Remarks on Rindler Quantization

TL;DR

This paper reviews the quantization of scalar and gauge fields in Rindler coordinates, highlighting the behavior of correlators and stress-energy near the horizon, and discusses implications for entanglement entropy and boundary conditions.

Contribution

It provides a new derivation of key results using canonical quantization in the thermofield double state and discusses the significance of fluxes and boundary conditions at the horizon.

Findings

Correlators match Minkowski vacuum at Unruh temperature

Renormalized stress tensor vanishes at Unruh temperature

Stress-energy diverges on the horizon at other temperatures

Abstract

We review the quantization of scalar and gauge fields using Rindler coordinates with an emphasis on the physics of the Rindler horizon. In the thermal state at the Unruh temperature, correlators match their Minkowski vacuum values and the renormalized stress tensor vanishes, while at any other temperature the renormalized stress-energy diverges on the horizon. After giving a new derivation of some of these results using canonical quantization in the thermofield double state, we comment on the relevance of fluxes and boundary conditions at the horizon, which have arisen in calculations of entanglement entropy.