van der Waals and Casimir-Polder interactions between neutrons

TL;DR

This paper studies the quantum-induced van der Waals and Casimir-Polder interactions between neutrons and between a neutron and a proton, analyzing their distance-dependent behaviors and extending the theory to smaller separations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical analysis of neutron-neutron and neutron-proton interactions based on Casimir-Polder theory, including modifications for smaller distances.

Findings

Neutron-neutron interaction potential decreases as inverse seventh power at large distances.

Neutron-proton interaction potential decreases as inverse fourth power at large distances.

Extended formalism accounts for smaller separation distances using dipole polarizability data.

Abstract

We investigate the van der Waals interaction between neutrons using the theory of Casimir and Polder, wherein the potential for asymptotically large separations falls off as the inverse seventh power, and compare it to the similar interaction between a neutron and a proton, for which the asymptotic interaction falls off as the inverse fourth power. Modifications of the formalism to extend the validity to smaller separations using dynamic electric and magnetic dipole polarizability data are discussed