Authors: Christian Raabe DirkGunnar Welsch
Publish Date: 2007/06/19
Volume: 172, Issue: 1-3, Pages: 149-156
Abstract
We outline our Lorentzforce approach to the description of dispersion forces see also C Raabe and DG Welsch Phys Rev A 71013814 2005 Phys Rev A 73063822 2006 It is based on the groundstate Lorentz force density that acts on the charge and current densities attributed to the polarization and magnetization in linearly locally and causally responding media Application of the theory to dielectric systems yields very general formulas for the Casimir force on dielectric bodies or parts of them It is shown that wellknown expressions for the Casimir–Polder force on a single atom and for the van der Waals force between atoms are also contained in our formula The theory may thus be viewed as providing a unified basis for the calculation of dispersion forces from a macroscopic point of view
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