A new expression for the transition rate of an accelerated particle detector

We analyse the instantaneous transition rate of an accelerated Unruh-DeWitt particle detector whose coupling to a quantum field on Minkowski space is regularised by a finite spatial profile. We show, under mild technical assumptions, that the zero size limit of the detector response is well defined, independent of the choice of the profile function, and given by a manifestly finite integral formula that no longer involves epsilon-regulators or limits. Applications to specific trajectories are discussed, recovering in particular the thermal result for uniform acceleration. Extensions of the model to de Sitter space are also considered.