Open quantum system approach to Gibbons-Hawking effect of de Sitter space-time

Abstract

We analyze, in the paradigm of open quantum systems, the reduced dynamics of a freely-falling two-level detector in de Sitter space-time in weak interaction with a reservoir of fluctuating quantized conformal scalar fields in the de Sitter invariant vacuum. We find that the detector is asymptotically driven to a thermal state at the Gibbons-Hawking temperature, regardless of its initial state. Our discussion therefore shows that the Gibbons-Hawking effect of de Sitter space-time can be understood as a manifestation of thermalization phenomena that involves decoherence and dissipation in open quantum systems.

8 pages, no figures, a few typos corrected, version published in PRL

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