2006/04/10 by Ralf Schützhold, Gernot Schaller, D. Habs +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Electromagnetic field #Electromagnetic radiation #Electron #Field (mathematics) #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Observable #Photon #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Radiation #Unruh effect #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.97.121302
published as Phys.Rev.Lett. 97 (2006) 121302; Erratum-ibid. 97 (2006) 139902 · 4 pages, 1 figure
arxiv created 2006/04/10 · openalex publication_date 2006/09/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We calculate the radiation resulting from the Unruh effect for strongly accelerated electrons and show that the photons are created in pairs whose polarizations are perfectly correlated. Apart from the photon statistics, this quantum radiation can further be discriminated from the classical (Larmor) radiation via the different spectral and angular distributions. The signatures of the Unruh effect become significant if the external electromagnetic field accelerating the electrons is not too far below the Schwinger limit and might be observable with future facilities. Finally, the corrections due to the birefringent nature of the QED vacuum at such ultrahigh fields are discussed.