Gravitational bremsstrahlung and the Fulling-Davies-Unruh thermal bath

Abstract

The electromagnetic radiation emitted by an accelerated charged particle can be described theoretically as the interaction of the charge with the so-called Fulling-Davies-Unruh thermal bath in the coordinate frame co-accelerated with the charge. We present a similar analysis on the gravitational radiation from a classical point mass uniformly accelerated, being pulled by a string satisfying the weak energy condition. In particular, we derive the interaction rate (with fixed transverse momentum) of this system of the point mass and string in the Fulling-Davies-Unruh thermal bath in the co-accelerated frame and show that it equals the graviton emission rate calculated in the standard method in Minkowski spacetime.