Causality, nonlocality and three-body Casimir-Polder energy between three ground-state atoms

Abstract

The problem of relativistic causality in the time-dependent three-body Casimir–Polder interaction energy between three atoms, initially in their bare ground state, is discussed. It is shown that the non-locality of the spatial correlations of the electromagnetic field emitted by the atoms during their dynamical selfdressing may become manifest in the dynamical three-body Casimir–Polder interaction energy between the three atoms.