Acceleration and vacuum temperature

Abstract

The quantum fluctuations of an "accelerated" vacuum state, that is vacuum fluctuations in the presence of a constant electromagnetic field, can be described by the temperature $\TEH$. Considering $\TEH$ for the gyromagnetic factor $g=1$ we show that $\TEH(g=1)=\THU$, where $\THU$ is the Unruh temperature experienced by an accelerated observer. We conjecture that both particle production and nonlinear field effects inherent in the Unruh accelerated observer case are described by the case $g=1$ QED of strong fields. We present rates of particle production for $g=0,1,2$ and show that the case $g=1$ is experimentally distinguishable from $g=0,2$. Therefore, either accelerated observers are distinguishable from accelerated vacuum or there is unexpected modification of the theoretical framework.

4 pages, 1 figure; expanded discussion of experimental observables, added references, version appearing in Phys Rev D

References in corpus (5)

• The Unruh effect and its applications
• A Primer for Black Hole Quantum Physics
• The Schwinger mechanism revisited
• Q & A Experiment to Search for Vacuum Dichroism, Pseudoscalar-Photon Interaction and Millicharged Fermions
• Vacuum Persistence and Inversion of Spin Statistics in Strong QED

Cited by in corpus (2)

• One-Loop Effective Action and Schwinger Effect in (Anti-) de Sitter Space
• Foundations of Classical Electrodynamics, Equivalence Principle and Cosmic Interactions: A Short Exposition and an Update