TY - UNPB
T1 - Observable Unruh Effect and Unmasked Unruh Radiation
AU - Wang, Charles H. -T.
AU - Gregori, Gianluca
AU - Bingham, Robert
AU - Adamu, Yakubu
AU - Eneh, Bethel N.
AU - Rodriguez, Maé C.
AU - Twigg, Sarah-Jane
N1 - 6 pages, 3 figures
PY - 2022/12/26
Y1 - 2022/12/26
N2 - The Unruh effect, thereby an ideally accelerated quantum detector is predicted to absorb thermalized virtual photons and re-emit real photons, is significantly extended for laboratory accessible configurations. Using modern influence functional techniques, we obtain explicit expressions describing the excitation and relaxation of the quantum levels of an Unruh detector as a general noninertial open quantum system. Remarkably, for controllable periodical motions, an exact master equation is found for the Unruh detector within the prevailing framework of quantum optics with a well-defined Unruh temperature for given acceleration ($\alpha$), acceleration frequency ($\omega_\alpha$), and transition frequency ($\omega_0$) of the detector. We further show that the measurable Unruh temperatures and corresponding transition rates are comparable or higher than their values for the ideally accelerated cases if $c\omega_0$ and $c\omega_\alpha$ have similar orders of magnitude as $\alpha$. This allows us to select the transition rates of the detector to unmask Unruh radiation against Larmor radiation which has been a major competing noise. Our work suggests experiments with such settings may directly confirm the Unruh effect within the current technology, based on which a laboratory test of black hole thermodynamics will become possible.
AB - The Unruh effect, thereby an ideally accelerated quantum detector is predicted to absorb thermalized virtual photons and re-emit real photons, is significantly extended for laboratory accessible configurations. Using modern influence functional techniques, we obtain explicit expressions describing the excitation and relaxation of the quantum levels of an Unruh detector as a general noninertial open quantum system. Remarkably, for controllable periodical motions, an exact master equation is found for the Unruh detector within the prevailing framework of quantum optics with a well-defined Unruh temperature for given acceleration ($\alpha$), acceleration frequency ($\omega_\alpha$), and transition frequency ($\omega_0$) of the detector. We further show that the measurable Unruh temperatures and corresponding transition rates are comparable or higher than their values for the ideally accelerated cases if $c\omega_0$ and $c\omega_\alpha$ have similar orders of magnitude as $\alpha$. This allows us to select the transition rates of the detector to unmask Unruh radiation against Larmor radiation which has been a major competing noise. Our work suggests experiments with such settings may directly confirm the Unruh effect within the current technology, based on which a laboratory test of black hole thermodynamics will become possible.
KW - gr-qc
U2 - 10.48550/arXiv.2212.13246
DO - 10.48550/arXiv.2212.13246
M3 - Preprint
BT - Observable Unruh Effect and Unmasked Unruh Radiation
PB - ArXiv
ER -