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A simple but powerful particle detector model consists of a two-level systemcoupled to a field, where the detected particles are the field excitations.This is known as the Unruh-DeWitt detector. Research using this model has oftenfocused on either a completely classical description of the external degrees offreedom of the detector, or a full field-theoretic treatment, where thedetector itself is described as a field. Recently there has been much interestin quantum aspects of the detector's center of mass -- either described asmoving in superposition along semiclassical trajectories, or dynamicallyevolving under a non-relativistic Hamiltonian. However, the processes ofinterest -- the absorption or emission of field particles -- necessarily changethe detector's rest mass by the amount of energy of the absorbed or emittedfield quanta. Neither of the above models can capture such effects. Here weincorporate the quantization of the detector's mass-energy into theUnruh-DeWitt model. We show that internal energy changes due to emission orabsorption are relevant even in the lowest energy limit. Specifically,corrections to transition rates due to the detector's mass changing cannot beignored unless the entire center of mass dynamics is also ignored. Our resultsimply that one cannot have a consistent model of the Unruh-DeWitt detector as amassive particle without including the mass-energy equivalence.

Quantized mass-energy effects in an Unruh-DeWitt detector