Rotating quantum states

Abstract

We revisit the definition of rotating thermal states for scalar and fermion fields in unbounded Minkowski space-time. For scalar fields such states are ill-defined everywhere, but for fermion fields an appropriate definition of the vacuum gives thermal states regular inside the speed-of-light surface. For a massless fermion field, we derive analytic expressions for the thermal expectation values of the fermion current and stress-energy tensor. These expressions may provide qualitative insights into the behaviour of thermal rotating states on more complex space-time geometries.