1996/06/26 by B. L. Hu, Hu, B. L. · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.gr-qc/9606073
Latex 13 pages; Invited talk at the Fourth International Workshop on Thermal Field Theory and Applications, Dalian, China, August, 1995. Proceedings edited by Y. X. Gui and F. C. Khanna (World Scientific, Singapore, 1996)
arxiv created 1996/06/26 · openalex publication_date 1996/06/26 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The Hawking-Unruh effect of thermal radiance from a black hole or observed by an accelerated detector is usually viewed as a geometric effect related to the existence of an event horizon. Here we propose a new viewpoint, that the detection of thermal radiance in these systems is a local, kinematic effect arising from the vacuum being subjected to a relativistic exponential scale transformation. This kinematic effect alters the relative weight of quantum versus thermal fluctuations (noise) between the two vacua. This approach can treat conditions which the geometric approach cannot, such as systems which do not even have an event horizon. An example is the case of an observer whose acceleration is nonuniform or only asymptotically uniform. Since this approach is based on concepts and techniques of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, it is more adept to dynamical problems, such as the dissipation, fluctuation, and entropy aspects of particle creation and phase transitions in black hole collapse and in the early universe.