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The Formalism for Energy Changing Rate of an Accelerated Atom Coupled with Electromagnetic Vacuum Fluctuations

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Abstract

The structure of the rate of variation of the atomic energy for an arbitrary stationary motion of the atom in interaction with a quantum electromagnetic field is investigated. Our main purpose is to rewrite the formalism in Zhu et al. (Phys Rev D 73:107501, 2006) and to deduce the general expressions of the Einstein A coefficients of an atom on an arbitrary stationary trajectory. The total rate of change of the energy and Einstein coefficients of the atom near a plate with finite temperature or acceleration are also investigated.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Y. Jin for a valuable discussion.

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Correspondence to Anwei Zhang.

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Zhang, A. The Formalism for Energy Changing Rate of an Accelerated Atom Coupled with Electromagnetic Vacuum Fluctuations. Found Phys 46, 1199–1207 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-016-0016-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-016-0016-9

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