Novel phase transition at the Unruh temperature

Abstract

In recent years, the theory of quantum phase transitions has rapidly developed. These are transitions at a zero temperature which are associated with a change of the theory parameters like couplings. In contrast, the classical phase transitions occur ``within'' the same theory (in particular, with the same couplings) and are associated with a change in temperature. Within the framework of a simple model of Dirac fields in the Euclidean Rindler space, we establish an intermediate case when the phase transition occurs at a finite temperature, but the temperature itself is of a quantum origin (the Unruh temperature). Moreover, the phase transition point is uniquely associated with the behavior of individual levels, namely at the Unruh temperature the two lowest Matsubara modes become singular on the Rindler horizon. This provides a new manifestation of the duality between the thermodynamic description and the geometric approach (the behavior of the quantum levels of particles living on a nontrivial geometric manifold). Although the considered example refers to the physics of black holes, we note the formal similarity of the Unruh temperature with the parameter characterizing quantum transitions in the theory of condensed matter.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure