An advanced undergraduate derivation of acceleration thermality
Classical Physics
2026-07-09 v1
Abstract
The thermal radioactivity of beta-decay photons, described by a 1D Planck distribution, can be modeled as classical radiation emitted by an accelerated electron. Here, we present the basics of the out-of-equilibrium computation to illustrate acceleration thermality. Suitable for advanced undergraduate calculations, we demonstrate that an exactly soluble non-uniformly accelerated trajectory enables spectral analysis of the emitted photons, facilitates time evolution, and reveals Planckian radiation.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2607.08184,
title = {An advanced undergraduate derivation of acceleration thermality},
author = {Michael R. R. Good},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.08184},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
10 pages, 1 figure