Degenerating Black Saturns

We investigate the possibility of constructing degenerate Black Saturns in the family of solutions of Elvang-Figueras. We demonstrate that such solutions suffer from naked singularities.Comment: 14 LaTeX page

On Projections in the Noncommutative 2-Torus Algebra

We investigate a set of functional equations defining a projection in the noncommutative 2-torus algebra $A_{\theta}$. The exact solutions of these provide various generalisations of the Powers-Rieffel projection. By identifying the corresponding $K_0(A_{\theta})$ classes we get an insight into the structure of projections in $A_{\theta}$

An algebraic formulation of causality for noncommutative geometry

We propose an algebraic formulation of the notion of causality for spectral triples corresponding to globally hyperbolic manifolds with a well defined noncommutative generalization. The causality is given by a specific cone of Hermitian elements respecting an algebraic condition based on the Dirac operator and a fundamental symmetry. We prove that in the commutative case the usual notion of causality is recovered. We show that, when the dimension of the manifold is even, the result can be extended in order to have an algebraic constraint suitable for a Lorentzian distance formula.Comment: 24 pages, minor changes from v2, to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Asymptotic and exact expansions of heat traces

We study heat traces associated with positive unbounded operators with compact inverses. With the help of the inverse Mellin transform we derive necessary conditions for the existence of a short time asymptotic expansion. The conditions are formulated in terms of the meromorphic extension of the associated spectral zeta-functions and proven to be verified for a large class of operators. We also address the problem of convergence of the obtained asymptotic expansions. General results are illustrated with a number of explicit examples.Comment: 44 LaTeX pages, 2 figure

Spectral dimensions and dimension spectra of quantum spacetimes

Different approaches to quantum gravity generally predict that the dimension of spacetime at the fundamental level is not 4. The principal tool to measure how the dimension changes between the IR and UV scales of the theory is the spectral dimension. On the other hand, the noncommutative-geometric perspective suggests that quantum spacetimes ought to be characterised by a discrete complex set -- the dimension spectrum. Here we show that these two notions complement each other and the dimension spectrum is very useful in unravelling the UV behaviour of the spectral dimension. We perform an extended analysis highlighting the trouble spots and illustrate the general results with two concrete examples: the quantum sphere and the $\kappa$-Minkowski spacetime, for a few different Laplacians. In particular, we find out that the spectral dimensions of the former exhibit log-periodic oscillations, the amplitude of which decays rapidly as the deformation parameter tends to the classical value. In contrast, no such oscillations occur for either of the three considered Laplacians on the $\kappa$-Minkowski spacetime.Comment: 35 pages, 7 figures, v2 some comments and references added, summary extended, title change

Causality in noncommutative two-sheeted space-times

We investigate the causal structure of two-sheeted space-times using the tools of Lorentzian spectral triples. We show that the noncommutative geometry of these spaces allows for causal relations between the two sheets. The computation is given in details when the sheet is a 2- or 4-dimensional globally hyperbolic spin manifold. The conclusions are then generalised to a point-dependent distance between the two sheets resulting from the fluctuations of the Dirac operator.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figure

Noncommutative geometry, Lorentzian structures and causality

The theory of noncommutative geometry provides an interesting mathematical background for developing new physical models. In particular, it allows one to describe the classical Standard Model coupled to Euclidean gravity. However, noncommutative geometry has mainly been developed using the Euclidean signature, and the typical Lorentzian aspects of space-time, the causal structure in particular, are not taken into account. We present an extension of noncommutative geometry \`a la Connes suitable the for accommodation of Lorentzian structures. In this context, we show that it is possible to recover the notion of causality from purely algebraic data. We explore the causal structure of a simple toy model based on an almost commutative geometry and we show that the coupling between the space-time and an internal noncommutative space establishes a new `speed of light constraint'.Comment: 24 pages, review article. in `Mathematical Structures of the Universe', eds. M. Eckstein, M. Heller, S.J. Szybka, CCPress 201