TY - JOUR
T1 - The retarded van der Waals potential
AU - Miyao, Tadahiro
AU - Spohn, Herbert
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to P. Milonni for very useful hints on the literature. T.M. would like to acknowledge partial support by the DFG Grant No. SP131/24.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The retarded van der Waals potential, as first obtained by Casimir and Polder, is usually computed on the basis of nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics. The Hamiltonian describes two infinitely heavy nuclei, charge e, separated by a distance R and two spinless electrons, charge -e, nonrelativistically coupled to the quantized radiation field. Casimir and Polder used the dipole approximation and small coupling to the Maxwell field. We employ here the full Hamiltonian and determine the asymptotic strength of the leading - R-7 potential, which is valid for all e. Our computation is based on a path integral representation and expands in 1/R, rather than in e.
AB - The retarded van der Waals potential, as first obtained by Casimir and Polder, is usually computed on the basis of nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics. The Hamiltonian describes two infinitely heavy nuclei, charge e, separated by a distance R and two spinless electrons, charge -e, nonrelativistically coupled to the quantized radiation field. Casimir and Polder used the dipole approximation and small coupling to the Maxwell field. We employ here the full Hamiltonian and determine the asymptotic strength of the leading - R-7 potential, which is valid for all e. Our computation is based on a path integral representation and expands in 1/R, rather than in e.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=68749117769&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1063/1.3171922
DO - 10.1063/1.3171922
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:68749117769
SN - 0022-2488
VL - 50
JO - Journal of Mathematical Physics
JF - Journal of Mathematical Physics
IS - 7
M1 - 072103
ER -