L C Dávila Romero and D L Andrews 2009 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 42 085403 doi:10.1088/0953-4075/42/8/085403
L C Dávila Romero1 and D L Andrews
Show affiliationsA wide range of physical phenomena such as optical binding and resonance energy transfer involve electronic coupling between adjacent molecules. A quantum electrodynamical description of these intermolecular interactions reveals the presence of retardation effects. The clarity of the procedure associated with the construction of the quantum amplitudes and the precision of the ensuing results for observable energies and rates are widely acknowledged. However, the length and complexity of the derivations involved in such quantum electrodynamical descriptions increase rapidly with the order of the process under study. Whether through the use of time-ordering approaches, or the more expedient state-sequence method, time-consuming calculations cannot usually be bypassed. A simple and succinct method is now presented, which provides for a direct and still entirely rigorous determination of the quantum electrodynamical amplitudes for processes of arbitrarily high order. Using the approach, new results for optical binding in two- and three-particle systems are secured and discussed.
Issue 8 (28 April 2009)
Received 12 December 2008, in final form 12 March 2009
Published 9 April 2009
L C Dávila Romero and D L Andrews 2009 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 42 085403
J R Danielson et al 2009 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 42 235203
Yu-Chung N Cheng et al 2009 Phys. Med. Biol. 54 1169
Harald Schöndube et al 2009 Phys. Med. Biol. 54 4625
Th Kraus et al 1997 J. Micromech. Microeng. 7 196
P W Anderson et al 2004 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 16 R755
Andrey V Chubukov et al 1996 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 8 10017
Vadim N. Gamezo et al. 2005 ApJ 623 337
F. K. Röpke 2007 ApJ 668 1103
Jeffrey R. Forshaw et al JHEP10(2001)007