We investigate the rate of change of the mean atomic energy for centripetally accelerated atoms interacting with electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations near a reflecting boundary, using the Dalibard-Dupont-Roc-Cohen-Tannoudji formalism. The distinct contributions from vacuum fluctuations and radiation reaction are analyzed separately. Our results reveal that, when the centripetal acceleration significantly exceeds the characteristic acceleration set by the atomic transition frequency, vacuum fluctuations dominates over radiation reaction, irrespective of the atom-boundary distance and the atomic polarization. In the near-zone regime, where the atom-boundary distance is much smaller than both the characteristic length associated with the acceleration and the transition wavelength of the atom, the boundary introduces substantial corrections to the rate of change of the mean atomic energy. These corrections are comparable in magnitude to those in free space and exhibit strong dependence on the atomic polarization. Remarkably, in the intermediate and far regions, contributions stemming from the combined effects of the boundary and acceleration can become the leading and subleading terms, respectively. An acceleration-independent term also arises from their interplay. These findings highlight the significant interplay between acceleration and the presence of a boundary in shaping atomic radiative properties and may have potential implications for experimentally probing the circular Unruh effect.
title Spontaneous excitation of a centripetally accelerated atom coupled to electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations near a reflecting boundary
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.16488