12,728 research outputs found
New Developments in the Spectral Asymptotics of Quantum Gravity
A vanishing one-loop wave function of the Universe in the limit of small
three-geometry is found, on imposing diffeomorphism-invariant boundary
conditions on the Euclidean 4-ball in the de Donder gauge. This result suggests
a quantum avoidance of the cosmological singularity driven by full
diffeomorphism invariance of the boundary-value problem for one-loop quantum
theory. All of this is made possible by a peculiar spectral cancellation on the
Euclidean 4-ball, here derived and discussed.Comment: 7 pages, latex file. Paper prepared for the Conference "QFEXT05:
Quantum Field Theory Under the Influence of External Conditions", Barcelona,
September 5 - September 9, 2005. In the final version, the presentation has
been further improved, and yet other References have been adde
An introduction to quantum gravity
After an overview of the physical motivations for studying quantum gravity,
we reprint THE FORMAL STRUCTURE OF QUANTUM GRAVITY, i.e. the 1978 Cargese
Lectures by Professor B.S. DeWitt, with kind permission of Springer. The reader
is therefore introduced, in a pedagogical way, to the functional integral
quantization of gravitation and Yang-Mills theory. It is hoped that such a
paper will remain useful for all lecturers or Ph.D. students who face the task
of introducing (resp. learning) some basic concepts in quantum gravity in a
relatively short time. In the second part, we outline selected topics such as
the braneworld picture with the same covariant formalism of the first part, and
spectral asymptotics of Euclidean quantum gravity with diffeomorphism-invariant
boundary conditions. The latter might have implications for singularity
avoidance in quantum cosmology.Comment: 68 pages, Latex file. Sections from 2 to 17 are published thanks to
kind permission of Springe
Work statistics across a quantum phase transition
We investigate the statistics of the work performed during a quench across a
quantum phase transition using the adiabatic perturbation theory. It is shown
that all the cumulants of work exhibit universal scaling behavior analogous to
the Kibble-Zurek scaling for the average density of defects. Two kinds of
transformations are considered: quenches between two gapped phases in which a
critical point is traversed, and quenches that end near the critical point. In
contrast to the scaling behavior of the density of defects, the scaling
behavior of the work cumulants are shown to be qualitatively different for
these two kinds of quenches. However, in both cases the corresponding exponents
are fully determined by the dimension of the system and the critical exponents
of the transition, as in the traditional Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM). Thus,
our study deepens our understanding about the nonequilibrium dynamics of a
quantum phase transition by revealing the imprint of the KZM on the work
statistics
Spectral asymptotics of Euclidean quantum gravity with diff-invariant boundary conditions
A general method is known to exist for studying Abelian and non-Abelian gauge
theories, as well as Euclidean quantum gravity, at one-loop level on manifolds
with boundary. In the latter case, boundary conditions on metric perturbations
h can be chosen to be completely invariant under infinitesimal diffeomorphisms,
to preserve the invariance group of the theory and BRST symmetry. In the de
Donder gauge, however, the resulting boundary-value problem for the Laplace
type operator acting on h is known to be self-adjoint but not strongly
elliptic. The latter is a technical condition ensuring that a unique smooth
solution of the boundary-value problem exists, which implies, in turn, that the
global heat-kernel asymptotics yielding one-loop divergences and one-loop
effective action actually exists. The present paper shows that, on the
Euclidean four-ball, only the scalar part of perturbative modes for quantum
gravity are affected by the lack of strong ellipticity. Further evidence for
lack of strong ellipticity, from an analytic point of view, is therefore
obtained. Interestingly, three sectors of the scalar-perturbation problem
remain elliptic, while lack of strong ellipticity is confined to the remaining
fourth sector. The integral representation of the resulting zeta-function
asymptotics is also obtained; this remains regular at the origin by virtue of a
spectral identity here obtained for the first time.Comment: 25 pages, Revtex-4. Misprints in Eqs. (5.11), (5.14), (5.16) have
been correcte
Geant4-based simulations of charge collection in CMOS Active Pixel Sensors
Geant4 is an object-oriented toolkit for the simulation of the interaction of particles and radiation with matter. It provides a snapshot of the state of a simulated particle in time, as it travels through a specified geometry. One important area of application is the modelling of radiation detector systems. Here, we extend the abilities of such modelling to include charge transport and sharing in pixelated CMOS Active Pixel Sensors (APSs); though similar effects occur in other pixel detectors. The CMOS APSs discussed were developed in the framework of the PRaVDA consortium to assist the design of custom sensors to be used in an energy-range detector for proton Computed Tomography (pCT). The development of ad-hoc classes, providing a charge transport model for a CMOS APS and its integration into the standard Geant4 toolkit, is described. The proposed charge transport model includes, charge generation, diffusion, collection, and sharing across adjacent pixels, as well as the full electronic chain for a CMOS APS. The proposed model is validated against experimental data acquired with protons in an energy range relevant for pCT
Microscopic reversibility of quantum open systems
The transition probability for time-dependent unitary evolution is invariant
under the reversal of protocols just as in the classical Liouvillian dynamics.
In this article, we generalize the expression of microscopic reversibility to
externally perturbed large quantum open systems. The time-dependent external
perturbation acts on the subsystem during a transient duration, and
subsequently the perturbation is switched off so that the total system would
thermalize. We concern with the transition probability for the subsystem
between the initial and final eigenstates of the subsystem. In the course of
time evolution, the energy is irreversibly exchanged between the subsystem and
reservoir. The time reversed probability is given by the reversal of the
protocol and the initial ensemble. Microscopic reversibility equates the time
forward and reversed probabilities, and therefore appears as a thermodynamic
symmetry for open quantum systems.Comment: numerical demonstration is correcte
One-Loop Divergences in Simple Supergravity: Boundary Effects
This paper studies the semiclassical approximation of simple supergravity in
Riemannian four-manifolds with boundary, within the framework of
-function regularization. The massless nature of gravitinos, jointly
with the presence of a boundary and a local description in terms of potentials
for spin , force the background to be totally flat. First, nonlocal
boundary conditions of the spectral type are imposed on spin-
potentials, jointly with boundary conditions on metric perturbations which are
completely invariant under infinitesimal diffeomorphisms. The axial
gauge-averaging functional is used, which is then sufficient to ensure
self-adjointness. One thus finds that the contributions of ghost and gauge
modes vanish separately. Hence the contributions to the one-loop wave function
of the universe reduce to those values resulting from physical modes
only. Another set of mixed boundary conditions, motivated instead by local
supersymmetry and first proposed by Luckock, Moss and Poletti, is also
analyzed. In this case the contributions of gauge and ghost modes do not cancel
each other. Both sets of boundary conditions lead to a nonvanishing
value, and spectral boundary conditions are also studied when two concentric
three-sphere boundaries occur. These results seem to point out that simple
supergravity is not even one-loop finite in the presence of boundaries.Comment: 37 pages, Revtex. Equations (5.2), (5.3), (5.5), (5.7), (5.8) and
(5.13) have been amended, jointly with a few misprint
A pedagogical introduction to the Slavnov formulation of quantum Yang-Mills theory
Over the last few years, Slavnov has proposed a formulation of quantum
Yang-Mills theory in the Coulomb gauge which preserves simultaneously manifest
Lorentz invariance and gauge invariance of the ghost field Lagrangian. This
paper presents in detail some of the necessary calculations, i.e. those dealing
with the functional integral for the S-matrix and its invariance under shifted
gauge transformations. The extension of this formalism to quantum gravity in
the Prentki gauge deserves consideration.Comment: 16 pages, review pape
Studying the High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sky with Glast
Building on the success of the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope
(EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space
Telescope (GLAST) will make a major step in the study of such subjects as
blazars, gamma-ray bursts, the search for dark matter, supernova remnants,
pulsars, diffuse radiation, and unidentified high-energy sources. The
instrument will be built on new and mature detector technologies such as
silicon strip detectors, low-power low-noise LSI, and a multilevel data
acquisition system. GLAST is in the research and development phase, and one
full tower (of 25 total) is now being built in collaborating institutes. The
prototype tower will be tested thoroughly at SLAC in the fall of 1999.Comment: 6 pages with 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the COSPAR 98
Symposium E 1.1, postscript file also available at
http://glast.gsfc.nasa.gov/COSPAR
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