Unruh effect and angular momentum correlation of Rindler particles

TL;DR

This paper investigates the angular momentum properties of Rindler particles in the Unruh effect, revealing correlations between particles with orbital angular momentum and suggesting potential methods for experimental detection.

Contribution

It introduces the analysis of angular momentum characteristics of the Unruh effect for scalar and electromagnetic fields, highlighting the role of vortex structures and OAM in accelerated observers.

Findings

Rotation and vortex structure induce angular momentum correlations in Rindler particles.

Accelerated observers with OAM can absorb and emit Rindler particles with the same OAM.

The absorption and emission rates are generally unequal and correlated with Minkowski vacuum emissions.

Abstract

It is well known that the rotational motion does not induce Unruh effect, because the Minkowski vacuum coincides with the vacuum state defined by the pure rotating observers. However, are there Rindler particles carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM), and do they produce observable effect? To answer these questions, we need an accelerated observer having a vortex structure in the transverse dimensions and carrying well-defined OAM. Here we consider the angular momentum characteristics of Unruh effect in the theory of scalar field and electromagnetic field for the first time. We find that the rotation and vortex structure of a uniformly accelerated observer lead to the definite angular momentum correlation between Rindler particles and their counterparts in Minkowski vacuum. When interacting with the Unruh thermal bath, the accelerated vortex observer carrying the OAM of l can absorb and emit Rindler particles with the same OAM, and the particle energy is determined by the angular velocity of the rotation. The absorption rate is not equal to the emission rate in general. Both the absorption and emission processes in the thermal bath are correlated with the emission process of particles with OAM of +l or -1 in Minkowski vacuum. This effect may promote a potential scheme to detect the Unruh effect. The OAM provides a potential approach to filter out the background noise so that the signal particles could be extracted sufficiently.