title: Decay of accelerated protons and the existence of the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect.
abstract: We investigate the weak decay of uniformly accelerated protons in the context of standard quantum field theory. Because the mean proper lifetime of a particle is a scalar, the same value for this observable must be obtained in the inertial and coaccelerated frames. We are only able to achieve this equality by considering the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect. This reflects the fact that the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect is mandatory for the consistency of quantum field theory.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Física Teórica, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rua Pamplona 145, 01405-900, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Vanzella
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Matsas