GUP corrections to the spontaneous excitation of an accelerated atom coupled with electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations

Various candidate theories of quantum gravity suggest the existence of a minimum measurable length at the Planck scale, which leads to the generalization of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) to the Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP). This generalization could potentially result in obse...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhi Wang, Zhengwen Long
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Physics Letters B
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269325005313
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Summary:Various candidate theories of quantum gravity suggest the existence of a minimum measurable length at the Planck scale, which leads to the generalization of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) to the Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP). This generalization could potentially result in observable effects even below the Planck energy scale, offering an opportunity to investigate quantum gravity theories through physical processes at lower energy scale. In this paper, we study, within the framework of the DDC formalism, the effect of GUP on the spontaneous excitation and de-excitation of a multilevel atom in both inertial and non-inertial motions coupled to a vacuum electromagnetic field. The GUP modifies the two point function of the electromagnetic field, thereby affecting the radiative properties of atom. We show that the GUP can alter the rate of change of mean atomic energy, resulting in either an enhancement or a reduction, depending on the sign of the GUP parameter β. Furthermore, the corrections induced by the GUP for an atom in uniformly accelerated motion, containing components proportional to a4, suggest that the GUP effect may be amplified by significant acceleration of the atom, thus providing a potential avenue for experimental testing.
ISSN:0370-2693