Temperature-invariant Casimir-Polder forces despite large thermal photon numbers

Abstract

We demonstrate that Casimir-Polder potentials can be entirely independent of temperature even when allowing for the thermal photon numbers to become large at the relevant molecular transition frequencies. This statement holds for potentials that are due to low-energy transitions of a molecule placed near a plane metal surface. For a molecule in an energy eigenstate, the temperature-invariance is a consequence of strong cancellations between nonresonant potential components and those due to evanescent waves. For a molecule with a single dominant transition in a thermal state, upward and downward transitions combine to a temperature-independent potential. The results are contrasted with the case of an atom whose potential exhibits a regime of linear temperature-dependence. Contact to the Casimir force between a weakly dielectric and a metal plate is made.