Vacuum field correlations and three-body Casimir-Polder potential with one excited atom

Abstract

The three- body Casimir - Polder potential between one excited and two ground-state atoms is evaluated. A physical model based on the dressed. field correlations of vacuum. fluctuations is used, generalizing a model previously introduced for three ground- state atoms. Although the three- body potential with one excited atom is already known in the literature, our model gives new insights on the nature of non- additive Casimir - Polder forces with one or more excited atoms.