We analyze the proposal that gravity may originate from a van der Waals type of residual force between particles due to the vacuum electromagnetic zero-point field. Starting from the Casimir-Polder integral, we show that the proposed approach can be analyzed directly, without recourse to approximations previously made. We conclude that this approach to Newtonian gravity does not work, at least ...

The SAF on Land Surface Analysis (LSA SAF) is aimed to produce operationally land surface products taking full advantage of the new EUMETSAT meteorological satellites by the end of its Initial Operational phase (2005-2007). Our main concern in LSA SAF is to develop the algorithm for retrieving Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Vegetation Cover (FVC), as well as to validate the derived produ...

The POLDER instrument is devoted to global observations of the solar radiation reflected by the Earth–atmosphere system. The airborne version of the instrument was operated during the ACE-2 experiment, more particularly as a component of the CLOUDYCOLUMN project of ACE-2 that was conducted in summer 1997 over the subtropical northeastern Atlantic ocean. CLOUDYCOLUMN is a coordinated project spe...

PACS 03.65.Ud – Entanglement and quantum nonlocality PACS 03.67.Mn – Entanglement production, characterization, and manipulation PACS 42.50.Dv – Nonclassical states of the electromagnetic field, including entangled photon states; quantum state engineering and measurements Abstract.-We have considered the interaction of a pair of spatially separated two-level atoms with the electromagnetic field...

It is as yet very difficult to extract optical properties of atmospheric aerosols from satellite data over land. The PARASOL/ POLDER observes the reflectance and polarization of a target quasi-simultaneously in multi-viewing angles at wavelengths of 490nm, 670nm and 865nm. In this study, a new estimation method of aerosol properties using the polarized radiance effectively is described. The pol...

We have investigated the temperature-dependent Casimir-Polder interaction between two oscillators in the proximity of metal surfaces. The interaction near a single metal surface has much in common with the interaction in free space. However, at any finite temperature the long-range asymptote is equal to the hightemperature asymptote. This asymptote, which originates not from the n50 term in the...

POLDER is a CNES instrument on board NASDA’s ADEOS polar orbiting satellite, which was successfully launched in August 1996. On October 30, 1996, POLDER entered its nominal acquisition phase and worked perfectly until ADEOS’s early end of service on June 30, 1997. POLDER is a multispectral imaging radiometer/polarimeter designed to collect global and repetitive observations of the solar radiati...

Within the scope of the Integrated Rhine Program an ecological flood gate and channel was inserted into the polder "Ingelheim" to enhance animal and plant diversity. In 2008, carabid beetles and springtails were collected, using pitfall traps, to measure the effects of ecological flooding and a strong precipitation event at a flood-disturbed and a dry location in this area. At both localities, ...

Within leading-order perturbation theory, the Casimir-Polder potential of a ground-state atom placed within an arbitrary arrangement of dispersing and absorbing linear bodies can be expressed in terms of the polarizability of the atom and the scattering Green tensor of the body-assisted electromagnetic field. Based on a Born series of the Green tensor, a systematic expansion of the Casimir-Pold...