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Register a new userA test of the circular Unruh effect using atomic electrons
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Added by
Douglas A. Singleton
Publication date
2011
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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We propose a test for the circular Unruh effect using certain atoms - fluorine and oxygen. For these atoms the centripetal acceleration of the outer shell electrons implies an effective Unruh temperature in the range 1000 - 2000 K. This range of Unruh temperatures is large enough to shift the expected occupancy of the lowest energy level and nearby energy levels. In effect the Unruh temperature changes the expected pure ground state, with all the electrons in the lowest energy level, to a mixed state with some larger than expected occupancy of states near to the lowest energy level. Examining these atoms at low background temperatures and finding a larger than expected number of electrons in low lying excited levels, beyond what is expected due to the background thermal excitation, would provide experimental evidence for the Unruh effect.
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Total entropy generated by the Unruh effect is calculated within the framework of information theory. In contrast to previous studies, here the calculations are done for the finite time of existence of the non-inertial reference frame. In this case only the finite number of particles is produced. Dependence on mass of the emitted particles is taken into account. Analytic expression for the entropy of radiated boson and fermion spectra is derived. We study also its asymptotics corresponding to limiting cases of low and high acceleration. The obtained results can be further generalized to other intrinsic degrees of freedom of the emitted particles, such as spin and electric charge.
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