Can a Unruh Detector Feel a Cosmic String?

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a Unruh detector responds in a space-time with a cosmic string, revealing that rotation causes detectable effects over various time scales.

Contribution

It applies Unruh's detector model to analyze the influence of a cosmic string's defect angle on detector excitation and deexcitation, including rotational effects.

Findings

Rotating detectors show non-zero effects for both small and large times.

The defect angle influences the detector's excitation and deexcitation responses.

The study extends understanding of quantum effects near cosmic strings.

Abstract

Unruh's detector calculation is used to study the effect of the defect angle $\beta$ in a space-time with a cosmic string for both the excitation and deexcitation cases. It is found that a rotating detector results in a non-zero effect for both finite (small) and infinite (large) time.