Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: The master equation describing the completely positive time evolution of a uniformly accelerated two-level system in weak interaction with a scalar field in the Minkowski vacuum is derived and explicitly solved. The moving system is found to be subjected to dissipation that drives its density matrix to a purely thermal equilibrium state, exhibiting a nonvanishing probability of spontaneous excitation, this phenomenon being usually referred to as the Unruh effect. Remarkably, when the uniformly accelerating system is composed by two, independent two-level atoms, the corresponding asymptotic, equilibrium state turns out to be entangled.
Source: Physical Review A
Authors: F. Benatti, R. Floreanini
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2017509818