Particle production by a relativistic semitransparent mirror of finite size and thickness

Abstract

Abstract Production of massless scalar particles by a relativistic semitransparent mirror of finite transverse size and longitudinal thickness in (1+3)D flat spacetime is studied. The derived particle spectrum formula is applied to two specific trajectories. One is the gravitational collapse trajectory invoked in (1+1)D perfectly reflecting moving mirror literature to mimic Hawking radiation, and the other is the plasma mirror trajectory proposed to be realizable in future experiments. It is found that the finiteness of the transverse size leads to diffraction, while the nontrivial thickness amplifies the production rate. We also estimated the particle yield as $$\sim 3000$$ ∼ 3000 in a 20-day data acquisition based on the parameters invoked in the proposed AnaBHEL experiment.