Speaker
Riccardo Acquaviva
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
Description
The Unruh effect is a quantum field prediction according to which a uniformly accelerated observer in the vacuum detects thermal particles with a temperature directly proportional to its acceleration. In other words, an accelerating thermometer in empty space will record a non-zero temperature.
This phenomenon is closely related to the Hawking effect, which describes the theoretical thermal radiation emitted by a black hole. The connection is provided by the equivalence principle, which shows how the two effects are the manifestation of the same physical phenomenon.
Primary author
Riccardo Acquaviva
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
