330 research outputs found
Repulsive Casimir Pistons
Casimir pistons are models in which finite Casimir forces can be calculated
without any suspect renormalizations. It has been suggested that such forces
are always attractive. We present three scenarios in which that is not true.
Two of these depend on mixing two types of boundary conditions. The other,
however, is a simple type of quantum graph in which the sign of the force
depends upon the number of edges.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; RevTeX. Minor additions and correction
Index theorems for quantum graphs
In geometric analysis, an index theorem relates the difference of the numbers
of solutions of two differential equations to the topological structure of the
manifold or bundle concerned, sometimes using the heat kernels of two
higher-order differential operators as an intermediary. In this paper, the case
of quantum graphs is addressed. A quantum graph is a graph considered as a
(singular) one-dimensional variety and equipped with a second-order
differential Hamiltonian H (a "Laplacian") with suitable conditions at
vertices. For the case of scale-invariant vertex conditions (i.e., conditions
that do not mix the values of functions and of their derivatives), the constant
term of the heat-kernel expansion is shown to be proportional to the trace of
the internal scattering matrix of the graph. This observation is placed into
the index-theory context by factoring the Laplacian into two first-order
operators, H =A*A, and relating the constant term to the index of A. An
independent consideration provides an index formula for any differential
operator on a finite quantum graph in terms of the vertex conditions. It is
found also that the algebraic multiplicity of 0 as a root of the secular
determinant of H is the sum of the nullities of A and A*.Comment: 19 pages, Institute of Physics LaTe
The Dirichlet-to-Robin Transform
A simple transformation converts a solution of a partial differential
equation with a Dirichlet boundary condition to a function satisfying a Robin
(generalized Neumann) condition. In the simplest cases this observation enables
the exact construction of the Green functions for the wave, heat, and
Schrodinger problems with a Robin boundary condition. The resulting physical
picture is that the field can exchange energy with the boundary, and a delayed
reflection from the boundary results. In more general situations the method
allows at least approximate and local construction of the appropriate reflected
solutions, and hence a "classical path" analysis of the Green functions and the
associated spectral information. By this method we solve the wave equation on
an interval with one Robin and one Dirichlet endpoint, and thence derive
several variants of a Gutzwiller-type expansion for the density of eigenvalues.
The variants are consistent except for an interesting subtlety of
distributional convergence that affects only the neighborhood of zero in the
frequency variable.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures; RevTe
Mathematical Aspects of Vacuum Energy on Quantum Graphs
We use quantum graphs as a model to study various mathematical aspects of the
vacuum energy, such as convergence of periodic path expansions, consistency
among different methods (trace formulae versus method of images) and the
possible connection with the underlying classical dynamics.
We derive an expansion for the vacuum energy in terms of periodic paths on
the graph and prove its convergence and smooth dependence on the bond lengths
of the graph. For an important special case of graphs with equal bond lengths,
we derive a simpler explicit formula.
The main results are derived using the trace formula. We also discuss an
alternative approach using the method of images and prove that the results are
consistent. This may have important consequences for other systems, since the
method of images, unlike the trace formula, includes a sum over special
``bounce paths''. We succeed in showing that in our model bounce paths do not
contribute to the vacuum energy. Finally, we discuss the proposed possible link
between the magnitude of the vacuum energy and the type (chaotic vs.
integrable) of the underlying classical dynamics. Within a random matrix model
we calculate the variance of the vacuum energy over several ensembles and find
evidence that the level repulsion leads to suppression of the vacuum energy.Comment: Fixed several typos, explain the use of random matrices in Section
Metric-scalar gravity with torsion and the measurability of the non-minimal coupling
The "measurability" of the non-minimal coupling is discussed by considering
the correction to the Newtonian static potential in the semi-classical
approach. The coefficient of the "gravitational Darwin term" (GDT) gets
redefined by the non-minimal torsion-scalar couplings. Based on a similar
analysis of the GDT in the effective field theory approach to non-minimal
scalar we conclude that for reasonable values of the couplings the correction
is very small.Comment: 10 pages, LaTex. Accepted for publication in Mod. Phys. Lett.
Inappropriateness of the Rindler quantization
It is argued that the Rindler quantization is not a correct approach to study
the effects of acceleration on quantum fields. First, the "particle"-detector
approach based on the Minkowski quantization is not equivalent to the approach
based on the Rindler quantization. Second, the event horizon, which plays the
essential role in the Rindler quantization, cannot play any physical role for a
local noninertial observer.Comment: 3 pages, accepted for publication in Mod. Phys. Lett.
Vacuum Quantum Effects for Parallel Plates Moving by Uniform Acceleration in Static de Sitter Space
The Casimir forces on two parallel plates moving by uniform proper
acceleration in static de Sitter background due to conformally coupled massless
scalar field satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions on the plates is
investigated. Static de Sitter space is conformally related to the Rindler
space, as a result we can obtain vacuum expectation values of energy-momentum
tensor for conformally invariant field in static de Sitter space from the
corresponding Rindler counterpart by the conformal transformation.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
The equivalence principle at work in radiation from unaccelerated atoms and mirrors
The equivalence principle is a perennial subject of controversy, especially in connection with radiation by a uniformly accelerated classical charge, or a freely falling charge observed by a supported detector. Recently, related issues have been raised in connection with the Unruh radiation associated with accelerated detectors (including two-level atoms and resonant cavities). A third type of system, very easy to analyze because of conformal invariance, is a two-dimensional scalar field interacting with perfectly reflecting boundaries (mirrors). After reviewing the issues for atoms and cavities, we investigate a stationary mirror from the point of view of an accelerated detector in 'Rindler space'. In keeping with the conclusions of earlier authors about the electromagnetic problem, we find that a radiative effect is indeed observed; from an inertial point of view, the process arises from a collision of the negative vacuum energy of Rindler space with the mirror. There is a qualitative symmetry under interchange of accelerated and inertial subsystems (a vindication of the equivalence principle), but it hinges on the accelerated detector's being initially in its own 'Rindler vacuum'. This observation is consistent with the recent work on the Unruh problem
Restrictions on negative energy density in a curved spacetime
Recently a restriction ("quantum inequality-type relation") on the
(renormalized) energy density measured by a static observer in a "globally
static" (ultrastatic) spacetime has been formulated by Pfenning and Ford for
the minimally coupled scalar field, in the extension of quantum inequality-type
relation on flat spacetime of Ford and Roman. They found negative lower bounds
for the line integrals of energy density multiplied by a sampling (weighting)
function, and explicitly evaluate them for some specific spacetimes. In this
paper, we study the lower bound on spacetimes whose spacelike hypersurfaces are
compact and without boundary. In the short "sampling time" limit, the bound has
asymptotic expansion. Although the expansion can not be represented by locally
invariant quantities in general due to the nonlocal nature of the integral, we
explicitly evaluate the dominant terms in the limit in terms of the invariant
quantities. We also make an estimate for the bound in the long sampling time
limit.Comment: LaTex, 23 Page
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