Decoherence of ergotropy of a relativistic battery as a probe of motion-selected Unruh thermality in Minkowski spacetime
Abstract
We put forward a physical model of a relativistic Unruh-DeWitt battery moving along a general accelerated trajectory, including a linear motion and a circular motion with a reflecting boundary. The maximal amount of quantum work extraction, defined as the ergotropy, serves as a witness to Unruh effect modified by motion trajectories. It is found out that for a very low Unruh temperature, linear motion yields a high amount of ergotropy, while for a high temperature, circular motion becomes optimal for estimating the Unruh effect. For a specific acceleration, the ergotropy is the same for two different trajectories. The behavior demonstrates that, in a certain condition, one can simulate the work extraction of the accelerated battery in a linear motion by exploring the battery in circular motion. The observed ergotropy for the thermality is closely related to quantum coherence affected by spacetime vacuum fluctuations. In the presence of a reflecting boundary plane, we study different ways for the dynamics of the ergotropy. When the battery moves near the boundary, the prominent oscillation of the ergotropy will happen and exhibit some large instantaneous peaks. The interesting phenomenon results from the protection of quantum coherence for the accelerated battery in the vicinity of the boundary. Far away from the boundary, the oscillation behavior can be suppressed and the ergotropy rapidly arrives at a steady value. By contrast, the circular motion contributes to prolonging the oscillation evolution. The asymptotic amount of the ergotropy can rise progressively up to a saturation value with increasing the distance from the circular trajectory to the boundary plane. From the perspective of energy transfer, optimized quantum work extraction for the accelerated battery moving along a selected motion with a boundary plane is advantageous for probing Unruh thermality.
Related
- Circular acceleration in Minkowski spacetime: thermality versus finite size
- Quantum thermodynamics of ergotopy for a relativistic battery as a witness to Unruh–Hawking thermality in curved (A)dS spacetimes
- Strong-coupling of Minkowski spacetime in f(R) gravity: a Hamiltonian perspective
- Curved momentum space and finite Landau spectrum in κ-Minkowski spacetime
- Characteristic evolution of conformal scattering: I. Scalar Waves in Minkowski Spacetime
BibTeX
@misc{gan2026decoherence,
title = {{Decoherence of ergotropy of a relativistic battery as a probe of motion-selected Unruh thermality in Minkowski spacetime}},
author = {Gao-Feng Gan and Cheng-Tai Wu and Yin-Zhong Wu and Xiang Hao},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.31120},
eprint = {2606.31120},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.31120},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Decoherence of ergotropy of a relativistic battery as a probe of motion-selected Unruh thermality in Minkowski spacetime
AU - Gao-Feng Gan
AU - Cheng-Tai Wu
AU - Yin-Zhong Wu
AU - Xiang Hao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/14
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.31120
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.31120
AB - We put forward a physical model of a relativistic Unruh-DeWitt battery moving along a general accelerated trajectory, including a linear motion and a circular motion with a reflecting boundary. The maximal amount of quantum work extraction, defined as the ergotropy, serves as a witness to Unruh effect modified by motion trajectories. It is found out that for a very low Unruh temperature, linear motion yields a high amount of ergotropy, while for a high temperature, circular motion becomes optimal for estimating the Unruh effect. For a specific acceleration, the ergotropy is the same for two different trajectories. The behavior demonstrates that, in a certain condition, one can simulate the work extraction of the accelerated battery in a linear motion by exploring the battery in circular motion. The observed ergotropy for the thermality is closely related to quantum coherence affected by spacetime vacuum fluctuations. In the presence of a reflecting boundary plane, we study different ways for the dynamics of the ergotropy. When the battery moves near the boundary, the prominent oscillation of the ergotropy will happen and exhibit some large instantaneous peaks. The interesting phenomenon results from the protection of quantum coherence for the accelerated battery in the vicinity of the boundary. Far away from the boundary, the oscillation behavior can be suppressed and the ergotropy rapidly arrives at a steady value. By contrast, the circular motion contributes to prolonging the oscillation evolution. The asymptotic amount of the ergotropy can rise progressively up to a saturation value with increasing the distance from the circular trajectory to the boundary plane. From the perspective of energy transfer, optimized quantum work extraction for the accelerated battery moving along a selected motion with a boundary plane is advantageous for probing Unruh thermality.
ER -