Self-forces in the Spacetime of Multiple Cosmic Strings

We calculate the electromagnetic self-force on a stationary linear distribution of four-current in the spacetime of multiple cosmic strings. It is shown that if the current is infinitely thin and stretched along a line which is parallel to the strings the problem admits an explicit solution.Comment: This paper has been produced in Latex format and has 18 page

The gauge invariant effective potential: equilibrium and non-equilibrium aspects

We propose a gauge invariant formulation of the effective potential in terms of a gauge invariant order parameter, for the Abelian Higgs model. The one-loop contribution at zero and finite temperature is computed explicitly, and the leading terms in the high temperature expansion are obtained. The result is contrasted to the effective potential obtained in several covariant gauge-fixing schemes, and the gauge invariant quantities that can be reliably extracted from these are identified. It is pointed out that the gauge invariant effective potential in the one-loop approximation is complex for {\em all values} of the order parameter between the maximum and the minimum of the tree level potential, both at zero and non-zero temperature. The imaginary part is related to long-wavelength instabilities towards phase separation. We study the real-time dynamics of initial states in the spinodal region, and relate the imaginary part of the effective potential to the growth rate of equal-time gauge invariant correlation functions in these states. We conjecture that the spinodal instabilities may play a role in non-equilibrium processes {\em inside} the nucleating bubbles if the transition is first order.Comment: 27 pages revtex 3.0, no figures; one reference adde

Quantum corrections to the kinetic term in the Randall-Sundrum model

The effective action of the radion in the Randall-Sundrum model is analysed. Fine tunings are needed to obtain the observed mass hierarchy and an invisible radion. since the kinetic terms are important for determining the radion mass, the finite quantum corrections from massless conformally coupled fermions are analysed and found to vanish at one loop order.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, JHEP LaTeX, with correction

Quantum reparametrizations in the two-dimensional gravity: a look from 2+ϵ\epsilon dimensions

We discuss the structure of one-loop counterterms for the two-dimensional theory of gravitation in the covariant scheme and study the effect of quantum reparametrizations. Some of them are shown to be equivalent to the introduction of $2+\epsilon$-dimensional terms into the initially 2-dimensional theory. We also argue that the $\beta$-function for the Einstein constant has a non-trivial ultraviolet stable point beyond two dimensions.Comment: 16 page