On the Reality of Unruh Temperature

Abstract

In contrast to recent criticism we undertake to show that the notion of Unruh temperature describes a real thermal property of the vacuum if viewed from an accelerated reference frame. We embed our investigation in a more general analysis of general relativistic temperature (Tolman-Ehrenfest effect) with the entropy-maximum principle being our guiding principle. We show that the Unruh effect neatly fits into this more general framework. Our criterion of reality is, first, the possibility to transfer a quantum of acceleration radiation to the inertial laboratory where it can be studied in principle under ordinary thrmodynamical conditions. Second, we emphasize as another criterion the importance of the coincidence of the accelerated and inertial observer description as far as the final objective result is concerned.