Duality and zero-point length of spacetime

The action for a relativistic free particle of mass $m$ receives a contribution $-mds$ from a path segment of infinitesimal length $ds$. Using this action in a path integral, one can obtain the Feynman propagator for a spinless particle of mass $m$. If one of the effects of quantizing gravity is to introduce a minimum length scale $L_P$ in the spacetime, then one would expect the segments of paths with lengths less than $L_P$ to be suppressed in the path integral. Assuming that the path integral amplitude is invariant under the `duality' transformation $ds\to L_P^2/ds$, one can calculate the modified Feynman propagator. I show that this propagator is the same as the one obtained by assuming that: quantum effects of gravity leads to modification of the spacetime interval $(x-y)^2$ to $(x-y)^2+L_P^2$. This equivalence suggests a deep relationship between introducing a `zero-point-length' to the spacetime and postulating invariance of path integral amplitudes under duality transformations.Comment: Revtex document; 4 page

Noether Current, Horizon Virasoro Algebra and Entropy

We provide a simple and straightforward procedure for defining a Virasoro algebra based on the diffeomorphisms near a null surface in a spacetime and obtain the entropy density of the null surface from its central charge. We use the off-shell Noether current corresponding to the diffeomorphism invariance of a gravitational Lagrangian $L(g_{ab},R_{abcd})$ and define the Virasoro algebra from its variation. This allows us to identify the central charge and the zero mode eigenvalue using which we obtain the entropy density of the Killing horizon. Our approach works for all Lanczos-Lovelock models and reproduces the correct Wald entropy. The entire analysis is done off-shell without using the field equations and allows us to define an entropy density for any null surface which acts as a local Rindler horizon for a particular class of observers.Comment: V2: to appear in Phys. Rev.

Structure of Lanczos-Lovelock Lagrangians in Critical Dimensions

The Lanczos-Lovelock models of gravity constitute the most general theories of gravity in D dimensions which satisfy (a) the principle of of equivalence, (b) the principle of general co-variance, and (c) have field equations involving derivatives of the metric tensor only up to second order. The mth order Lanczos-Lovelock Lagrangian is a polynomial of degree m in the curvature tensor. The field equations resulting from it become trivial in the critical dimension $D = 2m$ and the action itself can be written as the integral of an exterior derivative of an expression involving the vierbeins, in the differential form language. While these results are well known, there is some controversy in the literature as to whether the Lanczos-Lovelock Lagrangian itself can be expressed as a total divergence of quantities built only from the metric and its derivatives (without using the vierbeins) in $D = 2m$. We settle this issue by showing that this is indeed possible and provide an algorithm for its construction. In particular, we demonstrate that, in two dimensions, $R \sqrt{-g} = \partial_j R^j$ for a doublet of functions $R^j = (R^0,R^1)$ which depends only on the metric and its first derivatives. We explicitly construct families of such R^j -s in two dimensions. We also address related questions regarding the Gauss-Bonnet Lagrangian in $D = 4$. Finally, we demonstrate the relation between the Chern-Simons form and the mth order Lanczos-Lovelock Lagrangian.Comment: 15 pages, no figure

Surface Density of Spacetime Degrees of Freedom from Equipartition Law in theories of Gravity

I show that the principle of equipartition, applied to area elements of a surface which are in equilibrium at the local Davies-Unruh temperature, allows one to determine the surface number density of the microscopic spacetime degrees of freedom in any diffeomorphism invariant theory of gravity. The entropy associated with these degrees of freedom matches with the Wald entropy for the theory. This result also allows one to attribute an entropy density to the spacetime in a natural manner. The field equations of the theory can then be obtained by extremising this entropy. Moreover, when the microscopic degrees of freedom are in local thermal equilibrium, the spacetime entropy of a bulk region resides on its boundary.Comment: v1: 20 pages; no figures. v2: Sec 4 added; 23 page

A new perspective on Gravity and the dynamics of Spacetime

The Einstein-Hilbert action has a bulk term and a surface term (which arises from integrating a four divergence). I show that one can obtain Einstein's equations from the surface term alone. This leads to: (i) a novel, completely self contained, perspective on gravity and (ii) a concrete mathematical framework in which the description of spacetime dynamics by Einstein's equations is similar to the description of a continuum solid in the thermodynamic limit.Comment: Based on the Essay selected for Honorable Mention in the Gravity Research Foundation Essay Contest, 2005; to appear in the special issue of IJMP

Ideal Gas in a strong Gravitational field: Area dependence of Entropy

We study the thermodynamic parameters like entropy, energy etc. of a box of gas made up of indistinguishable particles when the box is kept in various static background spacetimes having a horizon. We compute the thermodynamic variables using both statistical mechanics as well as by solving the hydrodynamical equations for the system. When the box is far away from the horizon, the entropy of the gas depends on the volume of the box except for small corrections due to background geometry. As the box is moved closer to the horizon with one (leading) edge of the box at about Planck length (L_p) away from the horizon, the entropy shows an area dependence rather than a volume dependence. More precisely, it depends on a small volume A*L_p/2 of the box, upto an order O(L_p/K)^2 where A is the transverse area of the box and K is the (proper) longitudinal size of the box related to the distance between leading and trailing edge in the vertical direction (i.e in the direction of the gravitational field). Thus the contribution to the entropy comes from only a fraction O(L_p/K) of the matter degrees of freedom and the rest are suppressed when the box approaches the horizon. Near the horizon all the thermodynamical quantities behave as though the box of gas has a volume A*L_p/2 and is kept in a Minkowski spacetime. These effects are: (i) purely kinematic in their origin and are independent of the spacetime curvature (in the sense that Rindler approximation of the metric near the horizon can reproduce the results) and (ii) observer dependent. When the equilibrium temperature of the gas is taken to be equal to the the horizon temperature, we get the familiar A/L_p^2 dependence in the expression for entropy. All these results hold in a D+1 dimensional spherically symmetric spacetime.Comment: 19 pages, added some discussion, matches published versio

Cosmological production of H_2 before the formation of the first galaxies

Previous calculations of the pregalactic chemistry have found that a small amount of H_2, x[H_2]=n[H_2]/n[H] = 2.6e-6, is produced catalytically through the H^-, H_2^+, and HeH^+ mechanisms. We revisit this standard calculation taking into account the effects of the nonthermal radiation background produced by cosmic hydrogen recombination, which is particularly effective at destroying H^- via photodetachment. We also take into consideration the non-equilibrium level populations of H_2^+, which occur since transitions among the rotational-vibrational levels are slow compared to photodissociation. The new calculation predicts a final H_2 abundance of x[H_2] = 6e-7 for the standard cosmology. This production is due almost entirely to the H^- mechanism, with ~1 per cent coming from HeH^+ and ~0.004 per cent from H_2^+. We evaluate the heating of the diffuse pregalactic gas from the chemical reactions that produce H_2 and from rotational transitions in H_2, and find them to be negligible.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, MNRAS submitte

Hypothesis of path integral duality: Applications to QED

We use the modified propagator for quantum field based on a ``principle of path integral duality" proposed earlier in a paper by Padmanabhan to investigate several results in QED. This procedure modifies the Feynman propagator by the introduction of a fundamental length scale. We use this modified propagator for the Dirac particles to evaluate the first order radiative corrections in QED. We find that the extra factor of the modified propagator acts like a regulator at the Planck scales thereby removing the divergences that otherwise appear in the conventional radiative correction calculations of QED. We find that:(i) all the three renormalisation factors $Z_1$, $Z_2$, and $Z_3$ pick up finite corrections and (ii) the modified propagator breaks the gauge invariance at a very small level of ${\mathcal{O}}(10^{-45})$. The implications of this result to generation of the primordial seed magnetic fields are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX2e (uses ijmpd.sty); To appear in IJMP-D; References adde

Limit to General Relativity in f(R) theories of gravity

We discuss two aspects of f(R) theories of gravity in metric formalism. We first study the reasons to introduce a scalar-tensor representation for these theories and the behavior of this representation in the limit to General Relativity, f(R)--> R. We find that the scalar-tensor representation is well behaved even in this limit. Then we work out the exact equations for spherically symmetric sources using the original f(R) representation, solve the linearized equations, and compare our results with recent calculations of the literature. We observe that the linearized solutions are strongly affected by the cosmic evolution, which makes very unlikely that the cosmic speedup be due to f(R) models with correcting terms relevant at low curvatures.Comment: 8 pages; small changes to match published version (some comments, references added, title corrected); to appear in Phys.Rev.

The hypothesis of path integral duality II: corrections to quantum field theoretic results

In the path integral expression for a Feynman propagator of a spinless particle of mass $m$, the path integral amplitude for a path of proper length ${\cal R}(x,x'| g_{\mu\nu})$ connecting events $x$ and $x'$ in a spacetime described by the metric tensor $g_{\mu\nu}$ is $\exp-[m {\cal R}(x,x'| g_{\mu\nu})]$. In a recent paper, assuming the path integral amplitude to be invariant under the duality transformation ${\cal R} \to (L_P^2/{\cal R})$, Padmanabhan has evaluated the modified Feynman propagator in an arbitrary curved spacetime. He finds that the essential feature of this `principle of path integral duality' is that the Euclidean proper distance $(\Delta x)^2$ between two infinitesimally separated spacetime events is replaced by $[(\Delta x)^2 + 4L_P^2 ]$. In other words, under the duality principle the spacetime behaves as though it has a `zero-point length' $L_P$, a feature that is expected to arise in a quantum theory of gravity. In the Schwinger's proper time description of the Feynman propagator, the weightage factor for a path with a proper time $s$ is $\exp-(m^2s)$. Invoking Padmanabhan's `principle of path integral duality' corresponds to modifying the weightage factor $\exp-(m^2s)$ to $\exp-[m^2s + (L_P^2/s)]$. In this paper, we use this modified weightage factor in Schwinger's proper time formalism to evaluate the quantum gravitational corrections to some of the standard quantum field theoretic results in flat and curved spacetimes. We find that the extra factor $\exp-(L_P^2/s)$ acts as a regulator at the Planck scale thereby `removing' the divergences that otherwise appear in the theory. Finally, we discuss the wider implications of our analysis.Comment: 26 pages, Revte