Higgs Field & Unruh Effect

Abstract

The Unruh effect describes radiation detected by an accelerated detector. The vacuum seen in an inertial frame of Minkowski spacetime is a pure vacuum, while in a Rindler wedge it is a vacuum plus blackbody distribution of radiation. While the detector on the accelerated frame will witness this radiation, but the inertial observer witnesses no radiation. However, the inertial observer might be able to catch the accelerated object and and it will be thermalized to equilibrium with Unruh radiation. In this paper the Unruh radiation is examined primarily from the perspective of an accelerated body as observed in an inertial frame. This is then an exercise in quantum fields with a cubic interaction corresponding to the interaction of the vacuum with the accelerated body. The analysis is done in a solid state physics format to illustrate the essential ideas.