Comment on "Acoustics of tachyon Fermi gas" [E. Trojan and G.V. Vlasov, arXiv:1103.2276 (hep-ph)]

In contrast to Trojan and Vlasov [arXiv:1103.2276 (hep-ph)], it is found that an ideal Fermi gas of tachyons has a subluminous velocity of sound for any particle density and, therefore, the causality condition for a tachyon gas holds always true. Also, an ideal Fermi gas of tachyons never possesses an exotic equation of state with the pressure exceeding the energy density.Comment: 1 page + Ref

Underbarrier nucleation kinetics in a metastable quantum liquid near the spinodal

We develop a theory in order to describe the effect of relaxation in a condensed medium upon the quantum decay of a metastable liquid near the spinodal at low temperatures. We find that both the regime and the rate of quantum nucleation strongly depend on the relaxation time and its temperature behavior. The quantum nucleation rate slows down with the decrease of the relaxation time. We also discuss the low temperature experiments on cavitation in normal $^3$He and superfluid $^4$He at negative pressures. It is the sharp distinctions in the high frequency sound mode and in the temperature behavior of the relaxation time that make the quantum cavitation kinetics in $^3$He and $^4$He completely different in kind.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

U(1) and SU(2) quantum dissipative systems: The Caldeira-Leggett vs. the Amegaokar-Eckern-Sch\"on approaches

There are two paradigmatic frameworks for treating quantum systems coupled to a dissipative environment: the Caldeira-Leggett and the Ambegaokar-Eckern-Sch\"on approaches. Here we recall the differences between them, and explain the consequences when each is applied to a zero dimensional spin (possessing an SU(2) symmetry) in a dissipative environment (a dissipative quantum dot near or beyond the Stoner instability point).Comment: Contribution for Leonid Keldysh 85 Festschrif