211 research outputs found
Gravitons and Lightcone Fluctuations
Gravitons in a squeezed vacuum state, the natural result of quantum creation
in the early universe or by black holes, will introduce metric fluctuations.
These metric fluctuations will introduce fluctuations of the lightcone. It is
shown that when the various two-point functions of a quantized field are
averaged over the metric fluctuations, the lightcone singularity disappears for
distinct points. The metric averaged functions remain singular in the limit of
coincident points. The metric averaged retarded Green's function for a massless
field becomes a Gaussian which is nonzero both inside and outside of the
classical lightcone. This implies some photons propagate faster than the
classical light speed, whereas others propagate slower. The possible effects of
metric fluctuations upon one-loop quantum processes are discussed and
illustrated by the calculation of the one-loop electron self-energy.Comment: 18pp, LATEX, TUTP-94-1
Information and entropy in quantum Brownian motion: Thermodynamic entropy versus von Neumann entropy
We compare the thermodynamic entropy of a quantum Brownian oscillator derived
from the partition function of the subsystem with the von Neumann entropy of
its reduced density matrix. At low temperatures we find deviations between
these two entropies which are due to the fact that the Brownian particle and
its environment are entangled. We give an explanation for these findings and
point out that these deviations become important in cases where statements
about the information capacity of the subsystem are associated with
thermodynamic properties, as it is the case for the Landauer principle.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
On the warp drive space-time
In this paper the problem of the quantum stability of the two-dimensional
warp drive spacetime moving with an apparent faster than light velocity is
considered. We regard as a maximum extension beyond the event horizon of that
spacetime its embedding in a three-dimensional Minkowskian space with the
topology of the corresponding Misner space. It is obtained that the interior of
the spaceship bubble becomes then a multiply connected nonchronal region with
closed timelike curves and that the most natural vacuum allows quantum
fluctuations which do not induce any divergent behaviour of the re-normalized
stress-energy tensor, even on the event (Cauchy) chronology horizon. In such a
case, the horizon encloses closed timelike curves only at scales close to the
Planck length, so that the warp drive satisfies the Ford's negative energy-time
inequality. Also found is a connection between the superluminal two-dimensional
warp drive space and two-dimensional gravitational kinks. This connection
allows us to generalize the considered Alcubierre metric to a standard,
nonstatic metric which is only describable on two different coordinate patchesComment: 7 pages, minor comment on chronology protection added, RevTex, to
appear in Phys. Rev.
Quantum Vacuum Instability Near Rotating Stars
We discuss the Starobinskii-Unruh process for the Kerr black hole. We show
how this effect is related to the theory of squeezed states. We then consider a
simple model for a highly relativistic rotating star and show that the
Starobinskii-Unruh effect is absent.Comment: 17 Pages, (accepted by PRD), (previously incorrect header files have
been corrected
Dyonic Kerr-Newman black holes, complex scalar field and Cosmic Censorship
We construct a gedanken experiment, in which a weak wave packet of the
complex massive scalar field interacts with a four-parameter (mass, angular
momentum, electric and magnetic charges) Kerr-Newman black hole. We show that
this interaction cannot convert an extreme the black hole into a naked
sigularity for any black hole parameters and any generic wave packet
configuration. The analysis therefore provides support for the weak cosmic
censorship conjecture.Comment: Refined emphasis on the weak cosmic censorship conjecture,
conclusions otherwise unchanged. Also, two sections merged, literature review
updated, references added, a few typos correcte
Fluctuations of an evaporating black hole from back reaction of its Hawking radiation: Questioning a premise in earlier work
This paper delineates the first steps in a systematic quantitative study of
the spacetime fluctuations induced by quantum fields in an evaporating black
hole. We explain how the stochastic gravity formalism can be a useful tool for
that purpose within a low-energy effective field theory approach to quantum
gravity. As an explicit example we apply it to the study of the
spherically-symmetric sector of metric perturbations around an evaporating
black hole background geometry. For macroscopic black holes we find that those
fluctuations grow and eventually become important when considering sufficiently
long periods of time (of the order of the evaporation time), but well before
the Planckian regime is reached. In addition, the assumption of a simple
correlation between the fluctuations of the energy flux crossing the horizon
and far from it, which was made in earlier work on spherically-symmetric
induced fluctuations, is carefully analyzed and found to be invalid. Our
analysis suggests the existence of an infinite amplitude for the fluctuations
of the horizon as a three-dimensional hypersurface. We emphasize the need for
understanding and designing operational ways of probing quantum metric
fluctuations near the horizon and extracting physically meaningful information.Comment: 10 pages, REVTeX; minor changes, a few references added and a brief
discussion of their relevance included. To appear in the proceedings of the
10th Peyresq meeting. Dedicated to Rafael Sorkin on the occasion of his 60th
birthda
Quintessence and Gravitational Waves
We investigate some aspects of quintessence models with a non-minimally
coupled scalar field and in particular we show that it can behave as a
component of matter with . We study the
properties of gravitational waves in this class of models and discuss their
energy spectrum and the cosmic microwave background anisotropies they induce.
We also show that gravitational waves are damped by the anisotropic stress of
the radiation and that their energy spectrum may help to distinguish between
inverse power law potential and supergravity motivated potential. We finish by
a discussion on the constraints arising from their density parameter
\Omega_\GW.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures, fianl version, accepted for publication in PR
Defective postsecretory maturation of MUC5B mucin in cystic fibrosis airways
In cystic fibrosis (CF), airway mucus becomes thick and viscous, and its clearance from the airways is impaired. The gel-forming mucins undergo an ordered "unpacking/maturation" process after granular release that requires an optimum postsecretory environment, including hydration and pH. We hypothesized that this unpacking process is compromised in the CF lung due to abnormal transepithelial fluid transport that reduces airway surface hydration and alters ionic composition. Using human tracheobronchial epithelial cells derived from non-CF and CF donors and mucus samples from human subjects and domestic pigs, we investigated the process of postsecretory mucin unfolding/maturation, how these processes are defective in CF airways, and the probable mechanism underlying defective unfolding. First, we found that mucins released into a normal lung environment transform from a compact granular form to a linear form. Second, we demonstrated that this maturation process is defective in the CF airway environment. Finally, we demonstrated that independent of HCO3- and pH levels, airway surface dehydration was the major determinant of this abnormal unfolding process. This defective unfolding/maturation process after granular release suggests that the CF extracellular environment is ion/water depleted and likely contributes to abnormal mucus properties in CF airways prior to infection and inflammation
Relativistic quantum clocks
The conflict between quantum theory and the theory of relativity is
exemplified in their treatment of time. We examine the ways in which their
conceptions differ, and describe a semiclassical clock model combining elements
of both theories. The results obtained with this clock model in flat spacetime
are reviewed, and the problem of generalizing the model to curved spacetime is
discussed, before briefly describing an experimental setup which could be used
to test of the model. Taking an operationalist view, where time is that which
is measured by a clock, we discuss the conclusions that can be drawn from these
results, and what clues they contain for a full quantum relativistic theory of
time.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures. Invited contribution for the proceedings for
"Workshop on Time in Physics" Zurich 201
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