Title: Probing Hidden Topology with Quantum Detectors
Abstract: We consider the transition rate of a static Unruh-DeWitt particle detector in a variety of spacetimes built out of quotients of AdS₃ spacetime. In particular, we contrast the behavior of a Unruh-DeWitt detector interacting with a quantum scalar field in the IR P² geon spacetime and a spacetime constructed by Aminneborg et al. The Wightman functions of these spacetimes are obtained using the method of images. We find a number of features that distinguish the two spacetimes, which are identical outside of the black hole's event horizon, most notably, in the response functions of gapless detectors in the sharp-switching limit. This points to a way in which the interior topology of a black hole may be discerned by an external observer.
Talk delivered at the University of Waterloo on October 27th 2023.