Bill Unruh teaching in UBC

William G. Unruh (born August 21, 1945) is a Canadian physicist at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, who discovered the Unruh effect. Unruh was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He obtained his B.Sc. from the University of Manitoba in 1967, followed by an M.A. (1969) and Ph.D. from Princeton University, New Jersey (1971). Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 449 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (923 × 1231 pixel, file size: 270 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Bill Unruh User... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 449 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (923 × 1231 pixel, file size: 270 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Bill Unruh User... August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday. ... ... The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Canadian public university with its main campus located at Point Grey in the unincorporated Electoral Area A, immediately west of Vancouver, British Columbia. ... Vancouver (pronounced: ) is a city in south-western British Columbia, Canada. ... The Unruh effect, discovered in 1976 by Bill Unruh of the University of British Columbia, is the prediction that an accelerating observer will observe black-body radiation where an inertial observer would observe none, that is, the accelerating observer will find themselves in a warm background. ... Nickname: The Peg City, Slurpee Capital, Winterpeg, Portage and Main, The 204 Motto: Unum Cum Virtute Multorum (One With the Strength of Many) Coordinates: Country Canada Province Manitoba Region Winnipeg Capital Region Established, 1738 (Fort Rouge) Renamed 1822 (Fort Garry) Incorporated 1873 (City of Winnipeg) Government  - City Mayor Sam Katz... Motto: Gloriosus et Liber (Latin: Glorious and free) Capital Winnipeg Largest city Winnipeg Official languages English and French, per mandate of the Constitution Act 1982 Government - Lieutenant-Governor John Harvard - Premier Gary Doer (NDP) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 14 - Senate seats 6 Confederation July 15, 1870 (5th... The University of Manitoba is the largest university of the province of Manitoba, most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... Princeton University is a coeducational private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States of America. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ...

Areas of research

Unruh has made seminal contributions to our understanding of gravity, black holes, cosmology, quantum fields in curved spaces, and the foundations of quantum mechanics, including the discovery of what is now known as the Unruh effect. Most recently, he has been noted for his thoughtful online postings regarding Quantum computing and Quantum cryptography. Today, Unruh continues active research in the field of Quantum gravity. He is skeptical of String theory. Gravity is a force of attraction that acts between bodies that have mass. ... This article is about the astronomical body. ... Physical cosmology, as a branch of astrophysics, is the study of the large-scale structure of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. ... The Unruh effect, discovered in 1976 by Bill Unruh of the University of British Columbia, is the prediction that an accelerating observer will observe black-body radiation where an inertial observer would observe none, that is, the accelerating observer will find themselves in a warm background. ... Molecule of alanine used in NMR implementation of error correction. ... Quantum cryptography is an approach based on quantum physics for secure communications. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Interaction in the subatomic world: world lines of pointlike particles in the Standard Model or a world sheet swept up by closed strings in string theory String theory is a model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects called strings, rather than the zero-dimensional point...

The Unruh effect

Main article: Unruh effect

The Unruh effect, which Unruh discovered in 1976, is the prediction that an accelerating observer will observe black-body radiation where an inertial observer would observe none. In other words, the accelerating observer will find himself or herself in a warm background. The quantum state which is seen as ground state for observers in inertial systems is seen as a thermodynamic equilibrium for the uniformly accelerated observer. The Unruh effect therefore means that the very notion of vacuum depends on the path of the observer through spacetime. The Unruh effect, discovered in 1976 by Bill Unruh of the University of British Columbia, is the prediction that an accelerating observer will observe black-body radiation where an inertial observer would observe none, that is, the accelerating observer will find themselves in a warm background. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... As the temperature decreases, the peak of the black body radiation curve moves to lower intensities and longer wavelengths. ... A quantum state is any possible state in which a quantum mechanical system can be. ... In thermodynamics, a thermodynamic system is said to be in thermodynamic equilibrium when it is in thermal equilibrium, mechanical equilibrium, and chemical equilibrium. ... Look up Vacuum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines space and time into a single construct called the space-time continuum. ...

The Unruh effect can be expressed in a simple equation giving the equivalent energy kT of a uniformly accelerating particle, as:

Awards

• Rutherford Memorial Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, 1982
• Herzberg Medal of the Canadian Association of Physics, 1983
• Steacie Prize, 1984
• Steacie Fellowship, 1984–1986
• BC Science Council Gold Medal, 1990
• Appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, July 13, 2001

The Rutherford Memorial Medal is an award for research in the fields of physics and chemestry by the Royal Society of Canada. ... The Royal Society of Canada, (French: La Société royale du Canada) The Canadian Academy of the Sciences and Humanities, is the senior national body of distinguished Canadian scientists and scholars. ... The premises of the Royal Society in London (first four properties only). ... July 13 is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Publications

• "Notes on Black Hole Evaporation", Phys. Rev. D 14, 870 (1976), W.G. Unruh.
• "Time and the Interpretation of Canonical Quantum Gravity", Phys. Rev. D 40, 2598 (1989), W.G. Unruh and R. Wald.
• "Reduction of a wave packet in quantum Brownian motion", Phys. Rev. D 40 1071, W.G. Unruh and W.H. Zurek.
• "An introduction to the Multi-Grid Method for Numerical Relativists", General Rel. & Grav. 18, 813 (1985), M. Choptuik and W.G. Unruh.

Trivia

Unruh also appears to be interested in music and teaches the Physics of Music.

External links

• Royal Society ID Page
• University of British Columbia Physics Dept. page
• Rutherford Medal
• Unruh & Wald Fest (A Celebration of the Careers & 60th Birthdays of WG Unruh & RM Wald )