Lamb Shift for static atoms outside a Schwarzschild black hole
Nov, 2010
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Abstract: (arXiv)
We study, by separately calculating the contributions of vacuum fluctuations and radiation reaction to the atomic energy level shift, the Lamb shift of a static two-level atom interacting with real massless scalar fields in the Boulware, Unruh and Hartle-Hawking vacuums outside a Schwarzschild black hole. We find that in the Boulware vacuum, the Lamb shift gets a correction arising as a result of the backscattering of vacuum field modes off the space-time curvature, which is reminiscent of the correction to the Lamb shift induced by the presence of cavities. However, when the Unruh and Hartle-Hawking vacua are concerned, our results show that the Lamb shift behaves as if the atom were irradiated by a thermal radiation or immersed in a thermal bath at the Hawking temperature, depending on whether the scalar field is in the Unruh or the Hartle-Hawking vacuum. Remarkably, the thermal radiation is always backscattered by the space-time geometry.- 97.60.Lf
- 04.70.Dy
- 12.20.Ds
- 04.62.+v
- radiation: thermal
- black hole: Schwarzschild
- fluctuation: vacuum
- atom: interaction
- temperature: Hawking
- field theory: scalar: massless
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