PIRSA:24040084

The Unruh effect and its connection to classical radiation (virtual)

Vacalis, G. (2024). The Unruh effect and its connection to classical radiation (virtual). Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/24040084

Vacalis, Georgios. The Unruh effect and its connection to classical radiation (virtual). Perimeter Institute, Apr. 09, 2024, https://pirsa.org/24040084 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:24040084,
            doi = {10.48660/24040084},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/24040084},
            author = {Vacalis, Georgios},
            keywords = {Particle Physics},
            language = {en},
            title = {The Unruh effect and its connection to classical radiation (virtual)},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2024},
            month = {apr},
            note = {PIRSA:24040084 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Georgios Vacalis

University of Oxford

Talk number
PIRSA:24040084
Collection
Talk Type
Subject
Abstract

Particle production can occur in a curved spacetime like, for example, in the case of thermal emission of particles from black holes, otherwise known as Hawking radiation. The Unruh effect is a quantum field theory result that is closely connected to Hawking radiation. It states that accelerated observers associate a thermal bath of particles to the vacuum state of inertial observers. The Unruh effect has been given special attention because contrary to black hole evaporation, it is a prediction made in a flat (Minkowski) spacetime and therefore can be, in principle, tested in the laboratory. Recently, we have investigated the connection between the Unruh effect and classical radiation for a uniformly accelerated particle. This link seems counter-intuitive since the former is a purely quantum effect while the latter is a classic one. Nonetheless, we find that using a full quantum field treatment of the radiation exchanged by an accelerated charge with the surrounding Unruh thermal bath, the resultant power reduces at tree-level to the usual Larmor formula. The results are also consistent with the observation made by Unruh and Wald which states that the emission of a photon in the inertial frame corresponds to the emission or absorption of a photon in the accelerated frame. The fact that the derivation makes the link between the Unruh effect and the Larmor radiation from a uniformly accelerated charged particle clearer will perhaps help in resolving some of the controversies that have surrounded the Unruh effect since its discovery.

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