Casimir forces and quantum friction from Ginzburg radiation in atomic BECs

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to simulate quantum vacuum effects, like Casimir forces and quantum friction, using impurity atoms in Bose-Einstein condensates, revealing new force behaviors at supersonic speeds.

Contribution

It introduces a novel atomic-level scheme to emulate quantum electrodynamics effects in cold atom systems, extending the understanding of vacuum forces in condensed matter analogs.

Findings

Observation of a power-law scaling of Casimir force at supersonic speeds

Prediction of quantum frictional forces due to Ginzburg emission

Feasibility of experimental detection in spectroscopic setups

Abstract

We theoretically propose an experimentally viable scheme to use an impurity atom in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, in order to realize condensed-matter analogs of quantum vacuum effects. In a suitable atomic level configuration, the collisional interaction between the impurity atom and the density fluctuations in the condensate can be tailored to closely reproduce the electric-dipole coupling of quantum electrodynamics. By virtue of this analogy, we recover and extend the paradigm of electromagnetic vacuum forces to the domain of cold atoms, showing in particular the emergence, at supersonic atomic speeds, of a novel power-law scaling of the Casimir force felt by the atomic impurity, as well as the occurrence of a quantum frictional force, accompanied by the Ginzburg emis- sion of Bogoliubov quanta. Observable consequences of these quantum vacuum effects in realistic spectroscopic experiments are discussed.