Qubit motion as a microscopic model for the dynamical Casimir effect
10 pags., 9 figs., 3 apps. ; The generation of photons from the vacuum by means of the movement of a mirror is known as the dynamical Casimir effect (DCE). In general, this phenomenon is effectively described by a field with time-dependent boundary conditions. Alternatively, we introduce a microscopic model of the DCE capable of capturing the essential features of the effect with no time-dependent boundary conditions. Besides the field, such a model comprises a subsystem representing the mirror's internal structure. In this work, we study one of the most straightforward mirror systems: a qubit moving in a cavity and coupled to one of the bosonic modes. We find that under certain conditions on the qubit's movement that do not depend on its physical properties, a large number of photons may be generated without changing the qubit state, as should be expected for a microscopic model of the mirror. ; A.A. and C.S. have received financial support through the Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowship Programme from la Caixa Banking Foundation (LCF/BQ/LR18/11640005). L.G.-Á. acknowledges support from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation through the Wallenberg Center for Quantum Technology (WACQT). E.S. acknowledges financial support from Spanish MCIU/AEI/FEDER (PGC2018-095113- B-I00), Basque Government IT986-16, projects QMiCS (820505) and Open- SuperQ (820363) of EU Flagship on Quantum Technologies, EU FET Open Grant Quromorphic, and Shanghai STCSM (Grant No. 2019SHZDZX01-ZX04).