Abstract
It has been 30 years since the discovery of the Unruh effect. It has played a crucial role in our understanding that the particle content of a field theory is observer dependent. This effect is important in its own right and as a way to understand the phenomenon of particle emission from black holes and cosmological horizons. The Unruh effect is reviewed here with particular emphasis on its applications. A number of recent developments are also commented on and some controversies are discussed. Effort is also made to clarify what seem to be common misconceptions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 787-838 |
| Number of pages | 52 |
| Journal | Reviews of Modern Physics |
| Volume | 80 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2008 |
Keywords
- QUANTUM FIELD-THEORY
- BLACK-HOLE EVAPORATION
- RADIATIVE ELECTRON POLARIZATION
- ACCELERATED PARTICLE DETECTORS
- ENERGY-MOMENTUM TENSOR
- ZERO-POINT RADIATION
- GENERALIZED 2ND LAW
- QUASI-FREE STATES
- SPACE-TIMES
- THERMAL-RADIATION