Creation of vector bosons by an electric field in curved spacetime

We investigate the creation rate of massive spin-1 bosons in the de Sitter universe by a time-dependent electric field via the Duffin–Kemmer–Petiau (DKP) equation. Complete solutions are given by the Whittaker functions and particle creation rate is computed by using the Bogoliubov transformation technique. We analyze the influence of the electric field on the particle creation rate for the strong and vanishing electric fields. We show that the electric field amplifies the creation rate of charged, massive spin-1 particles. This effect is analyzed by considering similar calculations performed for scalar and spin-1/2$1/2$ particles.     

Multi-loop zeta function regularization and spectral cutoff in curved spacetime

We emphasize the close relationship between zeta function methods and arbitrary spectral cutoff regularizations in curved spacetime. This yields, on the one hand, a physically sound and mathematically rigorous justification of the standard zeta function regularization at one loop and, on the other hand, a natural generalization of this method to higher loops. In particular, to any Feynman diagram is associated a generalized meromorphic zeta function. For the one-loop vacuum diagram, it is directly related to the usual spectral zeta function. To any loop order, the renormalized amplitudes can be read off from the pole structure of the generalized zeta functions. We focus on scalar field theories and illustrate the general formalism by explicit calculations at one-loop and two-loop orders, including a two-loop evaluation of the conformal anomaly.     

Quantum field theory in curved spacetime,the operator product expansion,and dark energy

To make sense of quantum field theory in an arbitrary (globally hyperbolic) curved spacetime, the theory must be formulated in a local and covariant manner in terms of locally measurable field observables. Since a generic curved spacetime does not possess symmetries or a unique notion of a vacuum state, the theory also must be formulated in a manner that does not require symmetries or a preferred notion of a “vacuum state” and “particles”. We propose such a formulation of quantum field theory, wherein the operator product expansion (OPE) of the quantum fields is elevated to a fundamental status, and the quantum field theory is viewed as being defined by its OPE. Since the OPE coefficients may be better behaved than any quantities having to do with states, we suggest that it may be possible to perturbatively construct the OPE coefficients—and, thus, the quantum field theory. By contrast, ground/vacuum states—in spacetimes, such as Minkowski spacetime, where they may be defined—cannot vary analytically with the parameters of the theory. We argue that this implies that composite fields may acquire nonvanishing vacuum state expectation values due to nonperturbative effects. We speculate that this could account for the existence of a nonvanishing vacuum expectation value of the stress-energy tensor of a quantum field occurring at a scale much smaller than the natural scales of the theory. Fourth Award in the 2008 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation.     

Novel effect induced by spacetime curvature in quantum hydrodynamics

The interplay between quantum fluctuation and spacetime curvature is shown to induce an additional quantum-curvature (QC) term in the energy-momentum tensor of fluid using the generalized framework of the stochastic variational method (SVM). The QC term is necessary to satisfy the momentum conservation but the corresponding quantum hydrodynamics is not necessarily cast into the form of the Schrödinger equation, differently from the case of the Euclidean spacetime. This seems to suggest that the existence of the Hilbert space is not a priori requirement in the quantization of curved spacetime systems. As an example, we apply the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) metric and show that this term contributes to the cosmological acceleration although it is too small in the present non-relativistic toy model.     

Particle production in curved spacetime

Particle production in curved spacetime has been discussed through the method of complex time WKB approximation. We consider Dirac equation in non-flat spacetime to understand particle production as particle-antiparticle rotation. The method is also generalized to understand particle production through parametric resonance. To understand the method of CWKB we consider particle production in Kasner spacetime as an example.     

Dynamics and quantum entanglement of two-level atoms in de Sitter spacetime

In the framework of open quantum systems, we study the internal dynamics of both freely falling and static two-level atoms interacting with quantized conformally coupled massless scalar field in de Sitter spacetime. We find that the atomic transition rates depend on both the nature of de Sitter spacetime and the motion of atoms, interestingly the steady states for both cases are always driven to being purely thermal, regardless of the atomic initial states. This thermalization phenomenon is structurally similar to what happens to an elementary quantum system immersed in a thermal field, and thus reveals the thermal nature of de Sitter spacetime. Besides, we find that the thermal baths will drive the entanglement shared by the freely falling atom (the static atom) and its auxiliary partner, a same two-level atom which is isolated from external fields, to being sudden death, and the proper time for the entanglement to be extinguished is computed. We also analyze that such thermalization and disentanglement phenomena, in principle, could be understood from the perspective of table-top simulation experiment.     

On the uniqueness of the Dirac theory in curved and flat spacetime

In this work a number of examples are used to illustrate uniqueness of physical prediction of the Dirac theory in a curved and a flat spacetime. Dirac Hamiltonians in arbitrary, including time‐dependent, gravitational fields uniquely determine physical characteristics of quantum‐mechanical systems irrespective of the choice of the tetrad fields. Direct spin‐rotation coupling that occurs with a certain choice of tetrads does not manifest itself in final physical characteristics of the systems and therefore does not represent a physically relevant effect.     

On Quantum Spacetime and the horizon problem

In the special case of a spherically symmetric solution of Einstein equations coupled to a scalar massless field, we examine the consequences on the exact solution imposed by a semiclassical treatment of gravitational interaction when the scalar field is quantized. In agreement with Doplicher et al. (1995)  [2], imposing the principle of gravitational stability against localization of events, we find that the region where an event is localized, or where initial conditions can be assigned, has a minimal extension, of the order of the Planck length. This conclusion, though limited to the case of spherical symmetry, is more general than that of  [2] since it does not require the use of the notion of energy through the Heisenberg Principle, nor of any approximation as the linearized Einstein equations.We shall then describe the influence of this minimal length scale in a cosmological model, namely a simple universe filled with radiation, which is effectively described by a conformally coupled scalar field in a conformal KMS state. Solving the backreaction, a power law inflation scenario appears close to the initial singularity. Furthermore, the initial singularity becomes light like and thus the standard horizon problem is avoided in this simple model. This indication goes in the same direction as those drawn at a heuristic level from a full use of the principle of gravitational stability against localization of events, which point to a background dependence of the effective Planck length, through which a-causal effects may be transmitted.     

Steady state quantum discord for circularly accelerated atoms

We study, in the framework of open quantum systems, the dynamics of quantum entanglement and quantum discord of two mutually independent circularly accelerated two-level atoms in interaction with a bath of fluctuating massless scalar fields in the Minkowski vacuum. We assume that the two atoms rotate synchronically with their separation perpendicular to the rotating plane. The time evolution of the quantum entanglement and quantum discord of the two-atom system is investigated. For a maximally entangled initial state, the entanglement measured by concurrence diminishes to zero within a finite time, while the quantum discord can either decrease monotonically to an asymptotic value or diminish to zero at first and then followed by a revival depending on whether the initial state is antisymmetric or symmetric. When both of the two atoms are initially excited, the generation of quantum entanglement shows a delayed feature, while quantum discord is created immediately. Remarkably, the quantum discord for such a circularly accelerated two-atom system takes a nonvanishing value in the steady state, and this is distinct from what happens in both the linear acceleration case and the case of static atoms immersed in a thermal bath.     

Complex frequencies of a massless scalar field in loop quantum black hole spacetime

Recently,considerable progress has been made in understanding the early universe by loop quantum cosmology.Modesto et al.investigated the loop quantum black hole(LQBH)using improved semiclassical analysis and they found that the LQBH has two horizons,an event horizon and a Cauchy horizon,just like the Reissner-Nordstr¨om black hole.This paper focuses on the dynamical evolution of a massless scalar wave in the LQBH background.By investigating the relation between the complex frequencies of the massless scalar field and the LQBH parameters using the numerical method,we find that the polymeric parameter P makes the massless scalar field decay more quickly and makes the ground scalar wave oscillate slowly.However,the polymeric parameter P causes the frequency of the high harmonic massless scalar wave to shift according to its value.We also find that the loop quantum gravity area gap parameter a 0 causes the massless scalar field to decay more slowly and makes the period of the massless scalar field wave become longer.In the complex ω plane,the frequency curves move counterclockwise when the polymeric parameter P increases and this spiral effect is more obvious for a higher harmonic scalar wave.     

Noether Charges for self‐interacting quantum field theories in curved spacetimes with a Killing‐vector

We consider a self‐interacting, perturbative Klein‐Gordon quantum field in a curved spacetime admitting a Killing vector field. We show that the action of this spacetime symmetry on interacting field operators can be implemented by a Noether charge which arises, in a certain sense, as a surface integral over the time‐component of some interacting Noether current‐density associated with the Killing field. The proof of this involves the demonstration of a corresponding set of Ward identities. Our work is based on the perturbative construction by Brunetti and Fredenhagen (Commun. Math. Phys. 208 (2000) 623—661) of self‐interacting quantum field theories in general globally hyperbolic spacetimes.     

Noninvariant zeta-function regularization in quantum Liouville theory

We consider two possible zeta-function regularization schemes of quantum Liouville theory. One refers to the Laplace–Beltrami operator covariant under conformal transformations, the other to the naive noninvariant operator. The first produces an invariant regularization which however does not give rise to a theory invariant under the full conformal group. The other is equivalent to the regularization proposed by A.B. Zamolodchikov and Al.B. Zamolodchikov and gives rise to a theory invariant under the full conformal group.     

Decoherence in quantum mechanics

We study decoherence in a simple quantum mechanical model using two approaches. Firstly, we follow the conventional approach to decoherence where one is interested in solving the reduced density matrix from the perturbative master equation. Secondly, we consider our novel correlator approach to decoherence where entropy is generated by neglecting observationally inaccessible correlators. We show that both methods can accurately predict decoherence time scales. However, the perturbative master equation generically suffers from instabilities which prevents us to reliably calculate the system’s total entropy increase. We also discuss the relevance of the results in our quantum mechanical model for interacting field theories.     

Spectral asymmetry and quantum field theory in curved spacetime

I discuss cosmological particle production in spaces with spectral asymmetry. A change in the amount of spectral symmetry sufficient to produce a level crossing will result in the creation of neutrino pairs rather than neutrino, antineutrino pairs; the net excess of fermions being given by the number of level crossing. A symmetric Bianchi IX model is treated in detail and for large initial anisotropy the number of neutrinos produced is ($\text{1}\text{256}$) exp 12β₊ where β₊ is a measure of the initial anisotropy. The relation of this phenomenon to chiral anomalies and to the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theorem for manifolds with boundary is described. The effect of spectral asymmetry on photons is discussed and it is shewn that no level crossing can occur.     

Coupled dilaton and electromagnetic field in cylindrically symmetric spacetime

An exact solution is obtained for coupled dilaton and electromagnetic field in a cylindrically symmetric spacetime where an axial magnetic field as well as a radial electric field both are present. Depending on the choice of the arbitrary constants our solution reduces either to dilatonic gravity with pure electric field or to that with pure magnetic field. In the first case we have a curvature singularity at a finite distance from the axis indicating the existence of the boundary of a charged cylinder which may represent the source of the electric field. For the second case we have a singularity on the axis. When the dilaton field is absent the electromagnetic field disappears in both the cases. Whereas the contrary is not true. It is further shown that light rays except for those proceeding in the radial direction are either trapped or escape to infinity depending on the magnitudes of certain constant parameters as well as on the nature of the electromagnetic field. Nature of circular geodesics is also studied in the presence of dilaton field in the cylindrically symmetric spacetime.     

On refractive processes in strong laser field quantum electrodynamics

Refractive processes in strong-field QED are pure quantum processes, which involve only external photons and the background electromagnetic field. We show analytically that such processes occurring in a plane-wave field and involving external real photons are all characterized by a surprisingly modest net exchange of energy and momentum with the laser field, corresponding to a few laser photons, even in the limit of ultra-relativistic laser intensities. We obtain this result by a direct calculation of the transition matrix element of an arbitrary refractive QED process and accounting exactly for the background plane-wave field. A simple physical explanation of this modest net exchange of laser photons is provided, based on the fact that the laser field couples with the external photons only indirectly through virtual electron–positron pairs. For stronger and stronger laser fields, the pairs cover a shorter and shorter distance before they annihilate again, such that the laser can transfer to them an energy corresponding to only a few photons. These results can be relevant for the future experiments aiming to test strong-field QED at present and next-generation facilities.