Simplified derivation of the Hawking-Unruh temperature for an accelerated observer in vacuum
Abstract
A detector undergoing uniform acceleration a in a vacuum field responds as though it were immersed in thermal radiation of temperature T=ℏa/2πkc. An intuitive derivation of this result is given for a scalar field in one spatial dimension. The approach is extended to the case where the field detected by the accelerated observer is a spin 1/2 Dirac field.
- Publication:
-
American Journal of Physics
- Pub Date:
- December 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1119/1.1761064
- arXiv:
- arXiv:quant-ph/0401170
- Bibcode:
- 2004AmJPh..72.1524A
- Keywords:
-
- 01.40.-d;
- 04.62.+v;
- 04.70.Dy;
- 44.40.+a;
- Education;
- Quantum field theory in curved spacetime;
- Quantum aspects of black holes evaporation thermodynamics;
- Thermal radiation;
- Quantum Physics;
- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
- E-Print:
- 11 pages, no figures, (written in REVTEX4). Submitted to Am. J. Phys, 26Jan04. - Accepted Am.J.Phys (to appear Nov 2004). 15 pages, fixed confusing typo in Eq.(8), expanded references citng related previous works, discussion of parameter domain of integrals used, and relationship of Minkowski to Rindler vacuum