Unruh effect in vacua with anisotropic scaling: Applications to multilayer graphene

• Unruh effect in the system with anisotropic scaling (multilayer graphene) is investigated.
• The accelerated detector is considered which detects the electron–hole pairs.
• The system in external electric field is considered as the “accelerated vacuum”.
• Unruh effect in the nonrelativistic case differs from that of the relativistic case.

We extend the calculation of the Unruh effect to the universality classes of quantum vacua obeying topologically protected invariance under anisotropic scaling r→br, t→bztt→bzt. Two situations are considered. The first one is related to the accelerated detector which detects the electron–hole pairs. The second one is related to the system in external electric field, when the electron–hole pairs are created due to the Schwinger process. As distinct from the Unruh effect in relativistic systems (where z=1z=1) the calculated radiation is not thermal, but has properties of systems in the vicinity of quantum criticality. The vacuum obeying anisotropic scaling can be realized, in particular, in multilayer graphene with the rhombohedral stacking. Opportunities of the experimental realization of the Unruh effect in this situation are discussed.