How hot are expanding universes ?
Abstract
A way to address the conundrum of Quantum Gravity is to illustrate the potentially fundamental interplay between quantum field theory, curved space-times physics and thermodynamics. So far, when studying moving quantum systems in the vacuum, the only known perfectly thermal temperatures are those obtained for constant (or null) accelerations in constant (or null) Hubble parameters space-times. In this Letter, restricting ourselves to conformally coupled scalar fields, we present the most comprehensive expression for the temperature undergone by a moving observer in the vacuum, valid for any time-dependent linear accelerations and Hubble parameters: where is the motion's Lorentz factor. The inequivalence between a constant and actual thermality is explained. As a byproduct, all the Friedman universes for which observers at rest feel the vacuum as a thermal bath are listed.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0804.2890,
title = {How hot are expanding universes ?},
author = {Nathaniel Obadia},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.2890},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
4 pages, no figure, version accepted in PRD