Asymptotic states of accelerated detectors and universality of the Unruh effect

Abstract

We treat an Unruh-DeWitt detector as an open quantum system and evaluate the response of a uniformly accelerated detector: (i) interacting locally with the derivatives of a massless scalar field and (ii) linearly coupled to an electromagnetic field. We find that the early-time transition rate of the detector strongly depends on the type of the interaction between the detector and the quantum field, and may not follow a Planck distribution. In contrast, the late time asymptotic state is always thermal at the Unruh temperature and thus provides a more fundamental and persistent characterization of the acceleration temperature: A uniformly accelerated detector experiences the field vacuum as a genuine thermal bath at the Unruh temperature and eventually settles at a thermal state, regardless of their intermediate dynamics or the type of interaction.