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I found an interesting article by Paul Davies (https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.30.737) which involves radiation emmited by DeSitter horizons. But is it a fact that this radiation exists? Has it been verified?

And also, in the abstract he says:

Does the mining process allow the recovery of unlimited energy from the cosmological gravitational field?

What does this exactly mean?

Níck Aguiar Alves
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vengaq
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1 Answers1

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De Sitter radiation as discussed by Davies in this paper is an instance of the Unruh effect in curved spacetime, as I discussed, e.g., in this answer.

As far as I know, there is no direct experimental evidence of the detection of this sort of radiation. However, there is indirect evidence in analogous situations. Namely

  • For the Unruh effect in flat spacetime, the existence of the effect can be understood as a requirement for consistency with usual Quantum Field Theory in flat spacetime, as discussed in arXiv:gr-qc/0205078
  • For the Unruh effect in flat spacetime, the existence of the effect can be understood as a prediction of classical electrodynamics. This is discussed in arXiv:1701.03446 [gr-qc]
  • arXiv:1903.00043 [gr-qc] "present[s] the evidence for the first observation of acceleration-induced thermality in a non-analogue system." (quoted from its abstract). Also, see arXiv:2205.06591 [gr-qc]
  • For Hawking radiation, an effect analogue to the Unruh effect, there is direct observation in analogue systems, as discussed by DOI:10.1038/s41586-019-1241-0

In short, there is no direct evidence of de Sitter radiation. Nevertheless, there is indirect evidence in similar situations.

Níck Aguiar Alves
  • 24,192