Interaction between Unruh-Dewitt detectors exclusively due to acceleration: A parallel to the FDU effect

We have discovered an interaction between two detectors in a vacuum that emerges exclusively due to acceleration, akin to the spontaneous excitation of a single detector as predicted by the Fulling-Davies-Unruh (FDU) effect. However, this interaction contrasts sharply with the FDU effect, which sugg...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wenting Zhou, Shijing Cheng, Hongwei Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Physics Letters B
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269325000310
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Summary:We have discovered an interaction between two detectors in a vacuum that emerges exclusively due to acceleration, akin to the spontaneous excitation of a single detector as predicted by the Fulling-Davies-Unruh (FDU) effect. However, this interaction contrasts sharply with the FDU effect, which suggests that a uniformly accelerated detector behaves as if it were in a thermal bath, as the discovered interaction does not manifest in a thermal environment. The novel interaction displays unique dependencies on the separation between detectors: it can be either attractive or repulsive, with the potential to transition between these behaviors as the inter-detector separation changes. More intriguingly, it exhibits a surprising large-small duality in its dependence on acceleration, suggesting the existence of an optimal acceleration at which the interaction is strongest, in contrast to the monotonic acceleration-dependence of the FDU effect.
ISSN:0370-2693