Rotating Dilaton Solutions in 2+1 Dimensions

We report a three parameter family of solutions for dilaton gravity in 2+1 dimensions with finite mass and finite angular momentum. These solutions are obtained by a compactification of vacuum solutions in 3+1 dimensions with cylindrical symmetry. One class of solutions corresponds to conical singularities and the other leads to curvature singularities.Comment: Accepted to be published in Gen. Rel. Grav., added reference

Fourth order perturbative expansion for the Casimir energy with a slightly deformed plate

We apply a perturbative approach to evaluate the Casimir energy for a massless real scalar field in 3+1 dimensions, subject to Dirichlet boundary conditions on two surfaces. One of the surfaces is assumed to be flat, while the other corresponds to a small deformation, described by a single function $\eta$, of a flat mirror. The perturbative expansion is carried out up to the fourth order in the deformation $\eta$, and the results are applied to the calculation of the Casimir energy for corrugated mirrors in front of a plane. We also reconsider the proximity force approximation within the context of this expansion.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

New Charged Dilaton Solutions in 2+1 Dimensions and Solutions with Cylindrical Symmetry in 3+1 Dimensions

We report a new family of solutions to Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton gravity in 2+1 dimensions and Einstein-Maxwell gravity with cylindrical symmetry in 3+1 dimensions. A set of static charged solutions in 2+1 dimensions are obtained by a compactification of charged solutions in 3+1 dimensions with cylindrical symmetry. These solutions contain naked singularities for certain values of the parameters considered. New rotating charged solutions in 2+1 dimensions and 3+1 dimensions are generated treating the static charged solutions as seed metrics and performing $SL(2;R)$ transformations.Comment: Latex. No figure

A Robust Semidefinite Programming Approach to the Separability Problem

We express the optimization of entanglement witnesses for arbitrary bipartite states in terms of a class of convex optimization problems known as Robust Semidefinite Programs (RSDP). We propose, using well known properties of RSDP, several new sufficient tests for the separability of mixed states. Our results are then generalized to multipartite density operators.Comment: Revised version (minor spell corrections) . 6 pages; submitted to Physical Review

Derivative expansion of the electromagnetic Casimir energy for two thin mirrors

We extend our previous work on a derivative expansion for the Casimir energy, to the case of the electromagnetic field coupled to two thin, imperfect mirrors. The latter are described by means of vacuum polarization tensors localized on the mirrors. We apply the results so obtained to compute the first correction to the proximity force approximation to the static Casimir effect.Comment: Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Electronic lifetimes in ballistic quantum dots electrostatically coupled to metallic environments

We calculate the lifetime of low-energy electronic excitations in a two-dimensional quantum dot near a metallic gate. We find different behaviors depending on the relative values of the dot size, the dot-gate distance and the Thomas-Fermi screening length within the dot. The standard Fermi liquid behavior is obtained when the dot-gate distance is much shorter than the dot size or when it is so large that intrinsic effects dominate. Departures from the Fermi liquid behavior are found in the unscreened dipole case of small dots far away from the gate, for which a Caldeira-Leggett model is applicable. At intermediate distances, a marginal Fermi liquid is obtained if there is sufficient screening within the dot. In these last two non-trivial cases, the level width decays as a power law with the dot-gate distance

No Black Hole Theorem in Three-Dimensional Gravity

A common property of known black hole solutions in (2+1)-dimensional gravity is that they require a negative cosmological constant. In this letter, it is shown that a (2+1)-dimensional gravity theory which satisfies the dominant energy condition forbids the existence of a black hole to explain the above situation.Comment: 3 pages, no figures, to be published in Physical Review Letter

Properties of Solutions in 2+1 Dimensions

We solve the Einstein equations for the 2+1 dimensions with and without scalar fields. We calculate the entropy, Hawking temperature and the emission probabilities for these cases. We also compute the Newman-Penrose coefficients for different solutions and compare them.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figures, PlainTeX, Dedicated to Prof. Yavuz Nutku on his 60th birthday. References adde

The proximity force approximation for the Casimir energy as a derivative expansion

The proximity force approximation (PFA) has been widely used as a tool to evaluate the Casimir force between smooth objects at small distances. In spite of being intuitively easy to grasp, it is generally believed to be an uncontrolled approximation. Indeed, its validity has only been tested in particular examples, by confronting its predictions with the next to leading order (NTLO) correction extracted from numerical or analytical solutions obtained without using the PFA. In this article we show that the PFA and its NTLO correction may be derived within a single framework, as the first two terms in a derivative expansion. To that effect, we consider the Casimir energy for a vacuum scalar field with Dirichlet conditions on a smooth curved surface described by a function $\psi$ in front of a plane. By regarding the Casimir energy as a functional of $\psi$, we show that the PFA is the leading term in a derivative expansion of this functional. We also obtain the general form of corresponding NTLO correction, which involves two derivatives of $\psi$. We show, by evaluating this correction term for particular geometries, that it properly reproduces the known corrections to PFA obtained from exact evaluations of the energy.Comment: Minor changes. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.