Spontaneous emission by rotating objects: A scattering approach

TL;DR

This paper develops a scattering approach to analyze spontaneous emission from rotating, lossy objects in quantum electrodynamics, revealing how they emit energy and influence nearby objects' motion.

Contribution

It introduces a trace formula for radiated power based solely on the scattering matrix, linking to Zel'dovich's conjecture on rotating bodies.

Findings

Rotating lossy objects spontaneously emit energy.

The radiated power is expressed via a scattering matrix trace formula.

Nearby objects are dragged and spun by the rotating body.

Abstract

We study the quantum electrodynamics (QED) vacuum in the presence of a body rotating along its axis of symmetry and show that the object spontaneously emits energy if it is lossy. The radiated power is expressed as a general trace formula solely in terms of the scattering matrix, making an explicit connection to the conjecture of Zel'dovich [JETP Lett. 14, 180 (1971)] on rotating objects. We further show that a rotating body drags along nearby objects while making them spin parallel to its own rotation axis.