Quantum interaction between two gravitationally polarizable objects in the presence of boundaries

We investigate, in the framework of the linearized quantum gravity and the leading-order perturbation theory, the quantum correction to the classical Newtonian interaction between a pair of gravitationally polarizable objects in the presence of both Neumann and Dirichlet boundaries. We obtain general results for the interaction potential and find that the presence of a boundary always strengthens in the leading order the interaction as compared with the case in absence of boundaries. But different boundaries yield a different degree of strengthening. In the limit when one partner of the pair is placed very close to the Neumann boundary, the interaction potential is larger when the pair is parallel with the boundary than when it is perpendicular to it, which is just opposite to the case when the boundary is Dirichlet where the latter is larger than the former. In addition, we find that the pair-boundary separation dependence of the higher-order correction term is determined by the orientation of the pair with respect to boundary, with the parallel case giving a quadratic behavior and the perpendicular case a linear one.

Figure 1

The system consists of objects $A$ and $B$ in a flat spacetime with a plane boundary at $z=0$.