Moving detectors in cavities

Abstract

I consider two-level detectors, coupled to a quantum scalar field, moving inside cavities. I highlight some pathological resonant effects due to abrupt boundaries, and decide to describe the cavity by switching smoothly the interaction by a time-dependent gatelike function. Considering uniformly accelerated trajectories, I show that some specific choices of nonadiabatic switching have led to hazardous interpretations about the enhancement of the Unruh effect in cavities. More specifically, I show that the emission/absorption ratio takes arbitrary high values according to the emitted quanta properties and to the transients undergone at the entrance and the exit of the cavity, independently of the acceleration. An explicit example is provided where I show that inertial and uniformly accelerated worldlines can even lead to the same ``pseudotemperature.'' In passing, I also compute the deviation from the exact thermal response for a finite size cavity.

Locations

• Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology - View
• arXiv (Cornell University) - View - PDF
• DataCite API - View