Wightman function and stochastic gravity noise kernel in impulsive plane wave spacetimes

In this paper we study quantum field theory in impulsive plane wave spacetimes. We first analyze the geodesics and the formation of conjugate planes in these spacetimes. The behaviors of the world function and the van Vleck determinant near conjugate plane are also considered. For the quantum field, we work out the mode functions, their Bogoliubov transformations, and the construction of the Wightman functions. By examining the Wightman function near and on the conjugate plane, we show how the twofold and fourfold singularity structure of the Wigthman function arise when crossing this plane. Lastly, we come to the stochastic gravity noise kernel which is also the correlation function of the stress energy tensor of the quantum field. Its explicit form is given in terms of the world function and the van Vleck determinant. We investigate its limits for small and large geodesic distances. The leading divergent term of the noise kernel on the conjugate plane are expressed in terms of derivatives of delta functions. Similar to that of the Wightman functions, we also examine how the singularity structure of the noise kernel near the lightcone changes when crossing the conjugate plane.Comment: 33 page

Domain wall space-times with a cosmological constant

We solve vacuum Einstein's field equations with the cosmological constant in space-times admitting 3-parameter group of isometries with 2-dimensional space-like orbits. The general exact solutions, which are represented in the advanced and retarded null coordinates, have two arbitrary functions due to the freedom of choosing null coordinates. In the thin-wall approximation, the Israel's junction conditions yield one constraint equation on these two functions in spherical, planar, and hyperbolic domain wall space-times with reflection symmetry. The remain freedom of choosing coordinates are completely fixed by requiring that when surface energy density $\sigma_0$ of domain walls vanishes, the metric solutions will return to some well-known solutions. It leads us to find a planar domain wall solution, which is conformally flat, in the de Sitter universe.Comment: 9 pages. no figur

Cosmological constant from gauge fields on extra dimensions

We present a new model of dark energy which could explain the observed accelerated expansion of our Universe. We show that a five-dimensional Einstein-Yang-Mills theory defined in a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe compactified on a circle possesses degenerate vacua in four dimensions. The present Universe could be trapped in one of these degenerate vacua. With the natural requirement that the size of the extra dimension could be of the GUT scale or smaller, the energy density difference between the degenerate vacua and the true ground state can provide us with just the right amount of dark energy to account for the observed expansion rate of our Universe.Comment: 5 pages, minor change

Scalar field fluctuations in Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time

We calculate quantum fluctuations of a free scalar field in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time, adopting the planar coordinates that is pertinent to the presence of a black hole in an inflationary universe. In a perturbation approach, doing expansion in powers of a small black hole event horizon compared to the de Sitter cosmological horizon, we obtain time evolution of the quantum fluctuations and then derive the scalar power spectrum.Comment: 16 pages and 4 figures, accepted by Classical and Quantum Gravit

Graviton noise on tidal forces and geodesic congruences

In this work we continue with our recent study, using the Feynman-Vernon worldline influence action and the Schwinger-Keldysh closed-time-path formalism, to consider the effects of quantum noise of gravitons on the motion of point masses. This effect can be regarded as due to a stochastic tensorial force whose correlator is given by the graviton noise kernel associated with the Hadamard function of the quantized gravitational field. Solving the Langevin equation governing the motion of the separation of two masses, the fluctuations of the separation due to the graviton noise can be obtained for various states of the quantum field. Since this force has the stretching and compressing effects like the tidal force, we can view it as one. We therefore derive the expressions for, and estimate the magnitude of, this tidal force for the cases of the Minkowski and the squeezed vacua. The influence of this force on the evolution of the geodesic congruence through the Raychaudhuri equation is then studied and the effects of quantum graviton noise on the shear and rotation tensors presented.Comment: 22 page

Quasi-exactly solvable quasinormal modes

We consider quasinormal modes with complex energies from the point of view of the theory of quasi-exactly solvable (QES) models. We demonstrate that it is possible to find new potentials which admit exactly solvable or QES quasinormal modes by suitable complexification of parameters defining the QES potentials. Particularly, we obtain one QES and four exactly solvable potentials out of the five one-dimensional QES systems based on the $sl(2)$ algebra.Comment: 3 pages, no figures. To appear in the Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Particles, Strings and Cosmology (July 2-7, 2007, Imperial College, London

Quantum Capacity and Vacuum Compressibility of Spacetime: Thermal Fields

An important yet perplexing result from work in the 90s and 00s is the near-unity value of the ratio of fluctuations in the vacuum energy density of quantum fields to the mean in a collection of generic spacetimes. This was done by way of calculating the noise kernels which are the correlators of the stress-energy tensor of quantum fields. In this paper we revisit this issue via a quantum thermodynamics approach, by calculating two quintessential thermodynamic quantities: the heat capacity and the quantum compressibility of some model geometries filled with a quantum field at high and low temperatures. This is because heat capacity at constant volume gives a measure of the fluctuations of the energy density to the mean. When this ratio approaches or exceeds unity, the validity of the canonical distribution is called into question. Likewise, a system's compressibility at constant pressure is a criterion for the validity of grand canonical ensemble. We derive the free energy density and, from it, obtain the expressions for these two thermodynamic quantities for thermal and quantum fields in 2d Casimir space, 2d Einstein cylinder and 4d ($S^1 \times S^3$ ) Einstein universe. To examine the dependence on the dimensionality of space, for completeness, we have also derived these thermodynamic quantities for the Einstein universes with even-spatial dimensions: $S^1 \times S^2$ and $S^1 \times S^4$. With this array of spacetimes we can investigate the thermodynamic stability of quantum matter fields in them and make some qualitative observations on the compatibility condition for the co-existence between quantum fields and spacetimes, a fundamental issue in the quantum and gravitation conundrum.Comment: 47 page

Semi-Analytic Techniques for Solving Quasi-Normal Modes

In this chapter, we discuss an approach to obtaining black hole quasi-normal modes known as the asymptotic iteration method, which was initially developed in mathematics as a new way to solve for eigenvalues in differential equations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the asymptotic iteration method allows one to also solve for the radial quasi-normal modes on a variety of black hole spacetimes for a variety of perturbing fields. A specific example for Dirac fields in a general dimensional Schwarzschild black hole spacetime is given, as well as for spin-3/2 field quasi-normal modes