Acceleration-induced scalar field transitions of n-particle multiplicity

TL;DR

This paper investigates how acceleration influences scalar field decay and excitation rates, revealing that the dominant transition pathways depend on acceleration and applying the framework to electron and muon systems.

Contribution

It introduces a method to compute acceleration effects on particle decay rates using field operators and Unruh-DeWitt detectors, clarifying their equivalence and interpretation.

Findings

Acceleration affects decay and excitation rates.

Dominant transition pathways depend on acceleration.

Computed lifetimes and branching fractions for accelerated electrons and muons.

Abstract

In this paper we calculate the effect of acceleration on the decay and excitation rates of scalar fields into a final state of arbitrary multiplicity. The analysis is carried out using standard field operators as well as an Unruh-DeWitt detector. Using the equivalence of the two methods, we show how to correctly setup the computation and interpret the results in terms of the particle content of the initial and final state Rindler and Minkowski spacetimes. We find the dominant transition pathway, and thus final state multiplicity, is acceleration dependent. The formalisms developed are then used to analyze the electron and muon system. We compute the transition rates and lifetimes for accelerated electrons and muons as well as the branching fractions for muon decay.