Falling from Rest: Particle Creation in a Dropped Cavity

Abstract

We discuss the process of particle creation in the case of a scalar quantum field confined to a small cavity, initially at rest, which is suddenly dropped in a static gravitational field. We show that, due to the transition from a Schwarzschild to a Minkowski background, as perceived by a comoving observer, field particles are excited out of the quantum vacuum. The density of the created quanta depends on the proper gravitational acceleration as well as on a parameter α≃1/Δt, with Δt representing the typical time duration of the transition. For the specific acceleration profile considered, the energy spectrum of the created quanta roughly resembles a two-dimensional Planckian distribution, whose equivalent temperature mimics the Hawking-Unruh temperature, with the detector acceleration (or the black hole surface gravity) replaced by the parameter cα. We briefly comment on possible issues related to local Lorentz symmetry.

Keywords

• acceleration
• particle creation
• quantum fields
• general relativity