Acceleration and vacuum temperature

Abstract

The quantum fluctuations of an "accelerated" vacuum state, that is vacuum fluctuations in the presence of a constant electromagnetic field, can be described by the temperature $\text{TEH}$. Considering $\text{TEH}$ for the gyromagnetic factor $g=1$ we show that $\text{TEH}(g=1)=\text{THU}$, where $\text{THU}$ is the Unruh temperature experienced by an accelerated observer. We conjecture that both particle production and nonlinear field effects inherent in the Unruh accelerated observer case are described by the case $g=1$ QED of strong fields. We present rates of particle production for $g=0,1,2$ and show that the case $g=1$ is experimentally distinguishable from $g=0,2$. Therefore, either accelerated observers are distinguishable from accelerated vacuum or there is unexpected modification of the theoretical framework.

Comments: 4 pages, 1 figure; expanded discussion of experimental observables, added references, version appearing in Phys Rev D