Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 2008.10639

Radiation reaction from quantum electrodynamics and its implications for the Unruh effect

Abstract

The Abraham-Lorentz-Dirac theory predicts vanishing radiation reaction for uniformly accelerated charges. However, since an accelerating observer should detect thermal radiation, the charge should be seen absorbing photons in the accelerated frame which, if nothing else occurs, would influence its motion. This means that either there is radiation reaction seen in an inertial frame or there should be an additional phenomenon seen in the accelerated frame countering the effect of absorption. In this paper I rederive the Abraham--Lorentz--Dirac force from quantum electrodynamics, then I study the case of a uniformly accelerated charge. I show that in the accelerated frame, in addition to the absorption of photons due to the Unruh effect there should also be stimulated emission. The net effect of these phenomena on the motion of the charge is found to be zero.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Zoltán Tulipánt. 2021-03-24. Radiation reaction from quantum electrodynamics and its implications for the Unruh effect. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc%2Fs10052-021-09073-0

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Six Easy Pieces: interplays among dualities in 4d, 3d and 2d

In this paper we consider 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ gauge theories with $N+1$ fundamentals, five antifundamentals and a conjugate two index antisymmetric tensor. The model has been shown to be in a mixed phase in the IR, splitting in an interacting non-Abelian Coulomb phase and a free magnetic phase. Through tensor deconfinement, we show that baryonic deformations lead to a non-Abelian free magnetic phase. Along the analysis we obtain a duality with symplectic SQCD that can be further reduced to 3d and 2d. In the 3d case the analysis of the three sphere partition function allows one to obtain dualities between $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ with a two index symmetric tensor and $\mathrm{SO}(N)$ theories. On the other hand, in 2d we recover dualities already known in the literature and propose new ones between special unitary and symplectic gauge theories.

hep-th

Flat holography for spinor fields

We extend the hyperbolic Milne-slicing construction of flat holography in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime from scalar fields to massless spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ fields. We solve the massive mode equation and restrict the boundary source-response analysis to the massless sector. Decomposition into harmonics on three-dimensional hyperbolic space, labeled by a continuous principal-series parameter, yields a separated-point nonlocal kernel up to the action normalization and local contact terms. The kernel has the universal form required by two-dimensional conformal covariance for spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ principal-series primaries. Then we construct regular source-normalized conformal-primary wavefunctions in planar and global coordinates on the celestial sphere $S^2$. We show that the planar source-response kernel is naturally identified with the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ shadow transform, while inverse shadowing recovers the angular delta-function structure of the unshadowed basis. We also analyze radial renormalization by analytic continuation from the principal-series problem to a real-mass AdS$_3$ problem.

hep-th

Off-shell recursion for all-loop planar integrands in Yang-Mills theory

In this paper, we develop in detail the off-shell recursion for planar loop integrands in Yang-Mills theory. Starting from the classical equations of motion solved with the perturbiner method, we derive an exact transfer-matrix representation of the pure-gluon sector. We then include the ghost contributions to the loop kernels based on \cite{Tao:2025fch}. Finally, as an example, we work out the two-loop recursion in detail and conclude a general recursion strategy for two-loop planar integrands whose external legs are gluons.

hep-th