Quantum Flux from a Moving Spherical Mirror

TL;DR

This paper derives a local expression for quantum flux emitted by a spherical mirror undergoing nearly uniform acceleration, showing it depends on the mirror's recent acceleration history rather than its entire past.

Contribution

It provides a novel calculation of quantum flux from an accelerating spherical mirror, revealing a local dependence on acceleration derivatives.

Findings

Flux depends on first and second derivatives of acceleration.

Flux is a local function, not a nonlocal history integral.

Results apply to mirrors with nearly uniform acceleration.

Abstract

We calculate the flux from a spherical mirror which is expanding or contracting with nearly uniform acceleration. We find that the flux at an exterior point (which could in principle be a functional of the mirror's past history) is actually found to be a local function, depending on the first and second time derivatives of acceleration at the retarded time.