A path integral formulation for particle detectors: the Unruh-DeWitt model as a line defect

DOI10.1007/JHEP03(2021)076zbMATH Open1461.81066arXiv2012.14912OpenAlexW3117907402MaRDI QIDQ2028282FDOQ2028282

Authors: Ivan M. Burbano, T. Rick Perche, Bruno de S. L. Torres 

Publication date: 31 May 2021

Published in: Journal of High Energy Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Particle detectors are an ubiquitous tool for probing quantum fields in the context of relativistic quantum information (RQI). We formulate the Unruh-DeWitt (UDW) particle detector model in terms of the path integral formalism. The formulation is able to recover the results of the model in general globally hyperbolic spacetimes and for arbitrary detector trajectories. Integrating out the detector's degrees of freedom yields a line defect that allows one to express the transition probability in terms of Feynman diagrams. Inspired by the light-matter interaction, we propose a gauge invariant detector model whose associated line defect is related to the derivative of a Wilson line. This is another instance where nonlocal operators in gauge theories can be interpreted as physical probes for quantum fields.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.14912

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zbMATH Keywords

't Hooft and Polyakov loopseffective field theoriesgauge symmetryWilson

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quantum information, communication, networks (quantum-theoretic aspects) (81P45) Methods of quantum field theory in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C47) Path integrals in quantum mechanics (81S40) Effective quantum field theories (81T12)

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Cited In (2)

• The Unruh-DeWitt model and its joint interacting Hilbert space
• Relativistic quantum information in detectors-field interactions

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