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APS » Journals » Rev. Mod. Phys. » Volume 80 » Issue 3
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Rev. Mod. Phys. 80, 787–838 (2008)

The Unruh effect and its applications

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Luís C. B. Crispino*
Faculdade de Física, Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus Universitário do Guamá, 66075-900 Belém, Pará, Brazil

Atsushi Higuchi†
Department of Mathematics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom

George E. A. Matsas‡
Instituto de Física Teórica, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rua Pamplona 145, 01405-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Published 1 July 2008

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.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.80.787
DOI:
10.1103/RevModPhys.80.787
PACS:
03.70.+k, 04.70.Dy, 04.62.+v

*crispino@ufpa.br

†ah28@york.ac.uk

‡matsas@ift.unesp.br

 
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