TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVITY

TL;DR

This paper examines how temperature measurements are affected by relativistic motion using quantum field theory, aiming to clarify the longstanding debate on temperature transformation under Lorentz boosts.

Contribution

It provides a quantum field theoretical analysis of relativistic thermometry, moving beyond thermodynamic assumptions to clarify how temperature behaves in relativistic contexts.

Findings

Unruh-DeWitt detectors reliably measure temperature in relativistic settings.

The study clarifies the transformation properties of temperature under Lorentz transformations.

Results support a specific interpretation of temperature behavior in relativistic motion.

Abstract

We investigate whether inertial thermometers moving in a thermal bath behave as being hotter or colder. This question is directly related to the classical controversy concerning how temperature transforms under Lorentz transformations. Rather than basing our arguments on thermodynamical hypotheses, we perform straightforward calculations in the context of relativistic quantum field theory. For this purpose we use Unruh-DeWitt detectors, since they have been shown to be reliable thermometers in semi-classical gravity. We believe that our discussion helps in definitely clarifying this issue.