Talk detail

Participant	Verch, Rainer
Institution	Inst. f. Theor. Physics, University of Leipzig - Bruederstr. 16 - Leipzig - Saxony - Germany

Session	QF3	Accepted		Order	Time
Talk	Oral abstract	Title	New Perspectives on the Unruh Effect
Coauthors
Abstract	In this talk, which is based on a recent joint article with Detlev Buchholz (arXiv:1412.5892 [math-ph]), methods of algebraic quantum field theory will be employed to obtain new insights on macroscopic aspects of the Unruh effect. It is shown in the model-independent setting of algebraic quantum field theory that observables carried rigidly in accelerated laboratories will, in the long-time limit, not register any thermal effects, but approximate vacuum expectation values. Contrasting this with the Unruh effect, we will conclude that the Gibbs state assumed by a uniformly accelerated detector system coupled toa quantum field in its vacuum state in the long-time limit should not be viewed as the result of coupling the detector to a heat bath, i.e. as due purely to transfer of heat to the detector. Further results will be presented showing that the heat bath picture which is commonly used in the interpretation of the Unruh effect leads to inconsistencies and is not tenable.
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Session	EU2	Accepted		Order	Time
Talk	Oral abstract	Title	The Heat of Acceleration - Unruh vs Tolman
Coauthors
Abstract	The vacuum state of a quantum field in Minkowski spacetime is spatially homogeneous. This implies that the local physical temperature of any thermometer-observable in the sense of the Tolman-Ehrenfest law must everywhere be zero in the inertial vacuum state. Therefore, the Unruh effect, i.e. the temperature increase indicated by a uniformly accelerated detector system coupled to a quantum field in its inertial vacuum state, cannot be interpreted in the sense of a heat bath surrounding the detector, i.e. as the result of purely the transfer of heat to the detector system. The increase of temperature of the accelerated detector system is due to systematic quantum effects induced by the local coupling between detector and quantum field, whereby not only heat but also work is exchanged. The talk is based on a joint article with Detlev Buchholz, see arXiv:1505.01686[gr-qc].
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