508 research outputs found
Does quantum mechanics tell an atomistic spacetime?
The canonical answer to the question posed is "Yes." -- tacitly assuming that
quantum theory and the concept of spacetime are to be unified by `quantizing' a
theory of gravitation. Yet, instead, one may ponder: Could quantum mechanics
arise as a coarse-grained reflection of the atomistic nature of spacetime? --
We speculate that this may indeed be the case. We recall the similarity between
evolution of classical and quantum mechanical ensembles, according to Liouville
and von Neumann equation, respectively. The classical and quantum mechanical
equations are indistinguishable for objects which are free or subject to
spatially constant but possibly time dependent, or harmonic forces, if
represented appropriately. This result suggests a way to incorporate anharmonic
interactions, including fluctuations which are tentatively related to the
underlying discreteness of spacetime. Being linear and local at the quantum
mechanical level, the model offers a decoherence and natural localization
mechanism. However, the relation to primordial deterministic degrees of freedom
is nonlocal.Comment: Based on invited talks at Fourth International Workshop DICE2008,
held at Castello Pasquini / Castiglioncello, Italy, 22-26 September 2008 and
at DISCRETE'08 - Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete
Symmetries, held at IFIC, Valencia, Spain, 11-16 December 2008 - to appear in
respective volumes of Journal of Physics: Conference Serie
Is there a relativistic nonlinear generalization of quantum mechanics?
Yes, there is. - A new kind of gauge theory is introduced, where the minimal
coupling and corresponding covariant derivatives are defined in the space of
functions pertaining to the functional Schroedinger picture of a given field
theory. While, for simplicity, we study the example of an U(1) symmetry, this
kind of gauge theory can accommodate other symmetries as well. We consider the
resulting relativistic nonlinear extension of quantum mechanics and show that
it incorporates gravity in the (0+1)-dimensional limit, where it leads to the
Schroedinger-Newton equations. Gravity is encoded here into a universal
nonlinear extension of quantum theory. The probabilistic interpretation, i.e.
Born's rule, holds provided the underlying model has only dimensionless
parameters.Comment: 10 pages; talk at DICE 2006 (Piombino, September 11-15, 2006); to
appear in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (2007
Quantum fields, cosmological constant and symmetry doubling
Energy-parity has been introduced by Kaplan and Sundrum as a protective
symmetry that suppresses matter contributions to the cosmological constant
[KS05]. It is shown here that this symmetry, schematically Energy --> - Energy,
arises in the Hilbert space representation of the classical phase space
dynamics of matter. Consistently with energy-parity and gauge symmetry, we
generalize the Liouville operator and allow a varying gauge coupling, as in
"varying alpha" or dilaton models. In this model, classical matter fields can
dynamically turn into quantum fields (Schroedinger picture), accompanied by a
gauge symmetry change -- presently, U(1) --> U(1) x U(1). The transition
between classical ensemble theory and quantum field theory is governed by the
varying coupling, in terms of a one-parameter deformation of either limit.
These corrections introduce diffusion and dissipation, leading to decoherence.Comment: Replaced by published version, no change in contents - Int. J. Theor.
Phys. (2007
Deterministic models of quantum fields
Deterministic dynamical models are discussed which can be described in
quantum mechanical terms. -- In particular, a local quantum field theory is
presented which is a supersymmetric classical model. The Hilbert space approach
of Koopman and von Neumann is used to study the classical evolution of an
ensemble of such systems. Its Liouville operator is decomposed into two
contributions, with positive and negative spectrum, respectively. The unstable
negative part is eliminated by a constraint on physical states, which is
invariant under the Hamiltonian flow. Thus, choosing suitable variables, the
classical Liouville equation becomes a functional Schroedinger equation of a
genuine quantum field theory. -- We briefly mention an U(1) gauge theory with
``varying alpha'' or dilaton coupling where a corresponding quantized theory
emerges in the phase space approach. It is energy-parity symmetric and,
therefore, a prototype of a model in which the cosmological constant is
protected by a symmetry.Comment: 6 pages; synopsis of hep-th/0510267, hep-th/0503069, hep-th/0411176 .
Talk at Constrained Dynamics and Quantum Gravity - QG05, Cala Gonone
(Sardinia, Italy), September 12-16, 2005. To appear in the proceeding
Color singlet suppression of quark-gluon plasma formation
The rate of quark-gluon plasma droplet nucleation in superheated hadronic
matter is calculated within the MIT bag model. The requirements of color
singletness and (to less extent) fixed momentum suppress the nucleation rate by
many orders of magnitude, making thermal nucleation of quark-gluon plasma
droplets unlikely in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions if the transition
is first order and reasonably described by the bag model.Comment: 9 pages, 3 ps figures. To appear in PhysRevC (April 1996
Collective Modes in Neutrino `Beam' Electron-Positron Plasma Interactions
We derive semiclassical neutrino-electron transport equations in the
collisionless (Vlasov) limit from the coupled Dirac equations, incorporating
the charged and neutral weak current-current as well as electromagnetic
interactions. A corresponding linear response theory is derived. In particular,
we calculate the response functions for a variety of beam-plasma geometries,
which are of interest in a supernova scenario. We apply this to the study of
plasmons and to a new class of collective {\it pharon} resonance modes, which
are characterized by . We find that the growth rates of the
unstable modes correspond to a strongly temperature ()
and linearly momentum dependent e-folding length of about km under
typical conditions for Type II supernovae. This appears to rule out such
long-wavelength collective modes as an efficient means of depositing neutrino
energy into the plasma sphere.Comment: 27 pages; LaTex. Replaced by published version. - Appendix about
neutrino Wigner functions added and main text correspondingly revised.
Conclusions unchange
Kinetic Equation for Gluons in the Background Gauge of QCD
We derive the quantum kinetic equation for a pure gluon plasma, applying the
background field and closed-time-path method. The derivation is more general
and transparent than earlier works. A term in the equation is found which, as
in the classical case, corresponds to the color charge precession for partons
moving in the gauge field.Comment: RevTex 4, 4 pages, no figure, PRL accepted versio
Kinetic Equations for Longwavelength Excitations of the Quark-Gluon Plasma
We show that longwavelength excitations of the quark-gluon plasma are
described by simple kinetic equations which represent the exact equations of
motion at leading order in . Properties of the so-called ``hard thermal
loops'', i.e. the dominant contributions to amplitudes with soft external
lines, find in this approach a natural explanation. In particular, their
generating functional appears here as the effective action describing long
wavelength excitations of the plasma.Comment: January 8, 1993; 8 pages; SPhT/93-
Impact of Natural Blind Spot Location on Perimetry.
We study the spatial distribution of natural blind spot location (NBSL) and its impact on perimetry. Pattern deviation (PD) values of 11,449 reliable visual fields (VFs) that are defined as clinically unaffected based on summary indices were extracted from 11,449 glaucoma patients. We modeled NBSL distribution using a two-dimensional non-linear regression approach and correlated NBSL with spherical equivalent (SE). Additionally, we compared PD values of groups with longer and shorter distances than median, and larger and smaller angles than median between NBSL and fixation. Mean and standard deviation of horizontal and vertical NBSL were 14.33° ± 1.37° and -2.06° ± 1.27°, respectively. SE decreased with increasing NBSL (correlation: r = -0.14, p \u3c 0.001). For NBSL distances longer than median distance (14.32°), average PD values decreased in the upper central (average difference for significant points (ADSP): -0.18 dB) and increased in the lower nasal VF region (ADSP: 0.14 dB). For angles in the direction of upper hemifield relative to the median angle (-8.13°), PD values decreased in lower nasal (ADSP: -0.11 dB) and increased in upper temporal VF areas (ADSP: 0.19 dB). In conclusion, we demonstrate that NBSL has a systematic effect on the spatial distribution of VF sensitivity
Quark-hadron phase transition with surface fluctuation
The effect of surface fluctuation on the observables of quark-hadron phase
transition is studied. The Ginzburg-Landau formalism is extended by the
inclusion of an extra term in the free energy that depends on the vertical
displacements from a flat surface. The probability that a bin has a particular
net displacement is determined by lattice simulation, where the physics input
is color confinement. The surface fluctuation from bin to bin is related to
multiplicity fluctuation, which in turn is measured by the factorial moments.
It is found that both the F-scaling behavior and the scaling exponent are
essentially unaffected by the inclusion of surface fluctuation.Comment: 9 pages, LaTex, 7 figures in a single postscript file, submitted to
Phys. Rev.
- …