Vacuum correlators of the electromagnetic field and the Casimir-Polder forces in the field of a cosmic string

Vacuum correlators of the electric and magnetic fields are calculated in the geometry of a cosmic string. Formulas for the vacuum expectation values for the squares of field components are derived. The forces acting on an atom due to the vacuum fluctuations (Casimir-Polder forces) are investigated. For atoms with isotropic tensor of polarizability these forces are attractive with respect to the string. In the anisotropic case, depending on the eigenvalues of the polarizability tensor, the Casimir-Polder forces can be either attractive or repulsive.