Temperature-Independent Casimir-Polder Forces Despite Large Thermal Photon Numbers
- Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim (Norway)
- Quantum Optics and Laser Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)
We demonstrate that Casimir-Polder potentials can be entirely independent of temperature even when allowing for the relevant thermal photon numbers to become large. This statement holds for potentials that are due to low-energy transitions of a molecule placed near a plane metal surface whose plasma frequency is much larger than any atomic resonance frequencies. For a molecule in an energy eigenstate, the temperature independence is a consequence of strong cancellations between nonresonant potential components and those due to evanescent waves. For a molecule with a single dominant transition in a thermal state, upward and downward transitions combine to form a temperature-independent potential. The results are contrasted with the case of an atom whose potential exhibits a regime of linear temperature dependence. Contact with the Casimir force between a weakly dielectric and a metallic plate is made.
- OSTI ID:
- 21410383
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 22; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.223003; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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GENERAL PHYSICS
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