Proposal for Observing the Unruh Effect using Classical Electrodynamics

Classical Electrodynamics

The Unruh effect revisited

We give a complete and rigorous proof of the Unruh effect, in the following form. We show that the state of a two-level system, uniformly accelerated with proper acceleration a, and coupled to a scalar bose field initially in the Minkowski vacuum state will converge, asymptotically in the detector’s proper time, to the Gibbs state at inverse temperature β = 2π a . The result also holds if the f...

Classical Electrodynamics without Fields and the Aharonov-Bohm effect

The Darwin-Breit Hamiltonian is applied to the Aharonov-Bohm experiment. In agreement with the standard Maxwell-Lorentz theory, the force acting on electrons from infinite solenoids or ferromagnetic rods vanishes. However, the interaction energies and phase factors of the electron wave packets are non-zero. This allows us to explain the Aharonov-Bohm effect without involvement of electromagneti...

Unruh Effect for General Trajectories

We consider two-level detectors coupled to a scalar field and moving on arbitrary trajec-tories in Minkowski space-time. We first derive a generic expression for the response function using a (novel) regularization procedure based on the Feynmann prescription that is explicitly causal, and we compare it to other expressions used in the literature. We then use this expression to study, analytica...

Massless Classical Electrodynamics

In the direct action form of classical EM we give the equation of motion for a classical massless bare charge without self-interaction in the presence of an external field. That equation permits superluminal speeds and time-reversals, and so is a realization of the Stueckelberg-Feynman view of electrons and positrons as different segments of a single trajectory. We give a particular solution to...