Vacuum energy in freely falling frames and spacetime curvature

The structure of quantum vacuum in presence of gravity, and the corresponding vacuum energy density ${\rho }_v$, is expected to depend on the coupling between the UV scale ${\mathrm{\ell }}_{\mathsf{\text{UV}}}$ and spacetime curvature. We determine this coupling in an arbitrary freely falling frame characterised by it’s geodesic tangent $U^i(\tau )$. We show that local vacuum modes within a small causal diamond based on $U^i(\tau )$, whose size is set by wavelength of the modes, generically give a contribution ${\rho }_0$ to ${\rho }_v$ which, to leading order, scales as: $\rho_{0} = \left( \pi \hbar c/2 \right) {$\mathsf{\text{R}}$} , {\ell_$\mathsf{\text{UV}}$}^{-2}$,wherethecurvatureterm$\mathrm{\textsf R}=\alpha R_{ab} U^a U^b + \beta R$,and$(\alpha, \beta) \in $\mathbb{R}$$ are constants. The genericness of this result arises from the fact that, although the modes may reduce to Minkowski plane waves along $U^i(\tau )$, the stress-energy tensor $T_{ab}$, since it depends on derivatives of the modes, does not reduce to it’s Minkowski value on $U^i(\tau )$. We discuss implications of our result for vacuum processes in freely falling frames, particularly in connection with certain aspects of the cosmological constant and horizon entropy.