Semiclassical gravitational effects near cosmic strings

The vacuum expectation value of the stress-energy tensor of an arbitrary collection of conformal massless free quantum fields (scalar, spinor, and vector) in the presence of a static, cylindrically symmetric cosmic string is found, up to an undetermined numerical constant. This quantum stress-energy tensor is then used as a source in the linearized semiclassical Einstein equations, which are solved to find the first-order (in Ł) corrections to the exterior metric of a static, cylindrically symmetric cosmic string. The main result is that, at first-order in Ł, the (r, ø) two-space is no longer a simple flat cone; to this order the (r, ø) two- space is a (linearized) hyperboloid, which asymptotically approaches the classical conical surface at large values of r. The asymptotic value of the deficit angle of the cone is unchanged, still being precisely 8πμ.     

Standard model Higgs field and energy scale of gravity

The effective potential of the Higgs scalar field in the Standard Model may have a second degenerate minimum at an ultrahigh vacuum expectation value. This second minimum then determines, by radiative corrections, the values of the top-quark and Higgs-boson masses at the standard minimum corresponding to the electroweak energy scale. An argument is presented that this ultrahigh vacuum expectation value is proportional to the energy scale of gravity, E _Planck ≡ √?c ⁵/G _N, considered to be characteristic of a spacetime foam. In the context of a simple model, the existence of kink-type wormhole solutions places a lower bound on the ultrahigh vacuum expectation value and this lower bound is of the order of E _Planck.     

Vacuum polarization in the field of a multidimensional global monopole

An approximate expression for the Euclidean Green function of a massless scalar field in the spacetime of a multidimensional global monopole has been derived. Expressions for the vacuum expectation values 〈?²〉_ren and 〈T ₀₀〉_ren have been derived by the dimensional regularization method. Comparison with the results obtained by alternative regularization methods is made.     

Can wormholes exist?

Renormalized vacuum expectation values of electromagnetic stress-energy tensor are calculated in the background spherically-symmetrical metric of the wormhole topology. The covariant geodesic point separation method of regularization is used. Violation of the weak energy condition at the throat of the wormhole takes place for a geometry sufficiently close to that of an infinitely long wormhole of constant radius irrespective of the detailed from of metric. This is an argument in favour of the possibility of the existence of a self-consistent wormhole in empty space maintained by vacuum field fluctuations in the wormhole's background.     

Instantons and condensates in supersymmetric CPN−1 models

The partition function in the multi-instanton background for the supersymmetric CP^N?1 model is calculated and is shown to be supersymmetry invariant. This is used to calculate Green's function involving N pairs of $\text{ψ}\text{ψ(x}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{)}$, and this turns out to be independent of the positions. A possible interpretation is that the composite field $\text{ψ}\text{ψ}$ acquires a vacuum expectation value. The results are in agreement with those obtained in the 1/N expansion.     

Anti-de Sitter space at finite temperature

We consider a conformally invariant scalar field at finite temperature in anti-de Sitter space, and find the symmetric two-point function. Since it is meromorphic and it has both a real-time and imaginary-time periodicity, it is an elliptic function. From it, the expectation values of ø² and the stress-energy tensor are calculated exactly, and then compared to a Tolman-redshifted radiation gas, and to Page's “optical” approximation. The total energy of the radiation is finite.     

A novel origin of CP violation

We propose the complex group theoretical Clebsch-Gordan coefficients as a novel origin of CP violation. This is manifest in our model based on SU(5) combined with the double tetrahedral group, T^′. Due to the presence of the doublet representations in T^′, there exist complex CG coefficients, leading to explicit CP violation in the model, while the Yukawa couplings and the vacuum expectation of the scalar fields remain real. The tri-bimaximal neutrino mixing matrix arises from the CG coefficients of T^′. In addition to the prediction for , the model gives rise to a sum rule, , which is a consequence of the Georgi-Jarlskog relations in the charged fermion sector. The leptonic Dirac CP violating phase, δ_?, is predicted to be ∼227^°, which turns out to be the value needed to account for the difference between the experimental best fit value for the solar mixing angle and the TBM prediction. The predicted CP violation measures in the quark sector are also consistent with the current experimental data.     

TFD extension of a self-consistent RPA to finite temperatures

The self-consistent RPA (SCRPA) developed by Schuck and coauthors is extended to finite temperatures. The corresponding equations are derived by using the formalism of thermofield dynamics. The intrinsic energy of a system is calculated as the expectation value of the Hamiltonian with respect to a T-dependent thermal vacuum state for a thermal-phonon operator. A nonvanishing number of thermal quasiparticles in the vacuum state are assumed. By virtue of the assumption, the thermal Hartree-Fock (HF) equations appear to be coupled to the equations of motion for phonon variables. The thermal occupation numbers are also calculated in a consistent way with the energies of the HF quasiparticles. The approximation is applied to the two-level Lipkin model. Advantages of the thermal SCRPA (TSCRPA) are most obvious at temperatures near the phase-transition point. In the TSCRPA, the phase transition occurs at lower T than in other approximations. Moreover, within the TSCRPA, a statistical behavior of the Lipkin model is described with an appropriate accuracy at any T even if the HF transformation parameter is kept fixed at a value corresponding to the “spherical” phase of the HF field.     

Non-planar diagrams in the large N limit of U(N) and SU(N) lattice gauge theories

It is shown that the limit as N → ∞ with g²N fixed of the strong coupling expansion for the vacuum expectation values of a U(N) or SU(N) lattice gauge theory is not given by a sum of planar diagrams. This contradicts a result claimed by De Wit and 't Hooft.     

A model of spontaneous symmetry breakdown in spatially flat cosmological spacetimes

This paper is an elaboration of a previous short exposition of a theory of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a conformally coupled, massless λø⁴ model in a spatially flat Robertson-Walker spacetime. Under the weakened global boundary condition allowing the physical spacetime to be conformal to only a portion of the Minkowski spacetime, the model admits a pair of degenerate vacua in which the ø → ? ø symmetry is spontaneously broken. The model is formulated as a euclidean field theory in a space with a positive-definite metric obtained by analytically continuing the conformal time coordinate. An appropriate time-dependent zero energy solution of the euclidean equation of motion representing the field configuration in the asymmetric vacuum is considered and the corresponding quantum trace anomaly 〈T_μ^μ〉 is computed in the one-loop approximation. The nontrivial infrared behavior of the model due to the singular nature of the classical background field forces a modification of the boundary conditions on the propagator. A general form for an “improved|DD one-loop trace anomaly is found by a simple argument based on renormalization group invariance. Via the Einstein equation, the trace anomaly leads to a self-consistent dynamical equation for the cosmic expansion scale factor. Some physical aspects of the back-reaction problem based on a simple power law model of the expansion scale factor are discussed.     

Temperature and electric field dependences of conductivity in 1TTaS2

Systematic measurements are made on temperature and electric field dependences of conductivity for various samples of 1TTaS₂. Logarithmic dependences on both variables are observed in the region T ? 20 K for small E and E ? 40 V cm^?1 for small T. This behavior seems to be compatible with the recent scaling theory on the Anderson localization in two-dimensional system. On the other hand it is found that the values of the logarithmic slopes are obviously smaller than the theoretical value and show good correlation with the conductivity of each sample. These results suggest that 1TTaS₂ may be regarded as “quasi” two-dimensional electronic system.     

Strong coupling 1/N c expansion in the gluonic sector of lattice quantum chromodynamics

The vacuum state of gluonic quantum chromodynamics on the lattice is determined up to fifth order in a 1/N _c expansion (N _c=number of colours). The vacuum expectation value of the gluon field squaredF _aμvF _a ^μv is deduced. The quark-antiquark and gluon-gluon potential is calculated in the same limit up to the 1/N _c ³ order.     

Classical stability of D = 5 gravity conformally coupled to the scalar field

In the presence of a symmetry-breaking term, we discuss the classical stability of a scalar field conformally coupled to five-dimensional gravity. When the scalar field φ has the vacuum expectation values 〈φ〉 = ±μ, this system is classically unstable.     

Electrical transport studies of MBE grown InGaN/Si isotype heterojunctions

The temperature dependent electrical transport behavior of n–n InGaN/Si heterostructures grown by plasma-assisted MBE was studied. Structural characteristics of the as-grown InGaN epilayers were evaluated high resolution X-ray diffraction and composition of InGaN was estimated from photoluminescence spectra using standard Vegard's law. Current density–voltage plots (J–V–T) revealed that the ideality factor (η) and Schottky barrier height (SBH) (Φ_b) are temperature dependent and the incorrect values of the Richardson's constant (A⁷) produced, suggests an inhomogeneous barrier at the heterostructure interface. The higher value of the ideality factor compared to the ideal value and its temperature dependence suggest that the current transport is mainly dominated by thermionic field emission.     

A variational source method for numerical studies of field theory

A common method of measuring mass gaps in numerical studies of lattice field theories is to calculate the spatial dependence of the expectation value of test operators in the presence of a source. A novel source method is described which is variational: the mass extracted from expectation values measured at any separation is always an upper bound to the true mass. The method is illustrated with an example, the 0⁺⁺ glueball mass is computed in SU(3) lattice gauge theory at β = 5.7.     

The vacuum structure of light-frontφ 1+1 4 -theory

We discuss the vacuum structure ofφ ⁴-theory in 1+1 dimensions quantised on the light-frontx ⁺=0. To this end, one has to solve a non-linear, operator-valued constraint equation. It expresses that mode of the field operator having longitudinal light-front momentum equal to zero, as a function of all the other modes in the theory. We analyse whether this zero mode can lead to a non-vanishing vacuum expectation value of the fieldφ and thus to spontaneous symmetry breaking. In perturbation theory, we get no symmetry breaking. If we solve the constraint, however, non-perturbatively, within a meanfield type Fock ansatz, the situation changes: while the vacuum state itself remains trivial, we find a non-vanishing vacuum expectation value above a critical coupling. Exactly the same result is obtained within a light-front Tamm-Dancoff approximation, if the renormalisation is done in the correct way.     

Superconductivity and calorimetric studies of Pr1.85Ce0.15CuO4+δ under different annealing conditions

Polycrystalline samples of electron-doped Pr_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4+δ have been prepared under different annealing conditions and investigated by means of X-ray-diffraction, oxygen content analysis, electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and low temperature specific heat measurements. X-ray-diffraction patterns show that samples contain a single T′ phase. The superconducting transition temperatures T_cm taken with the onset of diamagnetism in magnetic-susceptibility measurements are 20 and 19.5 K for sample annealed in flowing Ar gas and in vacuum (∼10⁻³ torr), respectively. The data of the samples, which are annealed in flowing Ar gas, show clear evidence for an αT² term at zero magnetic field in superconducting electronic specific heat, and are consistent with d-wave superconductivity. However, this behavior is not observed in the other sample, which is annealed in vacuum. These results indicate that different heat treatments affect the oxygen content, homogeneity, superconducting transition temperature T_c, superconducting volume fraction, and the superconducting pairing symmetry of Pr_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4+δ.     

Stress-energy tensor for parallel plate on background of conformally flat brane-world geometries and cosmological constant problem

In this paper, we calculate the stress-energy tensor for a quantized massless conformally coupled scalar field with a background of conformally flat brane-world geometries, where the scalar field satisfies Robin boundary conditions on two parallel plates. In the general case of Robin boundary conditions formulae are derived for the vacuum expectation values of the energy-momentum tensor. Further the surface energy per unit area is obtained. As an application of the general formulae we have considered the important special case of the AdS_{4 + 1} bulk; moreover the application to the Randall-Sundrum scenario is discussed. In this specific example for a certain choice of Robin coefficients, one could make the effective cosmological constant vanish.Received: 17 March 2004, Revised: 29 September 2004, Published online: 26 November 2004