Path Integrals and Alternative Effective Dynamics in Loop Quantum Cosmology

The alternative dynamics of loop quantum cosmology is examined by the path integral formulation.We consider the spatially flat FRW models with a massless scalar field,where the alternative quantizations inherit more features from full loop quantum gravity.The path integrals can be formulated in both timeless and deparameterized frameworks.It turns out that the effective Hamiltonians derived from the two different viewpoints are equivalent to each other.Moreover,the first-order modified Friedmann equations are derived and predict quantum bounces for contracting universe,which coincide with those obtained in canonical theory.     

Entanglement of Bipartite Quantum Systems Driven by Repeated Interactions

We consider a non-interacting bipartite quantum system $\mathcal H_S^A\otimes \mathcal H_S^B$ undergoing repeated quantum interactions with an environment modeled by a chain of independent quantum systems interacting one after the other with the bipartite system. The interactions are made so that the pieces of environment interact first with $\mathcal H_S^A$ and then with $\mathcal H_S^B$ . Even though the bipartite systems are not interacting, the interactions with the environment create an entanglement. We show that, in the limit of short interaction times, the environment creates an effective interaction Hamiltonian between the two systems. This interaction Hamiltonian is explicitly computed and we show that it keeps track of the order of the successive interactions with $\mathcal H_S^A$ and $\mathcal H_S^B$ . Particular physical models are studied, where the evolution of the entanglement can be explicitly computed. We also show the property of return of equilibrium and thermalization for a family of examples.     

ADM-like Hamiltonian formulation of gravity in the teleparallel geometry

We present a new Hamiltonian formulation of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity (TEGR) meant to serve as the departure point for canonical quantization of the theory. TEGR is considered here as a theory of a cotetrad field on a spacetime. The Hamiltonian formulation is derived by means of an ADM-like $3+1$ decomposition of the field and without any gauge fixing. A complete set of constraints on the phase space and their algebra are presented. The formulation is described in terms of differential forms.     

Feynman's path integral

Feynman's integral is defined with respect to a pseudomeasure on the space of paths: for instance, letC be the space of pathsq:T?? → configuration space of the system, letC be the topological dual ofC; then Feynman's integral for a particle of massm in a potentialV can be written where $$S_{\operatorname{int} } (q) = \mathop \smallint \limits_T V(q(t)) dt$$ and wheredw is a pseudomeasure whose Fourier transform is defined by for μ∈C′. Pseudomeasures are discussed; several integrals with respect to pseudomeasures are computed.     

Krein-space formulation of \mathcal{P}\mathcal{T} symmetry, \mathcal{C}\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}-inner products, and pseudo-Hermiticity

Emphasizing the physical constraints on the formulation of the quantum theory, based on the standard measurement axiom and the Schrödinger equation, we comment on some conceptual issues arising in the formulation of the $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$ -symmetric quantum mechanics. In particular, we elaborate on the requirements of the boundedness of the metric operator and the diagonalizability of the Hamiltonian. We also provide an accessible account of a Krein-space derivation of the $\mathcal{C}\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$ -inner product, that was widely known to mathematicians since 1950’s. We show how this derivation is linked with the pseudo-Hermitian formulation of the $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$ -symmetric quantum mechanics.     

The structure of para-hydrogen clusters

The path integral Monte Carlo calculated radial distributions of para-hydrogen clusters $({\rm p}\text{-}{\rm H}_2)_N$ consisting of N = 4-40 molecules interacting via a Lennard-Jones potential at $T=1.5~{\rm K}$ show evidence for additional peaks compared to radial distributions calculated by diffusion Monte Carlo ( $T=0~{\rm K}$ ) and path integral Monte Carlo at $T \leq 0.5~{\rm K}$ . The difference in structures is attributed to quantum delocalization at the lowest temperature. The new structures at finite temperatures appear to be consistent with classical structures calculated for an effective Morse potential, which in order to account for the large zero point energy, is substantially softer than the Lennard-Jones potential.     

Uniqueness of Gibbs Measure for Models with Uncountable Set of Spin Values on a Cayley Tree

We consider models with nearest-neighbor interactions and with the set [0, 1] of spin values, on a Cayley tree of order $k\geqslant 1$ . It is known that the ‘splitting Gibbs measures’ of the model can be described by solutions of a nonlinear integral equation. For arbitrary $k\geqslant 2$ we find a sufficient condition under which the integral equation has unique solution, hence under the condition the corresponding model has unique splitting Gibbs measure.     

On the global structure of normal forms for slow-fast Hamiltonian systems

In the framework of Lie transforms and the global method of averaging, the normal forms of a multidimensional slow-fast Hamiltonian system are studied in the case when the flow of the unperturbed (fast) system is periodic and the induced $\mathbb{S}^1 $ ¹-action is not necessarily free and trivial. An intrinsic splitting of the second term in a $\mathbb{S}^1 $ ¹-invariant normal form of first order is derived in terms of the Hannay-Berry connection assigned to the periodic flow.     

Decoherent Histories of Spin Networks

The decoherent histories formalism, developed by Griffiths, Gell-Mann, and Hartle (in Phys. Rev. A 76:022104, 2007; arXiv:1106.0767v3 [quant-ph], 2011; Consistent Quantum Theory, Cambridge University Press, 2003; arXiv:gr-qc/9304006v2, 1992) is a general framework in which to formulate a timeless, ‘generalised’ quantum theory and extract predictions from it. Recent advances in spin foam models allow for loop gravity to be cast in this framework. In this paper, I propose a decoherence functional for loop gravity and interpret existing results (Bianchi et al. in Phys. Rev. D 83:104015, 2011; Phys. Rev. D 82:084035, 2010) as showing that coarse grained histories follow quasiclassical trajectories in the appropriate limit.     

Far-from-equilibrium dynamics of an ultracold Fermi gas

Nonequilibrium dynamics of an $\mathcal{N}$ -fold spin-degenerate ultracold Fermi gas is described in terms of beyond-mean-field Kadanoff?CBaym equations for correlation functions. Using a nonperturbative expansion in powers of $1/\mathcal{N}$ , the equations are derived from the two-particle irreducible effective action in Schwinger?CKeldysh formulation. The definition of the nonperturbative approximation on the level of the effective action ensures vital conservation laws as, e.g., for the total energy and particle number. As an example, the long-time evolution of a homogeneous, twofold spin-degenerate Fermi gas is studied in one spatial dimension after an initial preparation far from thermal equilibrium. Analysis of the fluctuation-dissipation relation shows that, at low energies, the gas does not thermalize.     

\hat sl(2) \oplus \hat sl(2)/\hat sl(2) coset theory is a Hamiltonian reduction of the \hat D(2|1;\alpha ) superalgebra

It is shown that $\hat sl(2)_{k_1 } \oplus \hat sl(2)_{k_2 } /\hat sl(2)_{k_1 + k_2 } $ coset theory is a quantum Hamiltonian reduction of the exceptional affine Lie superalgebra $\hat D(2|1;\alpha )$ . In addition, the W algebra of this theory is the commutant of the U _q D(2|1;a) quantum group.     

QCD on the Light-Front

Light-front Hamiltonian theory, derived from the quantization of the QCD Lagrangian at fixed light-front time x ⁺ = x ⁰ + x ³, provides a rigorous frame-independent framework for solving nonperturbative QCD. The eigenvalues of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian H _LF predict the hadronic mass spectrum, and the corresponding eigensolutions provide the light-front wavefunctions which describe hadron structure, providing a direct connection to the QCD Lagrangian. In the semiclassical approximation the valence Fock-state wavefunctions of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion, analogous to the nonrelativistic radial Schrödinger equation, with an effective confining potential U which systematically incorporates the effects of higher quark and gluon Fock states. Remarkably, the potential U has a unique form of a harmonic oscillator potential if one requires that the chiral QCD action remains conformally invariant. A mass gap and the color confinement scale also arises when one extends the formalism of de Alfaro, Fubini and Furlan to light-front Hamiltonian theory. In the case of mesons, the valence Fock-state wavefunctions of H _LF for zero quark mass satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion in the invariant variable \({\zeta^2=b^2_\perp x(1-x)}\) , which is conjugate to the invariant mass squared \({{M^2_{q\bar q}}}\) . The result is a nonperturbative relativistic light-front quantum mechanical wave equation which incorporates color confinement and other essential spectroscopic and dynamical features of hadron physics, including a massless pion for zero quark mass and linear Regge trajectories \({M^2(n, L, S) = 4\kappa^2( n+L +S/2)}\) with the same slope in the radial quantum number n and orbital angular momentum L. Only one mass parameter \({\kappa}\) appears. The corresponding light-front Dirac equation provides a dynamical and spectroscopic model of nucleons. The same light-front equations arise from the holographic mapping of the soft-wall model modification of AdS₅ space with a unique dilaton profile to QCD (3 + 1) at fixed light-front time. Light-front holography thus provides a precise relation between the bound-state amplitudes in the fifth dimension of AdS space and the boost-invariant light-front wavefunctions describing the internal structure of hadrons in physical space-time. We also discuss the implications of the underlying conformal template of QCD for renormalization scale-setting and the implications of light-front quantization for the value of the cosmological constant.     

Hyperfine Splitting in Non-relativistic QED: Uniqueness of the Dressed Hydrogen Atom Ground State

We consider a free hydrogen atom composed of a spin- ${\frac{1}{2}}$ nucleus and a spin- ${\frac{1}{2}}$ electron in the standard model of non-relativistic QED. We study the Pauli-Fierz Hamiltonian associated with this system at a fixed total momentum. For small enough values of the fine-structure constant, we prove that the ground state is unique. This result reflects the hyperfine structure of the hydrogen atom ground state.     

Das kritische Magnetfeld von dünnen supraleitenden Doppelschichten

Thin superposed films of two superconductors or of a superconductor and a normal metal in a surface parallel magnetic field are considered, assuming that the mean free path of electrons is very short (dirty limit) and that the films are very thin (Cooper limit). From the linearized integral equation for the order parameter and the diffusion equation for the kernel with appropriate boundary conditions at the surfaces and at the interface, an equation for the critical magnetic field is derived. For small magnetic fields and for superposed films consisting of metals which are not too different in their physical properties, our results are in agreement with those obtained earlier byKlein andFischer. For high magnetic fields, however, there are essential differences.     

Integrabilty of the BFKL dynamics and Pomeron trajectories in a thermostat

We consider scattering amplitudes in QCD at high energies $\sqrt s $ and fixed momentum transfers $q = \sqrt { - t} $ with a non-zero temperature T in the t-channel. In the s-channel the temperature leads to a compactification of the impact parameter plane. We find that the thermal BFKL Hamiltonian in the leading logarithmic approximation proceeds to have the property of the holomorphic separability. Moreover, there exists an integral of motion allowing one to construct the Pomeron wave function for arbitrary T in the coordinate and momentum representations. The holomorphic Hamiltonian for n-reggeized gluons at T ≠ 0 in the multicolour limit N _c → ∞ turns out to be equal to the local Hamiltonian for an integrable Heisenberg spin model. Further, the two-gluon Baxter function coincides with the corresponding wave function in the momentum representation. We calculate the spectrum of the Pomeron Regge trajectories at a finite temperature with taking into account the QCD running coupling. The important effect of the t-channel temperature is the appearence of a confining potential between gluons.