Soft Graviton effects on Gauge theories in de Sitter Space

We extend our investigation of soft graviton effects on the microscopic dynamics of matter fields in de Sitter space. We evaluate the quantum equation of motion in generic gauge theories. We find that the Lorentz invariance can be respected and the velocity of light is not renormalized at the one-loop level. The gauge coupling constant is universally screened by soft gravitons and diminishes with time. These features are in common with other four dimensional field theories with dimensionless couplings. In particular the couplings scale with time with definite scaling exponents. Although individual scaling exponents are gauge dependent, we argue that the relative scaling exponents are gauge independent and should be observable. We also mention soft graviton effects on cosmic microwave background.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1203.0391, arXiv:1211.387

Soft Gravitons Screen Couplings in de Sitter Space

The scale invariance of the quantum fluctuations in de Sitter space leads to the appearance of de Sitter symmetry breaking infra-red logarithms in the graviton propagator. We investigate physical effects of soft gravitons on the local dynamics of matter fields well inside the cosmological horizon. We show that the IR logarithms do not spoil Lorentz invariance in scalar and Dirac field theory. The leading IR logarithms can be absorbed by a time dependent wave function renormalization factor in the both cases. In the interacting field theory with $\lambda \phi^4$ and Yukawa interaction, we find that the couplings become time dependent with definite scaling exponents. We argue that the relative scaling exponents of the couplings are gauge invariant and physical as we can use the evolution of a coupling as a physical time.Comment: 32pages, 1 figur

Theory of electron-phonon interaction in a nonequilibrium open electronic system

We study the effects of time-independent nonequilibrium drive on an open 2D electron gas system coupled to 2D longitudinal acoustic phonons using the Keldysh path integral method. The layer electron-phonon system is defined at the two-dimensional interface between a pair of three-dimensional Fermi liquid leads, which act both as a particle pump and an infinite bath. The nonequilibrium steady state is achieved in the layer by assuming the leads to be thermally equilibrated at two different chemical potentials. This subjects the layer to an out-of-plane voltage $V$ and drives a steady-state charge current perpendicular to the system. We compute the effects of small voltages (V\ll\w_D) on the in-plane electron-phonon scattering rate and the electron effective mass at zero temperature. We also find that the obtained onequilibrium modification to the acoustic phonon velocity and the Thomas-Fermi screening length reveal the possibility of tuning these quantities with the external voltage.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

"Wormhole" geometry for entrapping topologically-protected qubits in non-Abelian quantum Hall states and probing them with voltage and noise measurements

We study a tunneling geometry defined by a single point-contact constriction that brings to close vicinity two points sitting at the same edge of a quantum Hall liquid, shortening the trip between the otherwise spatially separated points along the normal chiral edge path. This ``wormhole''-like geometry allows for entrapping bulk quasiparticles between the edge path and the tunnel junction, possibly realizing a topologically protected qubit if the quasiparticles have non-Abelian statistics. We show how either noise or simpler voltage measurements along the edge can probe the non-Abelian nature of the trapped quasiparticles.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figue

Magnetic excitations in L-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering from cuprate compounds

We study the magnetic excitation spectra in L-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) from undoped cuprates. We analyze the second-order dipole allowed process that the strong perturbation works through the intermediate state in which the spin degree of freedom is lost at the core-hole site. Within the approximation neglecting the perturbation on the neighboring sites, we derive the spin-flip final state in the scattering channel with changing the polarization, which leads to the RIXS spectra expressed as the dynamical structure factor of the transverse spin components. We assume a spherical form of the spin-conserving final state in the channel without changing the polarization, which leads to the RIXS spectra expressed as the 'exchange'-type multi-spin correlation function. Evaluating numerically the transition amplitudes to these final states on a finite-size cluster, we obtain a sizable amount of the transition amplitude to the spin-conserving final state in comparison with that to the spin-flip final state. We treat the itinerant magnetic excitations in the final state by means of the 1/S-expansion method. Evaluating the higher-order correction with 1/S, we find that the peak arising from the one-magnon excitation is reduced with its weight, and the continuous spectra arising from the three-magnon excitations come out. The interaction between two magnons is treated by summing up the ladder diagrams. On the basis of these results, we analyze the L_3-edge RIXS spectra in Sr_2CuO_2Cl_2 in comparison with the experiment. It is shown that the three-magnon excitations as well as the two-magnon excitations give rise to the intensity in the high energy side of the one-magnon peak, making the spectral shape asymmetric with wide width, in good agreement with the experiment.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, Revte

Boltzmann Collision Term

We derive the Boltzmann equation for scalar fields using the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. The focus lies on the derivation of the collision term. We show that the relevant self-energy diagrams have a factorization property. The collision term assumes the Boltzmann-like form of scattering probability times statistical factors for those self-energy diagrams which correspond to tree level scattering processes. Our proof covers scattering processes with any number of external particles, which come from self-energy diagrams with any number of loops.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure

Real-time effective-action approach to the Anderson quantum dot

The non-equilibrium time evolution of an Anderson quantum dot is investigated. The quantum dot is coupled between two leads forming a chemical-potential gradient. We use Kadanoff-Baym dynamic equations within a non-perturbative resummation of the s-channel bubble chains. The effect of the resummation leads to the introduction of a frequency-dependent 4-point vertex. The tunneling to the leads is taken into account exactly. The method allows the determination of the transient as well as stationary transport through the quantum dot, and results are compared with different schemes discussed in the literature (fRG, ISPI, tDMRG and QMC).Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure

Separation of Equilibration Time-Scales in the Gradient Expansion

We study thermalization by applying gradient expansion to the Kadanoff-Baym equations of the 2PI effective action to two-loop in a theory with Dirac fermions coupled to scalars. In addition to those chemical potentials which equilibrate in the on-shell limit, we identify modes which are conserved in this approximation, but which relax when off-shell effects are taken into account. This implies that chemical equilibration does not require higher loop contributions to the effective action and is compatible with the gradient expansion. We explicitly calculate the damping time-scales of both, on- and off-shell, chemical equilibration rates. It is shown that off-shell equilibration is suppressed by the thermal width of the particles in the plasma, which explains the separation of on- and off-shell chemical equilibration time-scales.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, published versio

Current driven quantum criticality in itinerant electron ferromagnets

We determine the effect of an in-plane current flow on the critical properties of a 2d itinerant electron system near a ferromagnetic-paramagnetic quantum critical point. We study a model in which a nonequilibrium steady state is established as a result of exchange of particles and energy with an underlying substrate. the current $\vec{j}$ gives rise not only to an effective temperature equal to the voltage drop over a distance of order the mean free path, but also to symmetry breaking terms of the form $\vec{j}\cdot \vec{nabla}$ in the effective action. The effect of the symmetry breaking on the fluctuational and critical properties is found to be small although (in agreement with previous results) if rotational degrees of freedom are important, the current can make the classically ordered state dynamically unstable.Comment: 4 pages, published versio

Current-induced domain wall motion in Rashba spin-orbit system

Current-induced magnetic domain wall motion, induced by transfer of spin transfer effect due to exchange interaction, is expected to be useful for next generation high-density storages. We here show that efficient domain wall manipulation can be achieved by introduction of Rashba spin-orbit interaction, which induces spin precession of conduction electron and acts as an effective magnetic field. Its effect on domain wall motion depends on the wall configuration. We found that the effect is significant for Bloch wall with the hard axis along the current, since the effective field works as $\beta$ or field-like term and removes the threshold current if in extrinsic pinning is absent. For N\'eel wall and Bloch wall with easy axis perpendicular to Rashba plane, the effective field induces a step motion of wall corresponding to a rotation of wall plane by the angle of approximately $\pi$ at current lower than intrinsic threshold. Rashba interaction would therefore be useful to assist efficient motion of domain walls at low current