Boson-boson effective nonrelativistic potential for higher-derivative electromagnetic theories in D dimensions

The problem of computing the effective nonrelativistic potential $U_{D}$ for the interaction of charged scalar bosons within the context of D-dimensional electromagnetism with a cutoff, is reduced to quadratures. It is shown that $U_3$ cannot bind a pair of identical charged scalar bosons; nevertheless, numerical calculations indicate that boson-boson bound states do exist in the framework of three-dimensional higher-derivative electromagnetism augmented by a topological Chern-Simons term.Comment: 6 page

Photon Mass and Very Long Baseline Interferometry

A relation between the photon mass, its frequency, $\nu$, and the deflection parameter, $\gamma$, determined by experimentalists (which characterizes the contribution of space curvature to gravitational deflection) is found. This amazing result allows us to conclude that the knowledge of the parameters $\nu$ and $\gamma$ is all we need to set up gravitational bounds on the photon mass. By considering as inputs the most recent measurements of the solar gravitational deflection of radio waves obtained via the Very Long Baseline Interferometry, upper bounds on the photon mass are estimated.Comment: Accepted for publication in International Journal of Modern Physics

Is it Physically Sound to Add a Topologically Massive Term to Three-Dimensional Massive Electromagnetic or Gravitational Models ?

The addition of a topologically massive term to an admittedly non-unitary three-dimensional massive model, be it an electromagnetic system or a gravitational one, does not cure its non-unitarity. What about the enlargement of avowedly unitary massive models by way of a topologically massive term? The electromagnetic models remain unitary after the topological augmentation but, surprisingly enough, the gravitational ones have their unitarity spoiled. Here we analyze these issues and present the explanation why unitary massive gravitational models, unlike unitary massive electromagnetic ones, cannot coexist from the viewpoint of unitarity with topologically massive terms. We also discuss the novel features of the three-term effective field models that are gauge-invariant

Unavoidable Conflict Between Massive Gravity Models and Massive Topological Terms

Massive gravity models in 2+1 dimensions, such as those obtained by adding to Einstein's gravity the usual Fierz-Pauli, or the more complicated Ricci scalar squared ($R^2$), terms, are tree level unitary. Interesting enough these seemingly harmless systems have their unitarity spoiled when they are augmented by a Chern-Simons term. Furthermore, if the massive topological term is added to $R + R_{\mu\nu}^2$ gravity, or to $R + R_{\mu\nu}^2 + R^2$ gravity (higher-derivative gravity), which are nonunitary at the tree level, the resulting models remain nonunitary. Therefore, unlike the common belief, as well as the claims in the literature, the coexistence between three-dimensional massive gravity models and massive topological terms is conflicting.Comment: 13 pages, no figure

Born-Infeld Electrodynamics and Euler-Heisenberg-like Model: outstanding examples of the lack of commutativity among quantized truncated actions and truncated quantized actions

We calculate the lowest-order corrections to the static potential for both the generalized Born-Infeld Electrodynamics and an Euler-Heisenberg-like model, in the presence of a constant external magnetic field. Our analysis is carried out within the framework of the gauge-invariant but path-dependent variables formalism. The calculation reveals a long-range correction ( {\raise0.7ex\hbox{1} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 {r^5}}}\right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace} \lower0.7ex\hbox{{r^5}}}-type) to the Coulomb potential for the generalized Born-Infeld Electrodynamics. Interestingly enough, in the Euler-Heisenberg-like model, the static potential remains Coulombian. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, the quantized truncated action and the truncated quantized action do not commute at all.Comment: 7 pages. Title changed, revised version. To appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.