Generating multi-partite entanglement from the quantum vacuum with a finite-lifetime mirror

• Published in: New journal of physics Vol. 22; no. 8; pp. 83075 - 83086
• Main Authors: Foo, Joshua, Onoe, Sho, Zych, Magdalena, Ralph, Timothy C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01-08-2020
• Subjects: Circuits; Diamonds; Entanglement; localisation; noninertial reference frames; Observers; particle creation; Physics; quantum field theory; quantum information; special relativity
• ISSN: 1367-2630; 1367-2630
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/aba1b2

Observers following special classes of finite-lifetime trajectories have been shown to experience an effective temperature, a generalisation of the Unruh temperature for uniformly accelerated observers. We consider a mirror following such a trajectory-and is hence localised to a strictly bounded causal diamond-that perfectly reflects incoming field modes. We find that inertial observers in the Minkowski vacuum detect particles along the half null-rays at the beginning and end of the mirror's lifetime. These particle distributions exhibit multi-partite entanglement, which reveals novel structure within the vacuum correlations. The interaction is modelled using a non-perturbative circuit model and does not suffer from energy divergences.