92 research outputs found
Moving Atom-Field Interaction: Correction to Casimir-Polder Effect from Coherent Back-action
The Casimir-Polder force is an attractive force between a polarizable atom
and a conducting or dielectric boundary. Its original computation was in terms
of the Lamb shift of the atomic ground state in an electromagnetic field (EMF)
modified by boundary conditions along the wall and assuming a stationary atom.
We calculate the corrections to this force due to a moving atom, demanding
maximal preservation of entanglement generated by the moving atom-conducting
wall system. We do this by using non-perturbative path integral techniques
which allow for coherent back-action and thus can treat non-Markovian
processes. We recompute the atom-wall force for a conducting boundary by
allowing the bare atom-EMF ground state to evolve (or self-dress) into the
interacting ground state. We find a clear distinction between the cases of
stationary and adiabatic motions. Our result for the retardation correction for
adiabatic motion is up to twice as much as that computed for stationary atoms.
We give physical interpretations of both the stationary and adiabatic atom-wall
forces in terms of alteration of the virtual photon cloud surrounding the atom
by the wall and the Doppler effect.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, clarified discussions; to appear in Phys. Rev.
Dressed States Approach to Quantum Systems
Using the non-perturbative method of {\it dressed} states previously
introduced in JPhysA, we study effects of the environment on a quantum
mechanical system, in the case the environment is modeled by an ensemble of non
interacting harmonic oscillators. This method allows to separate the whole
system into the {\it dressed} mechanical system and the {\it dressed}
environment, in terms of which an exact, non-perturbative approach is possible.
When applied to the Brownian motion, we give explicit non-perturbative formulas
for the classical path of the particle in the weak and strong coupling regimes.
When applied to study atomic behaviours in cavities, the method accounts very
precisely for experimentally observed inhibition of atomic decay in small
cavities PhysLA, physics0111042
Electromagnetic field correlations near a surface with a nonlocal optical response
The coherence length of the thermal electromagnetic field near a planar
surface has a minimum value related to the nonlocal dielectric response of the
material. We perform two model calculations of the electric energy density and
the field's degree of spatial coherence. Above a polar crystal, the lattice
constant gives the minimum coherence length. It also gives the upper limit to
the near field energy density, cutting off its divergence. Near an
electron plasma described by the semiclassical Lindhard dielectric function,
the corresponding length scale is fixed by plasma screening to the Thomas-Fermi
length. The electron mean free path, however, sets a larger scale where
significant deviations from the local description are visible.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure files (.eps), \documentclass[global]{svjour},
accepted in special issue "Optics on the Nanoscale" (Applied Physics B, eds.
V. Shalaev and F. Tr\"ager
Van der Waals-Casimir-Polder interaction of an atom with a composite surface
We study the dispersion interaction of the van der Waals and Casimir-Polder
(vdW-CP) type between a neutral atom and the surface of a metal by allowing for
nonlocal electrodynamics, i.e. electron diffusion. We consider two models: (i)
bulk diffusion, and (ii) diffusion in a surface charge layer. In both cases the
transition to a semiconductor is continuous as a function of the conductivity,
unlike the case of a local model. The relevant parameter is the electric
screening length and depends on the carrier diffusion constant. We find that
for distances comparable to the screening length, vdW-CP data can distinguish
between bulk and surface diffusion, hence it can be a sensitive probe for
surface states.Comment: v2: expanded references, statements on current status in the field.
10 pages, 6 figure
Resonant dipole-dipole interaction in the presence of dispersing and absorbing surroundings
Within the framework of quantization of the macroscopic electromagnetic
field, equations of motion and an effective Hamiltonian for treating both the
resonant dipole-dipole interaction between two-level atoms and the resonant
atom-field interaction are derived, which can suitably be used for studying the
influence of arbitrary dispersing and absorbing material surroundings on these
interactions. The theory is applied to the study of the transient behavior of
two atoms that initially share a single excitation, with special emphasis on
the role of the two competing processes of virtual and real photon exchange in
the energy transfer between the atoms. In particular, it is shown that for weak
atom-field interaction there is a time window, where the energy transfer
follows a rate regime of the type obtained by ordinary second-order
perturbation theory. Finally, the resonant dipole-dipole interaction is shown
to give rise to a doublet spectrum of the emitted light for weak atom-field
interaction and a triplet spectrum for strong atom-field interaction.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, RevTE
Addition of docetaxel to hormonal therapy in low- and high-burden metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer : long-term survival results from the STAMPEDE trial
Background
STAMPEDE has previously reported that the use of upfront docetaxel improved overall survival (OS) for metastatic hormone naĂŻve prostate cancer patients starting long-term androgen deprivation therapy. We report on long-term outcomes stratified by metastatic burden for M1 patients.
Methods
We randomly allocated patients in 2 : 1 ratio to standard-of-care (SOC; control group) or SOC + docetaxel. Metastatic disease burden was categorised using retrospectively-collected baseline staging scans where available. Analysis used Cox regression models, adjusted for stratification factors, with emphasis on restricted mean survival time where hazards were non-proportional.
Results
Between 05 October 2005 and 31 March 2013, 1086 M1 patients were randomised to receive SOC (n = 724) or SOC + docetaxel (n = 362). Metastatic burden was assessable for 830/1086 (76%) patients; 362 (44%) had low and 468 (56%) high metastatic burden. Median follow-up was 78.2 months. There were 494 deaths on SOC (41% more than the previous report). There was good evidence of benefit of docetaxel over SOC on OS (HR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.69–0.95, P = 0.009) with no evidence of heterogeneity of docetaxel effect between metastatic burden sub-groups (interaction P = 0.827). Analysis of other outcomes found evidence of benefit for docetaxel over SOC in failure-free survival (HR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.57–0.76, P  0.5 in each case). There was no evidence that docetaxel resulted in late toxicity compared with SOC: after 1 year, G3-5 toxicity was reported for 28% SOC and 27% docetaxel (in patients still on follow-up at 1 year without prior progression).
Conclusions
The clinically significant benefit in survival for upfront docetaxel persists at longer follow-up, with no evidence that benefit differed by metastatic burden. We advocate that upfront docetaxel is considered for metastatic hormone naĂŻve prostate cancer patients regardless of metastatic burden
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