Does a uniformly accelerated quantum oscillator radiate?

Abstract

Does a quantum system, with no long-range interaction, which is uniformly accelerated through the Minkowski vacuum radiate as a result of excitation by the Unruh-Davies heat bath? We address this question by considering the effect on an inertial harmonic oscillator (the `detector') of a uniformly accelerated oscillator in the vacuum of a scalar field. We find that, contrary to the more prevalent view in the literature, if we take into account all the quantum correlations present in this experiment then no radiation will be detected.