Casimir-Polder forces between two accelerating atoms and the Unruh effect

TL;DR

This paper investigates how uniform acceleration affects the Casimir-Polder force between two atoms, revealing modifications in the far-zone behavior and proposing potential experimental detection of the Unruh effect.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of acceleration on interatomic forces and introduces a heuristic model for high-acceleration regimes, highlighting possible experimental implications.

Findings

Near-zone R^{-6} behavior remains unchanged by acceleration.

Far-zone interaction energy decreases as R^{-5} under acceleration.

Potential for indirect detection of the Unruh effect through force measurements.

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.