Quantum radiation from a particle in an accelerated motion coupled to vacuum fluctuations

Abstract

A particle in a uniformly accelerated motion exhibits Brownian random motions around the classical trajectory due to the coupling to the field vacuum fluctuations. Previous works show that the Brownian random motions satisfy the energy equipartition relation. This thermal property is understood as the consequence of the Unruh effect. In the present work, we investigate the radiation from the thermal random motions of an accelerated particle coupled to vacuum fluctuations. The energy flux of this radiation is negative of the order smaller than the classical radiation by the factor a/m, where a is the acceleration constant and m is the mass of a particle. The results could be understood as a suppression of the classical radiation by the quantum effect.