Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2008.12352

Decoherence of a uniformly accelerated finite-time detector

H. A. S. Costa

Published Aug 27, 2020• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study a uniformly accelerated detector coupled to a massless scalar field for a finite time interval. By considering the detector initially prepared in a superposition state, qubit state, we find that the acceleration induces decoherence on the qubit. Our results suggest the dependence of loss of coherence on the polar angle of qubit state on a Bloch sphere and the time interaction. The adjust those parameters can significantly improve the conditions to estimate the degree of decoherence induced by Unruh radiation.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2008.12352

Related papers

Transition rates and their applications in accelerated single-qubit for fermionic spinor field coupling

Arnab Mukherjee, Sunandan Gangopadhyay, P. H. M. Barros +1 more

In this work, we investigate the interaction between a uniformly accelerated single qubit and a fermionic spinor field. Here we consider both the massless and the massive fermionic spinor fields. The qubit-field interaction occurs over a finite time and was evolved via perturbation theory. This approach yields the transition probability rates, from which we subsequently evaluate the quantum coherence of an Unruh-DeWitt (UDW) detector initially prepared in a qubit state. Our findings reveal that the UDW detector responds more when coupled with the fermionic field, and consequently, quantum coherence (for the fermionic case) degrades much more rapidly when compared to the case of the qubit linearly coupled with the scalar field. Moreover, the analysis suggests that particle mass plays a protective role against Unruh-induced decoherence as the rest mass energy becomes comparable to the detector's energy-level spacing, the detector's excitation probability and response decreases, which leads to the mitigation of quantum coherence degradation in accelerated quantum systems.

quant-pharXiv:2512.09144•Dec 11, 2025•0 citations

Dispersive vacuum as a decoherence amplifier of an Unruh–DeWitt detector

Pedro H M Barros, H. A. S. Costa

Abstract Recently, interest has been growing in studies on discrete or ‘pixelated’ space-time that, through modifications in the dispersion relation, can treat the vacuum as a dispersive medium. Discrete spacetime considers that spacetime has a cellular structure on the order of the Planck length, and if this is true we should certainly have observable effects. In this paper, we investigated the effects caused by the dispersive vacuum on the decoherence process of an Unruh–DeWitt detector, our setup consists of a uniformly accelerated detector, initially in a qubit state, which interacts with a massless scalar field during a time interval finite. We use dispersion relations drawn from doubly special relativity and Hořava–Lifshitz gravity, with these modifications the vacuum becomes dispersive and has a corresponding refractive index. We calculate the probability transition rates, the probability of finding the detector in the ground state, and the quantum coherence variation. Our results indicate that the decoherence process occurs more quickly in cases with changes in the dispersion relation in the regime of high accelerations and interaction time. Additionally, the decoherence increases as the vacuum becomes more dispersive due to the increase in the order of modification in the dispersion relation, and this happens because the dispersive vacuum amplifies the effects of quantum fluctuations that are captured by the detector when interacting with the field.

arXiv:2501.08829•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Oct 11, 2024•8 citations

Cavity-controlled inhibition of decoherence in accelerated quantum detectors

Anonymous, Shagun Kaushal, Kinjalk Lochan

Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields provide an unavoidable environment for any quantum system coupled to it. We study the interplay between boundary conditions and acceleration in determining decoherence of a two-level Unruh-DeWitt detector coupled to a scalar field in a cylindrical cavity. We show that the decoherence rate closely follows the emission profile, and exhibits {\it Purcell-like} enhancement for both inertial and uniformly accelerated detectors. The acceleration induces an effective smearing of the resonant density of states, diluting the resonance enhancement for large accelerations while replacing the inertial off-resonant decay with an oscillatory behavior for small accelerations. For moderate accelerations, this interplay between cavity-induced and acceleration-assisted effects results in an extended region of cavity parameters where decoherence is strongly suppressed, particularly in regimes where the inertial detector otherwise experience strong decoherence. Thus, contrary to naive expectations, the Unruh thermality in a suitably engineered cavity can enhance rather than degrade quantum coherence, providing a very uncharacteristic feature of quantum fields in non-inertial frames.

arXiv:2604.02422•Physical Review A•Aug 26, 2026•0 citations

Robustness of Wave–Particle Duality under Unruh Effect

Pedro H. M. Barros, I. G. da Paz, O. P. de Sá Neto +1 more

By considering a uniformly accelerated two-level system in an initial superposition state of a qubit, we investigate the loss of coherence induced by the acceleration. In addition, we investigate the impact of acceleration on the complementarity relation in a quantum interferometric circuit or quantum scattering circuit. We present an alternative approach to exploring acceleration effects through examination of quantum coherence decay and degradation in the interference pattern. Our investigations help to provide understanding of the consequences of decoherence induced by the Unruh effect on the wave-particle duality of a uniformly accelerated qubit.

Entropy•Dec 19, 2023•11 citations

Irreversible degradation of quantum coherence under relativistic motion

Jieci Wang, Zehua Tian, Jiliang Jing +1 more

We study the dynamics of quantum coherence under Unruh thermal noise and seek under which condition the coherence can be frozen in a relativistic setting. We find that the frozen condition is either (i) the initial state is prepared as an incoherence state or (ii) the detectors have no interaction with the external field. That is to say, the decoherence of the detectors' quantum state is irreversible under the influence of thermal noise induced by Unruh radiation. It is shown that quantum coherence approaches zero only in the limit of an infinite acceleration, while quantum entanglement could reduce to zero for a finite acceleration. It is also demonstrated that the robustness of quantum coherence is better than entanglement under the influence of the atom-field interaction for an extremely large acceleration. Therefore, quantum coherence is more robust than entanglement in an accelerating system and the coherence-type quantum resources are more accessible for relativistic quantum information processing tasks.

arXiv:1601.03238•Physical Review A•Jun 2, 2016•73 citations

Persistence of measurement-induced nonlocality in uniformly accelerating Unruh-DeWitt detectors

Shi-Pu Gu, Ming-Ming Du, Yu-Bo Sheng +1 more

Uniform acceleration induces a thermal response to the Minkowski vacuum and can thereby modify quantum correlations. For measurement-induced nonlocality (MIN), a form of nonclassical correlation distinct from entanglement, previous field-mode analyses of bosonic fields found that it decreases with increasing acceleration and vanishes in the infinite-acceleration limit. This raises the question of whether the disappearance of MIN is a generic consequence of the Unruh effect or depends on the physical description of the accelerated quantum system. To address this question, we study two uniformly accelerating Unruh-DeWitt detectors interacting with a massless scalar field. We find that the response of MIN to the Unruh temperature depends sensitively on the initial detector state: it can decrease monotonically, vanish at an intermediate temperature and subsequently recover, or increase monotonically. Moreover, for a broad class of initial states, MIN approaches a nonzero value in the high-temperature limit. These results show that the suppression of MIN under strong acceleration is not universal. Instead, Unruh-induced detector dynamics gives rise to a state-dependent response in which measurement-induced nonlocality can be suppressed, restored, or enhanced.

gr-qcCross-listedarXiv:2609.08653•Sep 9, 2026•0 citations
We study a uniformly accelerated detector coupled to a massless scalar field for a finite time interval. By considering the detector initially prepared in a superposition state, qubit state, we find that the acceleration induces decoherence on the qubit. Our results suggest the dependence of loss of coherence on the polar angle of qubit state on a Bloch sphere and the time interaction. The adjust those parameters can significantly improve the conditions to estimate the degree of decoherence induced by Unruh radiation.
In this work, we investigate the interaction between a uniformly accelerated single qubit and a fermionic spinor field. Here we consider both the massless and the massive fermionic spinor fields. The qubit-field interaction occurs over a finite time and was evolved via perturbation theory. This approach yields the transition probability rates, from which we subsequently evaluate the quantum coherence of an Unruh-DeWitt (UDW) detector initially prepared in a qubit state. Our findings reveal that the UDW detector responds more when coupled with the fermionic field, and consequently, quantum coherence (for the fermionic case) degrades much more rapidly when compared to the case of the qubit linearly coupled with the scalar field. Moreover, the analysis suggests that particle mass plays a protective role against Unruh-induced decoherence as the rest mass energy becomes comparable to the detector's energy-level spacing, the detector's excitation probability and response decreases, which leads to the mitigation of quantum coherence degradation in accelerated quantum systems.
Abstract Recently, interest has been growing in studies on discrete or ‘pixelated’ space-time that, through modifications in the dispersion relation, can treat the vacuum as a dispersive medium. Discrete spacetime considers that spacetime has a cellular structure on the order of the Planck length, and if this is true we should certainly have observable effects. In this paper, we investigated the effects caused by the dispersive vacuum on the decoherence process of an Unruh–DeWitt detector, our setup consists of a uniformly accelerated detector, initially in a qubit state, which interacts with a massless scalar field during a time interval finite. We use dispersion relations drawn from doubly special relativity and Hořava–Lifshitz gravity, with these modifications the vacuum becomes dispersive and has a corresponding refractive index. We calculate the probability transition rates, the probability of finding the detector in the ground state, and the quantum coherence variation. Our results indicate that the decoherence process occurs more quickly in cases with changes in the dispersion relation in the regime of high accelerations and interaction time. Additionally, the decoherence increases as the vacuum becomes more dispersive due to the increase in the order of modification in the dispersion relation, and this happens because the dispersive vacuum amplifies the effects of quantum fluctuations that are captured by the detector when interacting with the field.
Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields provide an unavoidable environment for any quantum system coupled to it. We study the interplay between boundary conditions and acceleration in determining decoherence of a two-level Unruh-DeWitt detector coupled to a scalar field in a cylindrical cavity. We show that the decoherence rate closely follows the emission profile, and exhibits {\it Purcell-like} enhancement for both inertial and uniformly accelerated detectors. The acceleration induces an effective smearing of the resonant density of states, diluting the resonance enhancement for large accelerations while replacing the inertial off-resonant decay with an oscillatory behavior for small accelerations. For moderate accelerations, this interplay between cavity-induced and acceleration-assisted effects results in an extended region of cavity parameters where decoherence is strongly suppressed, particularly in regimes where the inertial detector otherwise experience strong decoherence. Thus, contrary to naive expectations, the Unruh thermality in a suitably engineered cavity can enhance rather than degrade quantum coherence, providing a very uncharacteristic feature of quantum fields in non-inertial frames.
By considering a uniformly accelerated two-level system in an initial superposition state of a qubit, we investigate the loss of coherence induced by the acceleration. In addition, we investigate the impact of acceleration on the complementarity relation in a quantum interferometric circuit or quantum scattering circuit. We present an alternative approach to exploring acceleration effects through examination of quantum coherence decay and degradation in the interference pattern. Our investigations help to provide understanding of the consequences of decoherence induced by the Unruh effect on the wave-particle duality of a uniformly accelerated qubit.
We study the dynamics of quantum coherence under Unruh thermal noise and seek under which condition the coherence can be frozen in a relativistic setting. We find that the frozen condition is either (i) the initial state is prepared as an incoherence state or (ii) the detectors have no interaction with the external field. That is to say, the decoherence of the detectors' quantum state is irreversible under the influence of thermal noise induced by Unruh radiation. It is shown that quantum coherence approaches zero only in the limit of an infinite acceleration, while quantum entanglement could reduce to zero for a finite acceleration. It is also demonstrated that the robustness of quantum coherence is better than entanglement under the influence of the atom-field interaction for an extremely large acceleration. Therefore, quantum coherence is more robust than entanglement in an accelerating system and the coherence-type quantum resources are more accessible for relativistic quantum information processing tasks.
Uniform acceleration induces a thermal response to the Minkowski vacuum and can thereby modify quantum correlations. For measurement-induced nonlocality (MIN), a form of nonclassical correlation distinct from entanglement, previous field-mode analyses of bosonic fields found that it decreases with increasing acceleration and vanishes in the infinite-acceleration limit. This raises the question of whether the disappearance of MIN is a generic consequence of the Unruh effect or depends on the physical description of the accelerated quantum system. To address this question, we study two uniformly accelerating Unruh-DeWitt detectors interacting with a massless scalar field. We find that the response of MIN to the Unruh temperature depends sensitively on the initial detector state: it can decrease monotonically, vanish at an intermediate temperature and subsequently recover, or increase monotonically. Moreover, for a broad class of initial states, MIN approaches a nonzero value in the high-temperature limit. These results show that the suppression of MIN under strong acceleration is not universal. Instead, Unruh-induced detector dynamics gives rise to a state-dependent response in which measurement-induced nonlocality can be suppressed, restored, or enhanced.