Is There Emitted Radiation in Unruh Effect?
Abstract
The thermal radiance felt by a uniformly accelerated detector/oscillator/atom-the Unruh effect 1 - is often mistaken to be some emitted radiation detectable by an observer/probe/sensor. Here we show by an explicit calculation of the energy momentum tensor of a quantum scalar field that, at least in 1+1 dimension, while a polarization cloud is found to exist around the particle trajectory, there is no emitted radiation from a uniformly accelerated oscillator in equilibrium conditions. Under nonequilibrium conditions which can prevail for non-uniformly accelerated trajectories or before the atom or oscillator reaches equilibrium, there is conceivably radiation emitted, but that is not what Unruh effect entails.
- Publication:
-
Quantum Aspects of Beam Physics
- Pub Date:
- April 2002
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 2002qabp.conf..414H