Particle detectors and the zero mode of a quantum field

Abstract

We study the impact of the zero-mode of a quantum field on the evolution of a particle detector. For a massless scalar field in a periodic cavity, we show that the impact of the zero mode on the Unruh-DeWitt detector and its derivative-coupling generalisation is necessarily nonvanishing but can be made negligible in some limits, including those commonly occurring in non-relativistic quantum optics. For the derivative-coupling detector this can be accomplished by just tuning the zero mode's initial state, but the standard Unruh-DeWitt detector requires a more subtle and careful tuning. Applications include an inertial detector with arbitrary velocity, where we demonstrate the regularity of the ultrarelativistic limit, and a detector with uniform acceleration.

14 pages, 3 Figures. RevTex 4.1. v2: Added journal reference and minor edits to match published version

References in corpus (8)

• The Unruh effect and its applications
• How often does the Unruh-DeWitt detector click? Regularisation by a spatial profile
• Wavepacket detection with the Unruh-DeWitt model
• Analogue Hawking Radiation in a dc-SQUID Array Transmission Line
• Then again, how often does the Unruh-DeWitt detector click if we switch it carefully?
• Static, stationary and inertial Unruh-DeWitt detectors on the BTZ black hole
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• Entanglement dynamics: Generalized master equation for uniformly accelerated two-level systems
• Unruh deWitt probe of late time revival of quantum correlations in Friedmann spacetimes
• Derivative coupling in horizon brightened acceleration radiation: a quantum optics approach
• Acceleration Radiation from Derivative-Coupled Atoms Falling in Modified Gravity Black Holes
• Dispersive vacuum as a decoherence amplifier of an Unruh-DeWitt detector
• Unruh-DeWitt detector in ${\text{AdS}}_2$
• Mitigating the information degradation in a massive Unruh-DeWitt theory
• The Unruh-DeWitt model and its joint interacting Hilbert space
• Hawking radiation conference, book of proceedings
• Derivative coupling enables genuine entanglement harvesting in causal communication
• Quantum Approach to Bound States in Field Theory
• Duality between amplitude and derivative coupled particle detectors in the limit of large energy gaps
• Unstable mode and the Unruh-DeWitt detector
• Particle detectors under chronological hazard
• Bipartite and tripartite entanglement in pure dephasing relativistic spin-boson model