Thermal nature of the causal diamond horizon: A hidden property of the inertial propagator

TL;DR

This paper reveals that the inertial propagator in Minkowski spacetime exhibits intrinsic thermal properties linked to causal horizons, independent of acceleration or gravity, by analyzing scalar quantum field propagation within causal diamonds.

Contribution

It develops a novel method to uncover the thermal nature of the inertial propagator through causal structure, extending the understanding of quantum field thermality beyond traditional contexts.

Findings

Reproduces the Unruh temperature for Rindler wedges.

Shows thermality emerges from causal horizons in Minkowski space.

Connects causal diamond geometry with intrinsic quantum thermodynamics.

Abstract

Inspired by the novel idea proposed by T.~Padmanabhan in \textit{Phys.\ Rev.\ D 100, 045024 (2019)}, we develop a method to uncover the hidden thermal properties of the inertial Feynman propagator in Minkowski spacetime in a causally consistent manner. This, in turn, enables a coherent interpretation based on future-directed propagation. In our approach, the Fourier transform is implemented following the convention used in the analysis of vacuum fluctuations. As a result, future-directed propagation across causal horizons can be consistently interpreted, from the perspective of an observer confined to a causally disconnected region, as the emission of scalar quanta at the past horizon and their absorption at the future horizon. Moreover, we find that the ratio between emission and absorption processes reproduces the characteristic Boltzmann factor of a thermal ensemble. We first apply this analysis to a causal diamond of length $2\alpha$, performing a detailed study of the near-horizon geometry and thereby obtaining the temperature associated with the thermal behavior of the Minkowski vacuum as perceived by an observer with finite lifetime $2\alpha$. For completeness, we also apply the method to the right Rindler wedge, recovering the well-known Unruh temperature, $T = a/(2\pi)$. Our results demonstrate that thermality can emerge directly from causal structure, independently of acceleration or gravity, with causal diamonds encoding intrinsic thermodynamic behavior in quantum field theory.