  We evaluate the probability of (de-)excitation and photon emission from a
neutral, moving, non-relativistic atom, coupled to the quantum electromagnetic
field and in the presence of a thin, perfectly conducting plane ("mirror").
These results extend, to a more realistic model, the ones we had presented for
a scalar model, where the would-be electron was described by a scalar variable,
coupled to an (also scalar) vacuum field. The latter was subjected to either
Dirichlet or Neumann conditions on a plane. In our evaluation of the
spontaneous emission rate produced when the accelerated atom is initially in an
excited state, we pay attention to its comparison with the somewhat opposite
situation, namely, an atom at rest facing a moving mirror.
