Conformal Symmetry and Planck's Thermal Radiation in Classical Physics

Abstract

Thermal radiation is discussed for a classical scalar field. Dilation and acceleration appear in conformal symmetry, and so are treated in connection with zero-point radiation and equilibrium thermal radiation. Classical zero-point radiation is completely invariant under dilation in a inertial frame. However, in a Rindler frame, zero-point radiation takes a different form which is related to Planck's thermal spectrum with temperature T related to acceleration. Traditionally, zero-point radiation is said to take a thermal (Unruh) form in a Rindler frame. However, the classical viewpoint indicates that zero-point radiation in a Rindler frame requires a divergent frequency spectrum and so is not thermal radiation. The Unruh form suggests an additional classical thermal spectrum satisfying the Stefan-Boltzmann relation.