Unruh Effect - Explanation

Explanation

Unruh demonstrated theoretically that the notion of vacuum depends on the path of the observer through spacetime. From the viewpoint of the accelerating observer, the vacuum of the inertial observer will look like a state containing many particles in thermal equilibrium—a warm gas.

Although the Unruh effect would initially be perceived as counter-intuitive, it makes sense if the word vacuum is interpreted appropriately, as below.

Read more about this topic:  Unruh Effect

Famous quotes containing the word explanation:

    There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the universe. To ignore it is childish, to bewail it senseless.
    W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)

    There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.
    George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)

    Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind’s eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of the watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.
    Richard Dawkins (b. 1941)