Particle creation and particle number in an expanding universe

I describe the logical basis of the method that I developed in 1962 and 1963 to define a quantum operator corresponding to the observable particle number of a quantized free scalar field in a spatially-flat isotropically expanding (and/or contracting) universe. This work also showed for the first time that particles were created from the vacuum by the curved space-time of an expanding spatially-flat FLRW universe. The same process is responsible for creating the nearly scale-invariant spectrum of quantized perturbations of the inflaton scalar field during the inflationary stage of the expansion of the universe. I explain how the method that I used to obtain the observable particle number operator involved adiabatic invariance of the particle number (hence, the name adiabatic regularization) and the quantum theory of measurement of particle number in an expanding universe. I also show how I was led in a surprising way, to the discovery in 1964 that there would be no particle creation by these spatially-flat FLRW universes for free fields of any integer or half-integer spin satisfying field equations that are invariant under conformal transformations of the metric. The methods I used to define adiabatic regularization for particle number, were based on generally-covariant concepts like adiabatic invariance and measurement that were fundamental and determined results that were unique to each given adiabatic order.Comment: 22 pages, no figures, submitted 7May2012 to J. Phys. A for a special issue honoring Prof. Stuart Dowke

Heat Bath Particle Number Spectrum

We calculate the number spectrum of particles radiated during a scattering into a heat bath using the thermal largest-time equation and the Dyson-Schwinger equation. We show how one can systematically calculate {d}/{d\omega} to any order using modified real time finite-temperature diagrams. Our approach is demonstrated on a simple model where two scalar particles scatter, within a photon-electron heat bath, into a pair of charged particles and it is shown how to calculate the resulting changes in the number spectra of the photons and electrons.Comment: 29 pages, LaTeX; 14 figure

The particle number in Galilean holography

Recently, gravity duals for certain Galilean-invariant conformal field theories have been constructed. In this paper, we point out that the spectrum of the particle number operator in the examples found so far is not a necessary consequence of the existence of a gravity dual. We record some progress towards more realistic spectra. In particular, we construct bulk systems with asymptotic Schrodinger symmetry and only one extra dimension. In examples, we find solutions which describe these Schrodinger-symmetric systems at finite density. A lift to M-theory is used to resolve a curvature singularity. As a happy byproduct of this analysis, we realize a state which could be called a holographic Mott insulator.Comment: 29 pages, 1 rudimentary figure; v2: typo in eqn (3.4), added comments and ref

Particle Number and 3D Schroedinger Holography

We define a class of space-times that we call asymptotically locally Schroedinger space-times. We consider these space-times in 3 dimensions, in which case they are also known as null warped AdS. The boundary conditions are formulated in terms of a specific frame field decomposition of the metric which contains two parts: an asymptotically locally AdS metric and a product of a lightlike frame field with itself. Asymptotically we say that the lightlike frame field is proportional to the particle number generator N regardless of whether N is an asymptotic Killing vector or not. We consider 3-dimensional AlSch space-times that are solutions of the massive vector model. We show that there is no universal Fefferman-Graham (FG) type expansion for the most general solution to the equations of motion. We show that this is intimately connected with the special role played by particle number. Fefferman-Graham type expansions are recovered if we supplement the equations of motion with suitably chosen constraints. We consider three examples. 1). The massive vector field is null everywhere. The solution in this case is exact as the FG series terminates and has N as a null Killing vector. 2). N is a Killing vector (but not necessarily null). 3). N is null everywhere (but not necessarily Killing). The latter case contains the first examples of solutions that break particle number, either on the boundary directly or only in the bulk. Finally, we comment on the implications for the problem of holographic renormalization for asymptotically locally Schroedinger space-times.Comment: 56 pages, v3: matches version published in JHE

Effect of finite particle number sampling on baryon number fluctuations

The effects of finite particle number sampling on the net baryon number cumulants, extracted from fluid dynamical simulations, are studied. The commonly used finite particle number sampling procedure introduces an additional Poissonian (or multinomial if global baryon number conservation is enforced) contribution which increases the extracted moments of the baryon number distribution. If this procedure is applied to a fluctuating fluid dynamics framework one severely overestimates the actual cumulants. We show that the sampling of so called test-particles suppresses the additional contribution to the moments by at least one power of the number of test-particles. We demonstrate this method in a numerical fluid dynamics simulation that includes the effects of spinodal decomposition due to a first order phase transition. Furthermore, in the limit where anti-baryons can be ignored, we derive analytic formulas which capture exactly the effect of particle sampling on the baryon number cumulants. These formulas may be used to test the various numerical particle sampling algorithms.Comment: 9 pages 3 figure

Thermodynamics of small superconductors with fixed particle number

The Variation After Projection approach is applied for the first time to the pairing hamiltonian to describe the thermodynamics of small systems with fixed particle number. The minimization of the free energy is made by a direct diagonalization of the entropy. The Variation After Projection applied at finite temperature provides a perfect reproduction of the exact canonical properties of odd or even systems from very low to high temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure