Quasiconformality and mass

We identify universal quasiconformal (walking) behaviour in non-Abelian gauge field theories based on the mass-dependent all-order beta-function introduced in arXiv:0908.1364. We find different types of walking behaviour in the presence of (partially) massive species. We employ our findings to the construction of candidate theories for dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking by walking technicolour.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures

Exotic Statistics for Ordinary Particles in Quantum Gravity

Objects exhibiting statistics other than the familiar Bose and Fermi ones are natural in theories with topologically nontrivial objects including geons, strings, and black holes. It is argued here from several viewpoints that the statistics of ordinary particles with which we are already familiar are likely to be modified due to quantum gravity effects. In particular, such modifications are argued to be present in loop quantum gravity and in any theory which represents spacetime in a fundamentally piecewise-linear fashion. The appearance of unusual statistics may be a generic feature (such as the deformed position-momentum uncertainty relations and the appearance of a fundamental length scale) which are to be expected in any theory of quantum gravity, and which could be testable.Comment: Awarded an honourable mention in the 2008 Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competitio

The Post-Newtonian Limit of f(R)-gravity in the Harmonic Gauge

A general analytic procedure is developed for the post-Newtonian limit of $f(R)$-gravity with metric approach in the Jordan frame by using the harmonic gauge condition. In a pure perturbative framework and by using the Green function method a general scheme of solutions up to $(v/c)^4$ order is shown. Considering the Taylor expansion of a generic function $f$ it is possible to parameterize the solutions by derivatives of $f$. At Newtonian order, $(v/c)^2$, all more important topics about the Gauss and Birkhoff theorem are discussed. The corrections to "standard" gravitational potential ($tt$-component of metric tensor) generated by an extended uniform mass ball-like source are calculated up to $(v/c)^4$ order. The corrections, Yukawa and oscillating-like, are found inside and outside the mass distribution. At last when the limit $f\rightarrow R$ is considered the $f(R)$-gravity converges in General Relativity at level of Lagrangian, field equations and their solutions.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Low-Energy Effective Action in Non-Perturbative Electrodynamics in Curved Spacetime

We study the heat kernel for the Laplace type partial differential operator acting on smooth sections of a complex spin-tensor bundle over a generic $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold. Assuming that the curvature of the U(1) connection (that we call the electromagnetic field) is constant we compute the first two coefficients of the non-perturbative asymptotic expansion of the heat kernel which are of zero and the first order in Riemannian curvature and of arbitrary order in the electromagnetic field. We apply these results to the study of the effective action in non-perturbative electrodynamics in four dimensions and derive a generalization of the Schwinger's result for the creation of scalar and spinor particles in electromagnetic field induced by the gravitational field. We discover a new infrared divergence in the imaginary part of the effective action due to the gravitational corrections, which seems to be a new physical effect.Comment: LaTeX, 42 page

Large-D Expansion from Variational Perturbation Theory

We derive recursively the perturbation series for the ground-state energy of the D-dimensional anharmonic oscillator and resum it using variational perturbation theory (VPT). From the exponentially fast converging approximants, we extract the coefficients of the large-D expansion to higher orders. The calculation effort is much smaller than in the standard field-theoretic approach based on the Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation.Comment: Author Information under http://hbar.wustl.edu/~sbrandt and http://www.theo-phys.uni-essen.de/tp/ags/pelster_di

The Existence of Einstein Static Universes and their Stability in Fourth order Theories of Gravity

We investigate whether or not an Einstein Static universe is a solution to the cosmological equations in $f(R)$ gravity. It is found that only one class of $f(R)$ theories admits an Einstein Static model, and that this class is neutrally stable with respect to vector and tensor perturbations for all equations of state on all scales. Scalar perturbations are only stable on all scales if the matter fluid equation of state satisfies $c_s^2>\frac{\sqrt{5}-1}{6}\approx 0.21$. This result is remarkably similar to the GR case, where it was found that the Einstein Static model is stable for $c_s^2>{1/5}$.Comment: Minor changes, To appear in PR

On the origin of the difference between time and space

We suggest that the difference between time and space is due to spontaneous symmetry breaking. In a theory with spinors the signature of the metric is related to the signature of the Lorentz-group. We discuss a higher symmetry that contains pseudo-orthogonal groups with arbitrary signature as subgroups. The fundamental asymmetry between time and space arises then as a property of the ground state rather than being put into the formulation of the theory a priori. We show how the complex structure of quantum field theory as well as gravitational field equations arise from spinor gravity - a fundamental spinor theory without a metric.Comment: 4 page

Monte Carlo simulations of the screening potential of the Yukawa one-component plasma

A Monte Carlo scheme to sample the screening potential H(r) of Yukawa plasmas notably at short distances is presented. This scheme is based on an importance sampling technique. Comparisons with former results for the Coulombic one-component plasma are given. Our Monte Carlo simulations yield an accurate estimate of H(r) as well for short range and long range interparticle distances.Comment: to be published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Genera

Localised and nonlocalised structures in nonlinear lattices with fermions

We discuss the quasiclassical approximation for the equations of motions of a nonlinear chain of phonons and electrons having phonon mediated hopping. Describing the phonons and electrons as even and odd grassmannian functions and using the continuum limit we show that the equations of motions lead to a Zakharov-like system for bosonic and fermionic fields. Localised and nonlocalised solutions are discussed using the Hirota bilinear formalism. Nonlocalised solutions turn out to appear naturally for any choice of wave parameters. The bosonic localised solution has a fermionic dressing while the fermionic one is an oscillatory localised field. They appear only if some constraints on the dispersion are imposed. In this case the density of fermions is a strongly localised travelling wave. Also it is shown that in the multiple scales approach the emergent equation is linear. Only for the resonant case we get a nonlinear fermionic Yajima-Oikawa system. Physical implications are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX, no figures. to appear in Europhysics Latter

On vacuum-vacuum amplitude and Bogoliubov coefficients

Even if the electromagnetic field does not create pairs, virtual pairs lead to the appearance of a phase in vacuum-vacuum amplitude. This makes it necessary to distinguish the in- and out-solutions even when it is commonly assumed that there is only one complete set of solutions as, for example, in the case of a constant magnetic field. Then in- and out-solutions differ only by a phase factor which is in essence the Bogoliubov coefficient. The propagator in terms of in- and out-states takes the same form as the one for pair creating fields. The transition amplitude for an electron to go from an initial in-state to out-state is equal to unity (in diagonal representation). This is in agreement with Pauli principal: if in the field there is an electron with given (conserved) set of quantum numbers, virtual pair cannot appear in this state. So even the phase of transition amplitude remains unaffected by the field. We show how one may redefine the phases of Bogoliubov coefficients in order to express the vacuum-vacuum amplitude through them.Comment: 20pages, no figures, some typos corrected, minor improvement