Vacuum radiation from massive scalar field

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a massive scalar field's vacuum radiation is affected by a moving mirror, revealing that mass suppresses radiation and modifies emission spectra, with explicit results in 1+1 and 3+1 dimensions.

Contribution

It provides a perturbative analysis of vacuum radiation from a massive scalar field with a moving mirror in arbitrary dimensions, extending previous massless field results.

Findings

Mass suppresses vacuum radiation power.

Mass modifies frequency and angular spectra of emitted particles.

Results recover massless case as mass approaches zero.

Abstract

The vacuum radiation of a massive scalar field is studied by means of a single moving mirror. The field equation with an arbitrary-shaped mirror moving in $(d+1)$ dimensions is given perturbatively in the non-relativistic limit. Explicit results are obtained for a flat mirror moving in $(1+1)$ dimensions and $(3+1)$ dimensions. The vacuum radiation power and vacuum friction force on the mirror are given in $(1+1)$ dimensions. The intrinsic mass of the field is found to suppress the vacuum radiation. In $(3+1)$ dimensions, the modification of the frequency spectra and angular spectra of emitted particles due to the intrinsic mass are obtained. In the limit of $m\to 0$, we recover the results of the massless field.