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arXiv · 2108.10693

Ginzburg effect in a dielectric medium with dispersion and dissipation

Sascha Lang·Roland Sauerbrey·Ralf Schützhold·William G. Unruh
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Abstract

As a quantum analog of Cherenkov radiation, an inertial photon detector moving through a medium with constant refractive index $n$ may perceive the electromagnetic quantum fluctuations as real photons if its velocity $v$ exceeds the medium speed of light $c/n$. For dispersive Hopfield type media, we find this Ginzburg effect to extend to much lower $v$ because the phase velocity of light is very small near the medium resonance. In this regime, however, dissipation effects become important. Via an extended Hopfield model, we present a consistent treatment of quantum fluctuations in dispersive and dissipative media and derive the Ginzburg effect in such systems. Finally, we propose an experimental test.

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Sascha Lang, Roland Sauerbrey, Ralf Schützhold, William G. Unruh. 2021-08-24. Ginzburg effect in a dielectric medium with dispersion and dissipation. https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.10693

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