  We investigate the resonance dipole-dipole interaction energy between two
identical atoms, one in the ground state and the other in the excited state,
interacting with the electromagnetic field in the presence of a perfectly
reflecting plane boundary. The atoms are prepared in a correlated (symmetric or
anti-symmetric) Bell-type state. Following a procedure due to Dalibard et. al.
[J. Dalibard et. al., J. Phys. (Paris) {\bf 43}, 1617 (1982); {\bf 45}, 637
(1984)], we separate the contributions of vacuum fluctuations and radiation
reaction (source) field to the resonance interaction energy between the two
atoms, and show that only the source field contributes to the interatomic
interaction, while vacuum field fluctuations do not. By considering specific
geometric configurations of the two-atom-system with respect to the mirror and
specific choices of dipole orientations, we show that the presence of the
mirror significantly affects the resonance interaction energy and that
different features appear with respect to the case of atoms in free space, for
example a change in the spatial dependence of the interaction. Our findings
also suggest that the presence of a boundary can be exploited to tailor and
control the resonance interaction between two atoms, as well as the related
energy transfer process. The possibility of observing these phenomena is also
discussed.
