Spontaneous symmetry breaking and the Unruh effect

Abstract

In this work we consider the ontological status of the Unruh effect. Is it just a formal mathematical result? Or the temperature detected by an accelerating observer can lead to real physical effects such as phase transition. In order to clarify this issue we use the Thermalization Theorem to explore the possibility of having a restoration of the symmetry in a system with spontaneous symmetry breaking of an internal continuous symmetry as seen by an accelerating observer. We conclude that the Unruh effect is an ontic effect, rather than an epistemic one, giving rise, in the particular example considered here, to a phase transition (symmetry restoration) in the region close to the accelerating observer horizon.

Presented at the Fourth International Conference on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the publication of General Relativity, 30 May - 2 June 2016, Golden Sands, Varna, Bulgaria (Minkowski Institute Press, Montreal 2017)