Interaction between Unruh-Dewitt detectors exclusively due to acceleration: A Parallel to the FDU Effect

TL;DR

This paper reveals a novel acceleration-induced interaction between two detectors in a vacuum, distinct from the FDU effect, with unique distance and acceleration dependencies, including a duality and an optimal acceleration for maximum interaction.

Contribution

It introduces a new type of acceleration-dependent interaction between detectors that differs from the traditional FDU effect, highlighting unique distance and acceleration behaviors.

Findings

Interaction can be attractive or repulsive depending on separation.

Interaction strength peaks at an optimal acceleration.

Interaction does not resemble a thermal bath effect.

Abstract

We have discovered an interaction between two detectors in a vacuum that emerges exclusively due to acceleration, akin to the spontaneous excitation of a single detector as predicted by the Fulling-Davies-Unruh (FDU) effect. However, this interaction contrasts sharply with the FDU effect, which suggests that a uniformly accelerated detector behaves as if it were in a thermal bath, as the discovered interaction does not manifest in a thermal environment. The novel interaction displays unique dependencies on the separation between detectors: it can be either attractive or repulsive, with the potential to transition between these behaviors as the inter-detector separation changes. More intriguingly, it exhibits a surprising large-small duality in its dependence on acceleration, suggesting the existence of an optimal acceleration at which the interaction is strongest, in contrast to the monotonic acceleration-dependence of the FDU effect.