Particle Detectors, Cavities, and the Weak Equivalence Principle

Abstract

We analyze a quantum version of the weak equivalence principle, in which we compare the response of a static particle detector crossed by an accelerated cavity with the response of an accelerated detector crossing a static cavity in (1+1)-dimensional flat spacetime. We show, for both massive and massless scalar fields, that the non-locality of the field is enough for the detector to distinguish the two scenarios. We find this result holds for vacuum and excited field states of different kinds and we clarify the role of field mass in this setup.

arXiv comment18 pages, 18 figures. RevTeX 4.1. Updated to match published version

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Landauer's principle in Qubit-Cavity quantum field theory Interaction in Vacuum and Thermal States
• Acceleration Radiation from Derivative-Coupled Atoms Falling in Modified Gravity Black Holes
• Acceleration Radiation of Freely Falling Atoms: Nonlinear Electrodynamic Effects
• Quasinormal Mode Spectroscopy via Horizon-Brightened Quantum Optics