Abstract
We compare the response function of an Unruh-DeWitt detector for different space-times and different vacua and show that there is a detailed violation of the equivalence principle. In particular comparing the response of an accelerating detector to a detector at rest in a Schwarzschild space-time we find that both detectors register thermal radiation, but for a given, equivalent acceleration the fixed detector in the Schwarzschild space-time measures a higher temperature. This allows one to locally distinguish the two cases. As one approaches the horizon the two temperatures have the same limit so that the equivalence principle is restored at the horizon.
- Received 5 March 2011
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.081102
© 2011 American Physical Society