1,785 research outputs found
Restricted three-body problem in effective-field-theory models of gravity
One of the outstanding problems of classical celestial mechanics was the
restricted 3-body prob- lem, in which a planetoid of small mass is subject to
the Newtonian attraction of two celestial bodies of large mass, as it occurs,
for example, in the sun-earth-moon system. On the other hand, over the last
decades, a systematic investigation of quantum corrections to the Newtonian
potential has been carried out in the literature on quantum gravity. The
present paper studies the effect of these tiny quantum corrections on the
evaluation of equilibrium points. It is shown that, despite the extreme
smallness of the corrections, there exists no choice of sign of these
corrections for which all qualitative features of the restricted 3-body problem
in Newtonian theory remain unaffected. Moreover, first-order stability of
equilibrium points is characterized by solving a pair of algebraic equations of
fifth degree, where some coefficients depend on the Planck length. The
coordinates of stable equilibrium points are slightly changed with respect to
Newtonian theory, because the planetoid is no longer at equal distance from the
two bodies of large mass. The effect is conceptually interesting but too small
to be observed, at least for the restricted 3-body problems available in the
solar system.Comment: 20 pages, latex, 8 figure
Noncommutative Complex Scalar Field and Casimir Effect
A noncommutative complex scalar field, satisfying the deformed canonical
commutation relations proposed by Carmona et al. [27]-[31], is constructed.
Using these noncommutative deformed canonical commutation relations, a model
describing the dynamics of the noncommutative complex scalar field is proposed.
The noncommutative field equations are solved, and the vacuum energy is
calculated to the second order in the parameter of noncommutativity. As an
application to this model, the Casimir effect, due to the zero point
fluctuations of the noncommutative complex scalar field, is considered. It
turns out that in spite of its smallness, the noncommutativity gives rise to a
repulsive force at the microscopic level, leading to a modifed Casimr potential
with a minimum at the point amin= racine(5/84){\pi}{\theta}.Comment: Revtex style, 28 page
Lightcone fluctuations in flat spacetimes with nontrivial topology
The quantum lightcone fluctuations in flat spacetimes with compactified
spatial dimensions or with boundaries are examined. The discussion is based
upon a model in which the source of the underlying metric fluctuations is taken
to be quantized linear perturbations of the gravitational field. General
expressions are derived, in the transverse trace-free gauge, for the summation
of graviton polarization tensors, and for vacuum graviton two-point functions.
Because of the fluctuating light cone, the flight time of photons between a
source and a detector may be either longer or shorter than the light
propagation time in the background classical spacetime. We calculate the mean
deviations from the classical propagation time of photons due to the changes in
the topology of the flat spacetime. These deviations are in general larger in
the directions in which topology changes occur and are typically of the order
of the Planck time, but they can get larger as the travel distance increases.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures, some discussions added and a few typos
corrected, final version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Quantum Fluctuations of a Coulomb potential
Long-range properties of the two-point correlation function of the
electromagnetic field produced by an elementary particle are investigated.
Using the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism it is shown that this function is finite
in the coincidence limit outside the region of particle localization. In this
limit, the leading term in the long-range expansion of the correlation function
is calculated explicitly, and its gauge independence is proved. The leading
contribution turns out to be of zero order in the Planck constant, and the
relative value of the root mean square fluctuation of the Coulomb potential is
found to be 1/\sqrt{2}, confirming the result obtained previously within the
S-matrix approach. It is shown also that in the case of a macroscopic body, the
\hbar^0 part of the correlation function is suppressed by a factor 1/N, where N
is the number of particles in the body. Relation of the obtained results to the
problem of measurability of the electromagnetic field is mentioned.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure
Spatial curvature effects on molecular transport by diffusion
For a substance diffusing on a curved surface, we obtain an explicit relation
valid for very small values of the time, between the local concentration, the
diffusion coefficient, the intrinsic spatial curvature and the time. We recover
the known solution of Fick's law of diffusion in the flat space limit. In the
biological context, this result would be useful in understanding the variations
in the diffusion rates of integral proteins and other molecules on membranes.Comment: 10 page
Lorentz Symmetry Breaking in Abelian Vector-Field Models with Wess-Zumino Interaction
We consider the abelian vector-field models in the presence of the
Wess-Zumino interaction with the pseudoscalar matter. The occurence of the
dynamic breaking of Lorentz symmetry at classical and one-loop level is
described for massless and massive vector fields. This phenomenon appears to be
the non-perturbative counterpart of the perturbative renormalizability and/or
unitarity breaking in the chiral gauge theories.Comment: 11 pages,LaTeX, Preprint DFUB/94 - 1
Classical Nucleation Theory of the One-Component Plasma
We investigate the crystallization rate of a one-component plasma (OCP) in
the context of classical nucleation theory. From our derivation of the free
energy of an arbitrary distribution of solid clusters embedded in a liquid
phase, we derive the steady-state nucleation rate of an OCP as a function of
the Coulomb coupling parameter. Our result for the rate is in accord with
recent molecular dynamics simulations, but it is greater than that of previous
analytical estimates by many orders of magnitude. Further molecular dynamics
simulations of the nucleation rate of a supercooled liquid OCP for several
values of the coupling parameter would clarify the physics of this process.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, accepted by PR
Regularity of Cauchy horizons in S2xS1 Gowdy spacetimes
We study general S2xS1 Gowdy models with a regular past Cauchy horizon and
prove that a second (future) Cauchy horizon exists, provided that a particular
conserved quantity is not zero. We derive an explicit expression for the
metric form on the future Cauchy horizon in terms of the initial data on the
past horizon and conclude the universal relation A\p A\f=(8\pi J)^2 where
A\p and A\f are the areas of past and future Cauchy horizon respectively.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figur
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