Near-horizon modes and self-adjoint extensions of the Schroedinger operator

We investigate the dynamics of scalar fields in the near-horizon exterior region of a Schwarzschild black hole. We show that low-energy modes are typically long-living and might be considered as being confined near the black hole horizon. Such dynamics are effectively governed by a Schroedinger operator with infinitely many self-adjoint extensions parameterized by $U(1)$, a situation closely resembling the case of an ordinary free particle moving on a semiaxis. Even though these different self-adjoint extensions lead to equivalent scattering and thermal processes, a comparison with a simplified model suggests a physical prescription to chose the pertinent self-adjoint extensions. However, since all extensions are in principle physically equivalent, they might be considered in equal footing for statistical analyses of near-horizon modes around black holes. Analogous results hold for any non-extremal, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat black hole.Comment: 10 pages, 1 fig, contribution submitted to the volume "Classical and Quantum Physics: Geometry, Dynamics and Control. (60 Years Alberto Ibort Fest)" Springer (2018

Spin and pseudospin symmetries of the Dirac equation with confining central potentials

We derive the node structure of the radial functions which are solutions of the Dirac equation with scalar $S$ and vector $V$ confining central potentials, in the conditions of exact spin or pseudospin symmetry, i.e., when one has $V=\pm S+C$, where $C$ is a constant. We show that the node structure for exact spin symmetry is the same as the one for central potentials which go to zero at infinity but for exact pseudospin symmetry the structure is reversed. We obtain the important result that it is possible to have positive energy bound solutions in exact pseudospin symmetry conditions for confining potentials of any shape, including naturally those used in hadron physics, from nuclear to quark models. Since this does not happen for potentials going to zero at large distances, used in nuclear relativistic mean-field potentials or in the atomic nucleus, this shows the decisive importance of the asymptotic behavior of the scalar and vector central potentials on the onset of pseudospin symmetry and on the node structure of the radial functions. Finally, we show that these results are still valid for negative energy bound solutions for anti-fermions.Comment: 7 pages, uses revtex macro

Frictional dynamics of viscoelastic solids driven on a rough surface

We study the effect of viscoelastic dynamics on the frictional properties of a (mean field) spring-block system pulled on a rough surface by an external drive. When the drive moves at constant velocity V, two dynamical regimes are observed: at fast driving, above a critical threshold Vc, the system slides at the drive velocity and displays a friction force with velocity weakening. Below Vc the steady sliding becomes unstable and a stick-slip regime sets in. In the slide-hold-slide driving protocol, a peak of the friction force appears after the hold time and its amplitude increases with the hold duration. These observations are consistent with the frictional force encoded phenomenologically in the rate-and-state equations. Our model gives a microscopical basis for such macroscopic description.Comment: 10 figures, 7 pages, +4 pages of appendi

Higgs-Boson Production and Decay Close to Thresholds

At one loop in the conventional on-mass-shell renormalization scheme, the production and decay rates of the Higgs boson H exhibit singularities proportional to (2 M_V - M)^{-1/2} as the Higgs-boson mass M approaches from below the pair-production threshold of a vector boson V with mass M_V. This problem is of phenomenological interest because the values 2 M_W and 2 M_Z, corresponding to the W- and Z-boson thresholds, lie within the M range presently favoured by electroweak precision data. We demonstrate how these threshold singularities are eliminated when the definitions of mass and total decay width of the Higgs boson are based on the complex-valued pole of its propagator. We illustrate the phenomenological implications of this modification for the partial width of the H -> W^+ W^- decay.Comment: 18 pages (Latex), 4 figures (Postscript); two references added; to appear in Nuclear Physics

Role of the Coulomb and the vector-isovector ρ\rho potentials in the isospin asymmetry of nuclear pseudospin

We investigate the role of the Coulomb and the vector-isovector $\rho$ potentials in the asymmetry of the neutron and proton pseudospin splittings in nuclei. To this end, we solve the Dirac equation for the nucleons using central vector and scalar potentials with Woods-Saxon shape and $Z$ and $N-Z$ dependent Coulomb and $\rho$ potentials added to the vector potential. We study the effect of these potentials on the energy splittings of proton and neutron pseudospin partners along a Sn isotopic chain. We use an energy decomposition proposed in a previous work to assess the effect of a pseudospin-orbit potential on those splittings. We conclude that the effect of the Coulomb potential is quite small and the $\rho$ potential gives the main contribution to the observed isospin asymmetry of the pseudospin splittings. This isospin asymmetry results from a cancellation of the various energy terms and cannot be attributed only to the pseudospin-orbit term, confirming the dynamical character of this symmetry pointed out in previous works.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, uses revtex4; title was changed and several small corrections were made throughout the tex

One-loop Effective Action of the Holographic Antisymmetric Wilson Loop

We systematically study the spectrum of excitations and the one-loop determinant of holographic Wilson loop operators in antisymmetric representations of $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. Holographically, these operators are described by D5-branes carrying electric flux and wrapping an $S^4 \subset S^5$ in the $AdS_5\times S^5$ bulk background. We derive the dynamics of both bosonic and fermionic excitations for such D5-branes. A particularly important configuration in this class is the D5-brane with $AdS_2\times S^4$ worldvolume and $k$ units of electric flux, which is dual to the circular Wilson loop in the totally antisymmetric representation of rank $k$. For this Wilson loop, we obtain the spectrum, show explicitly that it is supersymmetric and calculate the one-loop effective action using heat kernel techniques.Comment: 42 pages, one tabl

On the relativistic L-S coupling

The fact that the Dirac equation is linear in the space and time derivatives leads to the coupling of spin and orbital angular momenta that is of a pure relativistic nature. We illustrate this fact by computing the solutions of the Dirac equation in an infinite spherical well, which allows to go from the relativistic to the non-relativistic limit by just varying the radius of the well.Comment: LateX2e, 12 pages, 1 figure, accepted in Eur. J. Phy