JULY 01 2010

A WKB-like approach to Unruh radiation

Andrea de Gill; Douglas Singleton; Valeria Akhmedova; ... et. al

American Journal of Physics 78, 685–691 (2010)

https://doi.org/10.1119/1.3308568

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A WKB-like approach to Unruh radiation
Andrea de Gilla兲
Department of Physics, California State University Fresno, Fresno, California 93740-8031
Douglas Singletonb兲
Department of Physics, California State University Fresno, Fresno, California 93740-8031 and
Institute of Gravitation and Cosmology, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Moscow 117198, Russia
Valeria Akhmedovac兲
ITEP, B. Cheremushkinskaya, 25, Moscow 117218, Russia
Terry Pillingd兲
Department of Physics, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58105-5566
共Received 10 September 2009; accepted 14 January 2010兲
Unruh radiation is the thermal flux measured by an accelerated observer moving through Minkowski
spacetime. We study Unruh radiation as tunneling through a barrier. We use a WKB-like method to
obtain the tunneling rate and the temperature of the Unruh radiation. The gravitational WKB method
helps to highlight the subtle points that the tunneling rate should be written as the closed path
integral of the canonical momentum, and for the case of the gravitational WKB problem, there is a
timelike contribution to the tunneling rate arising from an imaginary change of the time coordinate
upon crossing the horizon. This temporal contribution to the tunneling rate has no analog in the

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usual quantum mechanical WKB calculation. The derivation brings together many topics, including
classical mechanics, relativity, relativistic field theory, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics,
and mathematical physics. © 2010 American Association of Physics Teachers.
关DOI: 10.1119/1.3308568兴

I. INTRODUCTION In comparison with Ref. 19, the gravitational WKB-like

The radiation that arises from placing a quantum field in a
background metric with a horizon is a well known phenom-
enon at the boundary between field theory and general rela-
tivity. The first example of this effect is Hawking radiation,1
where a Schwarzschild black hole radiates with a thermal
spectrum at the expense of the black hole’s mass. Another
example is Hawking–Gibbons radiation,2 that is, the thermal
radiation measured by an observer in de Sitter spacetime. In
this paper we focus on Unruh radiation3—the radiation mea-
sured by an observer moving with a constant acceleration
through vacuum. The original methods used to calculate
these effects involved quantum field theory at a level that is
beyond beginning graduate students. Hawking has given a
heuristic picture for the radiation in terms of the “tunneling”
of virtual particles across the horizon.1 After a span of 25
years, mathematical details have been added to this
picture.4–7 The action for a particle that crosses the horizon
of some spacetime 共for example, the Schwarzschild space-
time for Hawking radiation兲 was calculated and found to
have an imaginary part coming from a contour integration.4–7
The exponential of this imaginary piece was compared to a
Boltzmann distribution, which allowed the temperature of
the radiation to be determined. The simplicity of this gravi-
tational WKB method makes it easy to calculate Hawking-
like radiation for other metrics 共for example,
Reissner–Nordstrom,6 de Sitter,8–11 Kerr and
12,13 14–16
Kerr–Newmann, and Unruh 兲. Additionally, tunnel-
ing particles with different spins can easily be incorporated,17
and it is possible 共in a simplified way兲 to begin to take into
account back reaction effects on the metric.6,7,18
In Ref. 19 Unruh radiation is derived using purely quan-
tum mechanical arguments. However, readers need to know
about the quantized radiation field, and the steps in the deri-
vation are more involved than the approach presented here.
method is mathematically simpler and provides a clearer
physical picture of the origins of the radiation. We present
this WKB-like method for Rindler spacetime 共the metric for
an observer who undergoes constant proper acceleration兲 and
Unruh radiation. The reason for choosing Rindler spacetime
is that it is the simplest spacetime in which this type of effect
occurs. Furthermore, because of the strong equivalence prin-
ciple 共that is, locally, a constant acceleration and a gravita-
tional field are observationally equivalent兲, the Unruh radia-
tion from Rindler spacetime is the prototype of this type of
effect. Also, of all these effects—Hawking radiation and
Hawking–Gibbons radiation—Unruh radiation has the best
prospects for being observed experimentally.20–23
Our derivation of Unruh radiation draws together many
different areas of study: Classical mechanics via the
Hamilton–Jacobi equations, relativity via the use of the Rin-
dler metric, relativistic field theory through the Klein–
Gordon equation in curved backgrounds, quantum mechanics
via the use of the WKB-like method applied to gravitational
backgrounds, statistical mechanics via the use of the Boltz-
mann distribution to extract the temperature of the radiation,
and mathematical methods by the use of contour integration
to evaluate the imaginary part of the action of the particle
that crosses the horizon. Thus this single problem serves to
show students how the different areas of physics are inter-
connected.
Also, through this example we will highlight some subtle
features of the Rindler metric and the WKB method, which
are usually overlooked. In particular, we show that the gravi-
tational WKB amplitude has a contribution coming from a
change of the time coordinate from crossing the horizon.11
This temporal contribution is not encountered in ordinary
quantum mechanics, where time acts as a parameter rather
than a coordinate.

685 Am. J. Phys. 78 共7兲, July 2010 http://aapt.org/ajp © 2010 American Association of Physics Teachers 685
II. RINDLER SPACETIMES

In this section we introduce and discuss some relevant

features of Rindler spacetime—the spacetime seen by an ob-
server moving with constant proper acceleration through
Minkowski spacetime. The Rindler metric can be obtained
by starting with the Minkowski metric, ds2 = −dt2 + dx2 + dy 2
+ dz2, where we have set c = 1, and transforming to the coor-
dinates of the accelerating observer. We take the acceleration
to be along the x-direction, and thus we need only to con-
sider a 共1 + 1兲-dimensional Minkowski spacetime
ds2 = − dt2 + dx2 . 共1兲
By using the Lorentz transformations of special relativity, the
worldlines of an accelerated observer moving along the
x-axis in empty spacetime can be related to Minkowski co-
ordinates t and x according to the transformation
t = 共a−1 + xR兲sinh共atR兲, 共2a兲
Fig. 1. Trajectory of the Rindler observer as determined by the observer at
x = 共a−1 + xR兲cosh共atR兲, 共2b兲 rest.
where a is the constant proper acceleration measured in the

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instantaneous rest frame of the Rindler observer. We can
show that the acceleration associated with the trajectory of
Eqs. 共2兲 is constant because a␮a␮ = 共d2x␮ / dtR2 兲2 = a2, with xR this sense the metric in Eq. 共3兲 is similar to the Schwarzs-
= 0. The trajectory of Eqs. 共2兲 can be obtained using the child metric written in isotropic coordinates. For further de-
definitions of four-velocity and four-acceleration of the ac- tails, see Ref. 28.
celerated observer in her/his instantaneous inertial rest There is an alternative form of the Rindler metric that can
frame.24 Another derivation of Eqs. 共2兲 uses a Lorentz trans- be obtained from Eq. 共3兲 by the transformation
formation to relate the proper acceleration of the noninertial
observer to the acceleration of the inertial observer.25 Refer- 共1 + axR兲 = 冑兩1 + 2axR⬘兩. 共4兲
ence 26 also provides a discussion of the Rindler observer.
The coordinates xR and tR, when parametrized and plotted We use the coordinate transformation given by Eq. 共4兲 in Eq.
in a spacetime diagram whose axes are the Minkowski coor- 共3兲 and obtain the Schwarzschild-like form of the Rindler
dinates x and t, result in the familiar hyperbolic trajectories metric,
with x2 − t2 = a−2, which represent the worldlines of the Rin-
2 2
dler observer. ds2 = − 共1 + 2axR⬘兲dtR⬘ + 共1 + 2axR⬘兲−1dxR⬘ . 共5兲
Differentiating each coordinate in Eqs. 共2兲 and substituting
the result into Eq. 共1兲 yield the standard Rindler metric
If we make the substitution a → GM / xR2 ⬘, we can see the
ds = − 共1 + axR兲
2 2
dtR2 + dxR2 . 共3兲 similarity to the usual Schwarzschild metric. The horizon is
now at xR⬘ = −1 / 2a, and the time coordinate, tR⬘, changes
When xR = −1 / a, the determinant of the metric given by Eq.
sign as xR⬘ = −1 / 2a is crossed. In addition, from Eq. 共4兲 we
共3兲, det共gab兲 ⬅ g = −共1 + axR兲2, vanishes, which indicates the
can see that as xR⬘ ranges from +⬁ to −⬁ the standard Rin-
presence of a coordinate singularity at xR = −1 / a, which can-
dler coordinate goes from +⬁ down to xR = −1 / a and then
not be a real singularity because Eq. 共3兲 is the result of a
back out to +⬁.
global coordinate transformation from Minkowski space-
The Schwarzschild-like form of the Rindler metric given
time. The horizon of the Rindler spacetime is given by
by Eq. 共5兲 can also be obtained directly from the two-
xR = −1 / a.
dimensional Minkowski metric Eq. 共1兲 via the transforma-
In the spacetime diagram shown in Fig. 1, the horizon for
tions
this metric is represented by the null asymptotes, x = ⫾ t,
which the hyperbola given by Eqs. 共2兲 approaches as x and t
tend to infinity.27 Note that this horizon is a particle horizon
冑1 + 2axR⬘
t= sinh共atR⬘兲, 共6a兲
because the Rindler observer is not influenced by the whole a
spacetime and the horizon’s location is observer dependent.28
We can also see that the transformations Eqs. 共2兲, which
lead to the Rindler metric in Eq. 共3兲, only cover a quarter of 冑1 + 2axR⬘
the full Minkowski spacetime given by x − t ⬎ 0 and x + t x= cosh共atR⬘兲 共6b兲
a
⬎ 0. This portion of Minkowski is usually labeled the right
wedge. To recover the left wedge, we can modify Eq. 共2b兲 for xR⬘ ⱖ −1 / 2a and
with a minus sign in front of the transformation of the x
coordinate, thus recovering the trajectory of an observer
moving with negative acceleration. The coordinates xR and tR
冑兩1 + 2axR⬘兩
t= cosh共atR⬘兲, 共7a兲
double cover the region in front of the horizon, xR = −1 / a. In a

686 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 78, No. 7, July 2010 de Gill et al. 686
 冑兩1 + 2axR⬘兩
x= sinh共atR⬘兲
a In Eq. 共10兲 the ⫺ sign goes with
for xR⬘ ⱕ −1 / 2a. Note that imposing these conditions on the
coordinate xR⬘ fixes the signature of the metric because for
xR⬘ ⱕ −1 / 2a or 1 + 2axR⬘ ⱕ 0, the metric signature changes to
共+ , −兲, while for 1 + 2axR⬘ ⱖ 0, the metric has signature
共− , +兲. Thus we see that the crossing of the horizon is
achieved by the crossing of the coordinate singularity, which
is precisely the tunneling barrier that causes the radiation in
this formalism. As a final comment, we note that the deter-
minant of the metric for Eq. 共3兲 is zero at the horizon
xR = −1 / a, while the determinant of the metric given by Eq.
共5兲 is 1 everywhere.
III. THE WKB/TUNNELING METHOD
In this section we study a scalar field placed in a back-
ground metric. Physically, these fields come from the quan-
tum fields, that is, vacuum fluctuations, that permeate the
spacetime given by the metric. In addition, the vacuum field
fluctuations obey the equivalence principle, which supports
this approach.29 By applying the WKB method to this scalar
field, we find that the phase of the scalar field develops
imaginary contributions upon crossing the horizon. The ex-
ponential of these imaginary contributions is interpreted as a
tunneling amplitude through the horizon. By assuming a
Boltzmann distribution and associating it with the tunneling
amplitude, we obtain the temperature of the radiation.
We now express the scalar field in terms of a phase factor
as ␾ = ␾0ei/បS共t,xជ 兲, and the Hamilton–Jacobi equations for the
action S of the field ␾ in the gravitational background given
by the metric g␮␯ are 共see Appendix A for details兲
g␮␯⳵␯共S兲⳵␮共S兲 + m2 = 0.
For stationary spacetimes 共technically spacetimes for
which we can define a timelike Killing vector that yields a
conserved energy E兲, the action S can be split into a time and
space part, S共t , xជ 兲 = Et + S0共xជ 兲. If S0 has an imaginary part, it
gives the spatial part of the tunneling rate, ⌫QM, via the stan-
dard WKB formula. The WKB approximation tells us how to
find the transmission probability in terms of the incident
wave and transmitted wave amplitudes. Thus, from standard
quantum mechanics, the transition probability is given by the
exponentially decaying part of the wave function over the
nonclassical 共tunneling兲 region31
⌫QM ⬀ e−Im共1/ប兲养pxdx .
The tunneling rate given by Eq. 共9兲 is just the lowest order
quasiclassical approximation to the full nonperturbative
Schwinger rate.32,33
In most cases 共with an important exception that we will
discuss in Appendix B兲, pout and pin have the same magni-
tude but opposite signs. Thus ⌫QM will receive equal contri-
butions from the ingoing and outgoing particles because the
sign difference between pout and pin will be compensated for
by the minus sign that is picked up in the pin integration due
to the fact that the path is being traversed in the backward
x-direction. In all quantum mechanical tunneling problems of
which we are aware, the tunneling rate across a barrier is the
same for particles going right to left or left to right. For this
reason, the tunneling rate given by Eq. 共9兲 is usually written
as31
687 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 78, No. 7, July 2010
⌫QM ⬀ e⫿2 Im共1/ប兲兰px
out,in
dx
. 共10兲
共7b兲
pout
x ,
and the + sign goes
with pin
x .
There is a technical reason to prefer Eq. 共9兲 over Eq. 共10兲.
As remarked in Refs. 35–37, Eq. 共9兲 is invariant under ca-
nonical transformations, whereas the form given by Eq. 共10兲
is not. Thus the form given by Eq. 共10兲 is not a proper ob-
servable. In Appendix B we show an example of the WKB
method for the Schwarzschild spacetime in Painlevé–
Gulstrand coordinates, and we find that Eqs. 共9兲 and 共10兲 are
not numerically equivalent.
However, for the case of the gravitational WKB problem,
Eq. 共10兲 gives only the imaginary contribution to the total
action coming from the spatial part of the action. In addition,
there is a temporal piece, E Im共⌬ttotal兲, that must be added to
the imaginary part of the action coming from the spatial part
to obtain the tunneling rate. This temporal piece originates
from an imaginary change of the time coordinate as the ho-
rizon is crossed. We will explicitly show how to account for
this temporal piece in Sec. IV, where we apply the gravita-
tional WKB method to the Rindler spacetime. This imagi-
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nary part of the total action coming from the time piece is a
unique feature of the gravitational WKB problem. Therefore,
for the gravitational WKB problem, the tunneling rate ⌫ is
given by
⌫ ⬀ e−共1/ប兲关Im共养pxdx兲−E Im共⌬ttotal兲兴 . 共11兲
To obtain the temperature of the radiation, we assume a
Boltzmann distribution for the emitted particles
⌫ ⬀ e−E/T , 共12兲
where E is the energy of the emitted particle, T is the tem-
perature associated with the radiation, and we have set Bolt-
共8兲 zmann’s constant, kB, equal to 1. Equation 共12兲 gives the
probability that a system at temperature T occupies a quan-
tum state with energy E.
One weak point of this derivation is that we had to assume
a Boltzmann distribution for the radiation, while the original
derivations1,3 obtain the thermal spectrum without any as-
sumptions. This shortcoming of the tunneling method has
been addressed in Ref. 38, where the thermal spectrum was
obtained within the tunneling method using density matrix
techniques.
By equating Eqs. 共12兲 and 共11兲, we obtain the following
expression for the temperature T:
Eប
共9兲 共13兲
冖
T= .
Im共 pxdx兲 − E Im共⌬ttotal兲
IV. UNRUH RADIATION VIA WKB/
TUNNELING
We now apply the method discussed in Sec. III to the
alternative Rindler metric. For the 1 + 1 Rindler spacetimes
the Hamilton–Jacobi equations reduce to gtt⳵tS⳵tS
+ gxx⳵xS⳵xS + m2 = 0. For the Schwarzschild-like form of Rin-
dler given in Eq. 共5兲, the Hamilton–Jacobi equations are
1
− 共⳵tS兲2 + 共1 + 2axR⬘兲共⳵xS兲2 + m2 = 0. 共14兲
共1 + 2axR⬘兲
de Gill et al. 687

Fig. 2. Contours of integration for the ingoing and outgoing particles.
Writing the action S as S共t , xជ 兲 = Et + S0共xជ 兲 in Eq. 共14兲 gives
E m2
− + 共 ⳵ x S 0 共x R ⬘ 兲兲 2
+ = 0.
共1 + 2axR⬘兲2 1 + 2axR⬘
From Eq. 共15兲, S0 is found to be
冕 冑E2 − m2共1 + 2axR⬘兲
⬁ TUnruh =
S⫾
0 = ⫾
−⬁ 1 + 2axR⬘
In Eq. 共16兲 the + sign corresponds to the ingoing particles
共particles that move from right to left兲, and the ⫺ sign to the
outgoing particles 共particles that move left to right兲. Note
also that Eq. 共16兲 is of the form S0 = 兰pxdx, where px is the
canonical momentum of the field in the Rindler background.
The Minkowski spacetime expression for the momentum is
easily recovered by setting a = 0, in which case we see that
px = 冑E2 − m2.
From Eq. 共16兲 we can see that this integral has a pole
along the path of integration at xR⬘ = −1 / 2a. Using a contour
integration gives an imaginary contribution to the action. We
will give the details of the contour integration because they
will be important when we try to apply this method to the
standard form of the Rindler metric Eq. 共3兲 共see Appendix C
for the details of this calculation兲. We go around the pole at
xR⬘ = −1 / 2a using a semicircular contour, which we param-
etrize as xR⬘ = −1 / 2a + ⑀ei␪, where ⑀ Ⰶ 1 and ␪ goes from 0 to
␲ for the ingoing path and ␲ to 0 for the outgoing path.
These contours are illustrated in Fig. 2. With this parameter-
ization of the path and the limit ⑀ → 0, we find that the imagi-
nary part of Eq. 共16兲 for ingoing 共+兲 particles is
S+0 = 冕 0
␲ 冑E2 − m2⑀ei␪
2a⑀e i␪ i ⑀ e i␪d ␪ =
i␲E
2a
and for outgoing 共⫺兲 particles, we find
S−0 = − 冕 0
␲
冑E2 − m2⑀ei␪
2a⑀e i␪ i ⑀ e i␪d ␪ =
To recover the Unruh temperature, we take into account
the contribution from the time piece of the total action
S共t , xជ 兲 = Et + S0共xជ 兲, as indicated by Eq. 共13兲. The transforma-
tion of Eqs. 共6兲 into Eqs. 共7兲 indicates that the time coordi-
nate has a discrete imaginary jump as the horizon at
xR⬘ = −1 / 2a is crossed because the two time coordinate trans-
formations are connected across the horizon by the change
tR⬘ → tR⬘ − i␲ / 2a, that is,
sinh共atR⬘兲 → sinh atR⬘ −
i␲
2
冉
= − i cosh共atR⬘兲 冊 共19兲
and
688 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 78, No. 7, July 2010
冉
cosh共atR⬘兲 → cosh atR⬘ −
i␲
2
冊
= − i sinh共atR⬘兲. 共20兲
Note that as the horizon is crossed, a factor of i comes from
the term in front of the hyperbolic function in Eqs. 共6兲, that
is, 冑1 + 2axR⬘ → i冑兩1 + 2axR⬘兩, so that Eqs. 共7兲 are recovered.
Therefore every time the horizon is crossed, the total ac-
tion S共t , xជ 兲 = S0共xជ 兲 + Et picks up a factor of E⌬t = −i␲E / 2a.
For the temporal contribution, the direction in which the ho-
rizon is crossed does not affect the sign, which is different
from the situation for the spatial contribution. When the ho-
rizon is crossed once, the total action S共t , xជ 兲 gets a contribu-
tion of E⌬t = −iE␲ / 2a, and for a round trip, as implied by
共15兲
the spatial part 养pxdx, the total contribution is E⌬ttotal =
−iE␲ / a. So by using Eq. 共13兲, we obtain
Eប បa
= , 共21兲
␲E ␲E 2␲
dxR⬘ . 共16兲 +
a a
which is the Unruh temperature. The interesting feature of
this result is that the gravitational WKB problem has contri-
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butions from both spatial and temporal parts of the wave
function, whereas the ordinary quantum mechanical WKB
problem has only a spatial contribution. For standard quan-
tum mechanics, having a spatial contribution only is natural
because time is treated as a distinct parameter, separate in
character from the spatial coordinates. However, in relativity
time is on an equal footing with the spatial coordinates.
V. CONCLUSION
We have derived Unruh radiation in terms of the original
heuristic explanation as virtual particles tunneling through
the horizon.1 This tunneling method can easily be applied to
different spacetimes and to different types of virtual par-
ticles. We chose the Rindler metric and Unruh radiation.
This derivation also highlights several subtle points re-
garding the Rindler metric and the WKB tunneling method.
In terms of the Rindler metric, we found that the different
forms of the metric, Eqs. 共3兲 and 共5兲, do not cover the same
parts of the full spacetime diagram. Also, as the horizon is
, 共17兲
crossed, there is an imaginary jump of the Rindler time co-
ordinate as given by comparing Eqs. 共6兲 and 共7兲.
In addition, for the gravitational WKB problem, the tun-
neling rate ⌫ has contributions from both the spatial and
temporal parts of the action. This feature is not found in the
i, ␲E
2a
. 共18兲
ordinary quantum mechanical WKB problem.
As a final comment, note that we can define an absorption
probability 共that is, Pabs ⬀ 兩␾in兩2兲 and an emission probability
Pemit ⬀ 兩␾out兩2. These probabilities can also be used to obtain
the temperature of the radiation via the detailed balance
method,5
Pemit
= e−E/T .
Pabs
Using the expression of the field ␾ = ␾0eiS共t,xជ 兲/ប, the
Schwarzschild-like form of the Rindler metric given in Eq.
共5兲, and taking into account the spatial and temporal contri-
butions give the absorption probability
Pabs ⬀ e␲E/a−␲E/a = 1 共22兲
and the emission probability
de Gill et al. 688
 ␮ ␤␯
Pemit ⬀ e−␲E/a−␲E/a = e−2␲E/a . 共23兲 ⵜ␣g␮␯ = ⳵␣g␮␯ + ⌫␣␤ ␯ ␮␤
g + ⌫␣␤ g = 0, 共A3兲
␮
The first term in the exponents of these probabilities corre- where ⌫␣␤ is the Christoffel connection. All the metrics that
␮
sponds to the spatial contribution of the action S, while the we consider here are diagonal, and thus ⌫␣␤ = 0 for ␮ ⫽ ␣
second term is the time piece. When using this method, we ⫽ ␤. It can also be shown that
are not considering a directed line integral as in Eq. 共9兲, and
thus the spatial parts of the absorption and emission prob- ⳵␥冑− g
␮
⌫␮␥ = ⳵␥共ln冑− g兲 = . 共A4兲
ability have opposite signs. In addition, the absorption prob-
ability is 1, which physically makes sense—particles should
冑− g
be able to fall into the horizon with unit probability. If the
If we use Eqs. 共A3兲 and 共A4兲, the term ⳵␮g␮␯ in Eq. 共A2兲 can
time part were not included in Pabs, then for some E and a,
be rewritten as
we would have Pabs ⬀ e␲E/a ⬎ 1, that is, the probability of
⳵␥冑− g
absorption would exceed 1 for some energy. Thus for the
␮ ␥␯
detailed balance method, the temporal piece is crucial to ⳵␮g␮␯ = − ⌫␮␥ g − ⌫␮␯ ␳g␮␳ = − g ␥␯ 共A5兲
ensure that there is a physically reasonable absorption 冑− g
probability.
because the harmonic condition is imposed on the metric
g␮␯, that is, ⌫␮␯ ␳g␮␳ = 0. Thus Eq. 共A2兲 becomes

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS − ប2g␮␯⳵␮⳵␯␾ + m2␾ = 0. 共A6兲

The authors would like to thank E. T. Akhmedov for valu- We now express the scalar field ␾ in terms of its action
able discussions. D.S. is supported by a 2008–2009 Fulbright S = S共t , xជ 兲,

Downloaded from http://pubs.aip.org/aapt/ajp/article-pdf/78/7/685/13100396/685_1_online.pdf

Scholars Grant. D.S. would like to thank Vitaly Melnikov for
the invitation to do research at the Center for Gravitation and ␾ = ␾0ei/បS共t,xជ 兲 , 共A7兲
Fundamental Metrology and the Institute of Gravitation and
where ␾0 is an amplitude30 not relevant for calculating the
Cosmology at PFUR. The authors would also like to thank
tunneling rate. If we substitute Eq. 共A7兲 for ␾ into Eq. 共A6兲,
two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and
we obtain
suggestions that led to the final version of this paper.
− បg␮␯共⳵␮共⳵␯共iS兲兲兲 + g␮␯⳵␯共S兲⳵␮共S兲 + m2 = 0. 共A8兲

By taking the limit ប → 0, we obtain the Hamilton–Jacobi

APPENDIX A: THE HAMILTON–JACOBI
equations for the action S of the field ␾ in the gravitational
EQUATIONS background given by the metric g␮␯,
The Hamilton–Jacobi equations may be derived from the g␮␯⳵␯共S兲⳵␮共S兲 + m2 = 0. 共A9兲
Klein–Gordon equation in the following manner. The Klein–
Gordon equation for a scalar field ␾ of mass m in a back-
ground metric g␮␯ is

冉冑 −g
1
⳵␮共冑− gg␮␯⳵␯兲 −
m 2c 2
ប2
冊␾ = 0, 共A1兲
APPENDIX B: HAWKING RADIATION
FROM THE PAINLEVÉ–GULSTRAND FORM
OF THE SCHWARZSCHILD SPACETIME
where c is the speed of light. For Minkowski spacetime, Eq.
共A1兲 reduces to the free Klein–Gordon equation, 共䊐 The Painlevé–Gulstrand form of the Schwarzschild space-
−m2c2 / ប2兲␾ = 共−⳵2 / c2 ⳵ t2 + ⵜ2 − m2c2 / ប2兲␾ = 0. time is obtained by transforming the Schwarzschild time t to
In using a scalar field, we are following Refs. 1 and 3. the Painlevé–Gulstrand time t⬘,
Despite the fact that, absent the hypothetical Higgs boson,
there are no known fundamental scalar fields, the derivation
with spinor or vector particles would only add the complica-
2M
冑
r
dr
dt = dt⬘ − . 共B1兲
tion of having to carry around spinor or Lorentz indices 2M
without adding to the basic understanding of the phenom- 1−
r
enon. By using the WKB approach presented here, it is
straightforward to do the calculation using spinor17 or vector Applying the transformation 共B1兲 to the Schwarzschild met-
particles. ric gives the Painlevé–Gulstrand form of the Schwarzschild
We set the speed of light c equal to 1, multiply Eq. 共A1兲 spacetime
by −ប, and use the product rule so that Eq. 共A1兲 becomes
− ប2
冑− g 关共⳵␮冑− g兲g␮␯⳵␯␾ + 冑− g共⳵␮g␮␯兲⳵␯␾ 冉
ds2 = − 1 −
2M
r
冊
dt⬘2 + 2 冑 2M
r
drdt⬘ + dr2 . 共B2兲

+ 冑− gg␮␯⳵␮⳵␯␾兴 + m2␾ = 0. 共A2兲 The time is transformed, but all the other coordinates
共r , ␪ , ␾兲 are the same as the Schwarzschild coordinates. If we
Equation 共A2兲 can be simplified using the fact that the cova- use the metric in Eq. 共B2兲 to calculate the spatial part of the
riant derivative of any metric g vanishes, action as in Eqs. 共C3兲 and 共16兲, we obtain

689 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 78, No. 7, July 2010 de Gill et al. 689
 S0 = − 冕 −⬁
⬁
dr
2M
冑 2M
r
E S⫾
1−
r
⫾ 冕 ⬁
−⬁
dr
2M
冑 冉
E2 − m2 1 −
2M
r
. 冊
1−
r results ⫾i␲ , E / a. However, this difference in results cannot
Each of these integrals has an imaginary contribution of
equal magnitude, as can be seen by performing a contour
integration. Thus we find that for the ingoing particle 共the +
sign in the second integral兲, there is a zero net imaginary
contribution, while from for the outgoing particle 共the ⫺ sign
in the second integral兲, there is a nonzero net imaginary con-
tribution. Therefore in this case there is a difference by a
factor of two between using Eqs. 共9兲 and 共10兲 because the
tunneling rates from the spatial contributions in this case
depend on the direction in which the barrier 共the horizon兲 is
crossed. The Schwarzschild metric has a similar temporal
contribution as for the Rindler metric.39 The Painlevé–
Gulstrand form of the Schwarzschild metric has two tempo-
ral contributions. One comes from the jump in the Schwarzs-
child time coordinate, similar to what occurs with the
Rindler metric in Eqs. 共6兲 and 共7兲. The second temporal con-
tribution comes from the transformation between the
Schwarzschild and Painlevé–Gulstrand time coordinates in
Eq. 共B1兲. If we integrate Eq. 共B1兲, we can see that there is a
pole coming from the second term. We need to take into
account both of these time contributions in addition to the
spatial contribution to recover the Hawking temperature.
Only by adding the temporal contribution to the spatial part
from Eq. 共9兲 do we recover the Hawking temperature39 T
= ប / 8␲ M. Thus for both reasons—canonical invariance and
to recover the temperature—it is Eq. 共9兲 that should be used
over Eq. 共10兲 when calculating ⌫QM. In ordinary quantum
mechanics, there is never a case—as far as we know—where
it makes a difference whether Eq. 共9兲 or Eq. 共10兲 is used.
This dependence of the tunneling rate on the direction in
which the barrier is traverse appears to be a unique feature of
the gravitational WKB problem. Thus, in terms of the WKB
method as applied to the gravitational field, we have found
that there are situations, for example, Schwarzschild space-
time in Painlevé–Gulstrand coordinates, where the tunneling
rate depends on the direction in which barrier is traversed so
that Eqs. 共9兲 and 共10兲 are not equivalent and thus yield dif-
ferent tunneling rates ⌫.
APPENDIX C: UNRUH RADIATION
FROM THE STANDARD RINDLER METRIC
For the standard form of the Rindler metric given by Eq.
共3兲, the Hamilton–Jacobi equations become
1 G. E. Volovik, Exotic Properties of Superfluids 3He 共World Scientific,
− 共⳵tS兲2 + 共⳵xS兲2 + m2 = 0.
共1 + axR兲2
After writing the action as S共t , xជ 兲 = Et + S0共xជ 兲, we obtain
E tion,” Phys. Lett. B 673, 227–231 共2009兲.
− + 共⳵xS0共xR兲兲2 + m2 = 0.
共1 + axR兲2
Equation 共C2兲 yields the following solution for S0:
690 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 78, No. 7, July 2010
0 = ⫾ 冕 −⬁
⬁ 冑E2 − m2共1 + axR兲2
1 + axR
dxR , 共C3兲
where the +共−兲 sign corresponds to the ingoing 共outgoing兲
共B3兲
particles.
We see that the pole in Eq. 共C3兲 is now at xR = −1 / a, and a
naive application of contour integration appears to give the
be justified because the two forms of the Rindler metric, Eqs.
共3兲 and 共5兲, are related by the simple coordinate transforma-
tion Eq. 共4兲, and the value of an integral should not change
by a change of variables. The resolution to this puzzle is that
we need to transform not only the integrand but the path of
integration also so that applying the transformation Eq. 共4兲 to
the semicircular contour xR⬘ = −1 / 2a + ⑀ei␪ gives xR = −共1 / a兲
+ 共冑⑀ / a兲ei␪/2. Because ei␪ is replaced by ei␪/2 due to the
square root in the transformation Eq. 共4兲, the semicircular
contour of Eq. 共17兲 is replaced by a quarter-circle, which
leads to a contour integral of i␲ / 2 ⫻ residue instead of i␲
⫻ residue. Thus both forms of Rindler yield the same spatial
contribution to the total imaginary part of the action.
Downloaded from http://pubs.aip.org/aapt/ajp/article-pdf/78/7/685/13100396/685_1_online.pdf
a兲
Electronic mail: aadegill@csufresno.edu
b兲
Electronic mail: dougs@csufresno.edu
c兲
Electronic mail: lera@itep.ru
d兲
Electronic mail: Terry.Pilling@ndsu.edu
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Water Wheel Model. By the time this water wheel model appeared in the 1937 Central Scientific Co. catalogue
共$10.00兲 it had ceased to have much technological relevance. Instead, it represented a tradition of showing overshot,
breast and undershot water wheels that went back to the 1860s. There is a certain amount of physics here the wheel
is shown in the undershot position where it responds to the kinetic energy of the flowing water. The wheel can also be
mounted in the slots on the left-hand side to demonstrate the breast-wheel. The two mounting holes are to hold a
second nozzle that will drop the water onto the wheel from the top, thus utilizing its potential energy. This apparatus
is in the collection of Richard Zitto. 共Photograph and Notes by Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr., Kenyon College兲

691 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 78, No. 7, July 2010 de Gill et al. 691