The energy level shifts and the decay rate of an atom in the presence of a conducting wedge

TL;DR

This paper derives explicit formulas for the decay rate and energy level shifts of an atom near conducting geometries, analyzing how these quantities depend on position and polarization, and validates the approach through limiting case comparisons.

Contribution

It provides new explicit expressions for atomic decay rates and energy shifts near conducting wedges, extending previous results to more complex geometries.

Findings

Decay rate depends on atomic polarization and position.

Energy level shifts vary with geometry and atomic orientation.

Results agree with known cases in limiting geometries.

Abstract

In the present article explicit expressions for the decay rate and energy level shifts of an atom in the presence of an ideal conducting wedge, two parallel plates and a half-sheet are obtained in the frame work of the canonical quantization approach. The angular and radial dependence of the decay rate for different atomic polarizations of an excited atom and also of the energy level shifts are depicted and discussed. The consistency of the present approach in some limiting cases is investigated by comparing the relevant results obtained here to the previously reported results.