The PT-symmetric brachistochrone problem, Lorentz boosts and non-unitary operator equivalence classes

The PT-symmetric (PTS) quantum brachistochrone problem is reanalyzed as quantum system consisting of a non-Hermitian PTS component and a purely Hermitian component simultaneously. Interpreting this specific setup as subsystem of a larger Hermitian system, we find non-unitary operator equivalence classes (conjugacy classes) as natural ingredient which contain at least one Dirac-Hermitian representative. With the help of a geometric analysis the compatibility of the vanishing passage time solution of a PTS brachistochrone with the Anandan-Aharonov lower bound for passage times of Hermitian brachistochrones is demonstrated.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, strongly extended versio

Exterior domain problems and decomposition of tensor fields in weighted Sobolev spaces

The Hodge decompOsition is a useful tool for tensor analysis on compact manifolds with boundary. This paper aims at generalising the decomposition to exterior domains G ⊂ IR n. Let L 2a Ω k(G) be the space weighted square integrable differential forms with weight function (1 + |χ|²)a, let d a be the weighted perturbation of the exterior derivative and δ a its adjoint. Then L 2a Ω k(G) splits into the orthogonal sum of the subspaces of the d a-exact forms with vanishing tangential component on the boundary, of δ a-coexact forms with vanishing normal component, and harmonic forms, in the sense of d a &#955

The general relativistic thin disc evolution equation

In the classical theory of thin disc accretion discs, the constraints of mass and angular momentum conservation lead to a diffusion-like equation for the turbulent evolution of the surface density. Here, we revisit this problem, extending the Newtonian analysis to the regime of Kerr geometry relevant to black holes. A diffusion-like equation once again emerges, but now with a singularity at the radius at which the effective angular momentum gradient passes through zero. The equation may be analysed using a combination of WKB, local techniques, and matched asymptotic expansions. It is shown that imposing the boundary condition of a vanishing stress tensor (more precisely the radial-azimuthal component thereof) allows smooth stable modes to exist external to the angular momentum singularity, the innermost stable circular orbit, while smoothly vanishing inside this location. The extension of the disc diffusion equation to the domain of general relativity introduces a new tool for numerical and phenomenolgical studies of accretion discs, and may prove to be a useful technique for understanding black hole X-ray transients.Comment: 7 Pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Revised version corrects minor typos in equations (64) and (66) of original, otherwise unaltere

Enhancement of field renormalization in scalar theories via functional renormalization group

The flow equations of the Functional Renormalization Group are applied to the O(N)-symmetric scalar theory, for N=1 and N=4, in four Euclidean dimensions, d=4, to determine the effective potential and the renormalization function of the field in the broken phase. In our numerical analysis, the infrared limit, corresponding to the vanishing of the running momentum scale in the equations, is approached to obtain the physical values of the parameters by extrapolation. In the N=4 theory a non-perturbatively large value of the physical renormalization of the longitudinal component of the field is observed. The dependence of the field renormalization on the UV cut-off and on the bare coupling is also investigated.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures. To appear in Physical Review