PT-symmetric spectral singularity and negative frequency resonance

Abstract

Vacuum consists of a bath of balanced and symmetric positive and negative frequency fluctuations. Media in relative motion or accelerated observers can break this symmetry and preferentially amplify negative frequency modes as in Quantum Cherenkov radiation and Unruh radiation. Here, we show the existence of a universal negative frequency-momentum mirror symmetry in the relativistic Lorentzian transformation for electromagnetic waves. We show the connection of our discovered symmetry to parity-time (PT) symmetry in moving media and the resulting spectral singularity in vacuum fluctuation related effects. We prove that this spectral singularity can occur in the case of two metallic plates in relative motion interacting through positive and negative frequency plasmonic fluctuations (negative frequency resonance). Our work paves the way for understanding the role of PT-symmetric spectral singularities in amplifying fluctuations and motivates the search for PT-symmetry in novel photonic systems.