The spinor field in Rindler spacetime: an analysis of the Unruh effect

Abstract

We analyse the quantization procedure of the spinor field in the Rindler spacetime, showing the boundary conditions that should be imposed to the field, in order to have a well posed theory. We then investigate the relationship between this construction and the usual one in Minkowski spacetime. This leads to the concept of "Unruh effect", that is the thermal nature of the Minkowski vacuum state from the point of view of an accelerated observer. It is demostrated that the two constructions are qualitatively different and can not be compared and consequently the conventional interpretation of the Unruh effect is questionable.