Single and Entangled Atomic Systems in Thermal Bath and the Fulling-Davies-Unruh Effect

Abstract

We revisit the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect in the context of two-level single and entangled atomic systems that are static in a thermal bath. We consider the interaction between the systems and a massless scalar field, covering the scenarios of free space as well as within a cavity. Through the calculation of atomic transition rates it is found that in free space there is an equivalence between the upward and downward transition rates of an uniformly accelerated atom with respect to an observer with that of a single atom which is static with respect to the observer and immersed in a thermal bath, as long as the temperature of the thermal bath matches the Unruh temperature. This equivalence between the upward and downward transition rates breaks down in the presence of a cavity. For two-atom systems, considering the initial state to be in a general pure entangled form, we find that in this case the equivalence between the upward and downward transition rates of the accelerated and static thermal bath scenarios holds only under specific limiting conditions in free space, but breaks down completely in a cavity setup. Quanta 2025; 14: 1–27.