A note on the conceptual problems on the Unruh effect

TL;DR

This paper examines the conceptual issues in Sewell's modular approach to the Unruh effect, highlighting unresolved problems despite its rigorous, model-independent framework based on advanced mathematical theorems.

Contribution

It critically analyzes Sewell's modular approach to the Unruh effect, identifying persistent conceptual problems within a rigorous, model-independent framework.

Findings

Several conceptual problems remain unresolved in Sewell's approach.

The modular approach's advantages include rigor and model-independence.

The paper emphasizes the need for further clarification of foundational issues.

Abstract

This brief note is written with a somewhat similar purpose to Earman's 2011 paper on the conceptual problems on the Unruh effect. However, we confine ourselves to Sewell's modular approach to the Unruh effect, which is based on the theorems of Tomita-Takesaki and Bisognano-Wichmann. This approach is rigorous, and has an advantage of being model-independent. However, we will see that a number of conceptual problems remain unsolved on this approach.