A Tunable Unruh Effect: Accelerated Detectors in Kappa-Rindler Vacua

TL;DR

This paper introduces a family of vacua called kappa Rindler states, which allow the Unruh effect's perceived temperature to be tuned, providing a deeper understanding of quantum field theory in accelerated frames.

Contribution

It generalizes the Unruh effect by defining a continuous family of vacua, demonstrating tunable thermal responses of accelerated detectors, and linking mode symmetries to perceived temperature.

Findings

Detector registers a thermal bath at temperature T_kappa = kappa T_U.

The kappa Rindler vacua interpolate between Rindler and Minkowski vacua.

The thermality is confirmed via the KMS condition and particle creation analysis.

Abstract

We study the response of an accelerated Unruh-DeWitt detector to a one-parameter family of ``kappa Rindler'' vacua, which generalize the standard Unruh effect. These states, parameterized by $\kappa$, continuously interpolate between the Rindler ($\kappa \to 0$) and Minkowski ($\kappa=1$) vacua. We find the detector registers a perfect thermal bath at a tunable temperature $T_\kappa = \kappa T_U$. This result establishes a framework for environments perceived as both ``hotter'' ($\kappa>1$) and ``colder'' ($\kappa<1$) than the standard Unruh temperature. We establish this thermality by demonstrating the KMS condition for the Wightman function and by analyzing the associated particle creation process. Furthermore, we visualize the spacetime structure of the created field quanta, revealing an intuitive link between the $\kappa$-controlled symmetry of the modes and the perceived temperature. Our work provides a comprehensive framework for a modulated Unruh effect, bridging formal QFT with clear visual intuition.