Dynamical Maps for Accelerating Detectors

TL;DR

This paper investigates the open quantum dynamics of an accelerating two-level detector in Minkowski space, revealing non-completely positive evolution influenced by prior inertial motion and acceleration parameters.

Contribution

It introduces the analysis of dynamical maps for a finite-sized detector undergoing acceleration, highlighting the emergence of non-completely positive dynamics due to initial entanglement.

Findings

Dynamics is not completely positive during acceleration.

Prior inertial motion can entangle detector and field.

The nature of the dynamics depends on inertial duration and acceleration magnitude.

Abstract

We study the open quantum dynamics of a two-level particle detector that starts accelerating through Minkowski vacuum weakly coupled to a massless scalar field. We consider a detector with non-zero size and study its time evolution for the case where it is initially in inertial motion and subsequently a constant acceleration is switched on for a finite time. We study the dynamical maps that describe the evolution of such a system and show that the dynamics is not completely positive (NCP). The inertial motion prior to the acceleration can entangle the detector and field leading to the NCP dynamics. We examine the nature of the open dynamics during the accelerated phase as a function of the duration of prior inertial motion and the magnitude of the acceleration.