28,333 research outputs found
Causality in Time-Neutral Cosmologies
Gell-Mann and Hartle (GMH) have recently considered time-neutral cosmological
models in which the initial and final conditions are independently specified,
and several authors have investigated experimental tests of such models.
We point out here that GMH time-neutral models can allow superluminal
signalling, in the sense that it can be possible for observers in those
cosmologies, by detecting and exploiting regularities in the final state, to
construct devices which send and receive signals between space-like separated
points. In suitable cosmologies, any single superluminal message can be
transmitted with probability arbitrarily close to one by the use of redundant
signals. However, the outcome probabilities of quantum measurements generally
depend on precisely which past {\it and future} measurements take place. As the
transmission of any signal relies on quantum measurements, its transmission
probability is similarly context-dependent. As a result, the standard
superluminal signalling paradoxes do not apply. Despite their unusual features,
the models are internally consistent.
These results illustrate an interesting conceptual point. The standard view
of Minkowski causality is not an absolutely indispensable part of the
mathematical formalism of relativistic quantum theory. It is contingent on the
empirical observation that naturally occurring ensembles can be naturally
pre-selected but not post-selected.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX. Published version -- minor typos correcte
Higher Gauge Theory and Gravity in (2+1) Dimensions
Non-abelian higher gauge theory has recently emerged as a generalization of
standard gauge theory to higher dimensional (2-dimensional in the present
context) connection forms, and as such, it has been successfully applied to the
non-abelian generalizations of the Yang-Mills theory and 2-form
electrodynamics. (2+1)-dimensional gravity, on the other hand, has been a
fertile testing ground for many concepts related to classical and quantum
gravity, and it is therefore only natural to investigate whether we can find an
application of higher gauge theory in this latter context. In the present paper
we investigate the possibility of applying the formalism of higher gauge theory
to gravity in (2+1) dimensions, and we show that a nontrivial model of
(2+1)-dimensional gravity coupled to scalar and tensorial matter fields - the
model - can be formulated both as a standard gauge theory and
as a higher gauge theory. Since the model has a very rich structure - it admits
as solutions black-hole BTZ-like geometries, particle-like geometries as well
as Robertson-Friedman-Walker cosmological-like expanding geometries - this
opens a wide perspective for higher gauge theory to be tested and understood in
a relevant gravitational context. Additionally, it offers the possibility of
studying gravity in (2+1) dimensions coupled to matter in an entirely new
framework.Comment: 22 page
Charged Lifshitz Black Holes
We investigate modifications of the Lifshitz black hole solutions due to the
presence of Maxwell charge in higher dimensions for arbitrary and any
topology. We find that the behaviour of large black holes is insensitive to the
topology of the solutions, whereas for small black holes significant
differences emerge. We generalize a relation previously obtained for neutral
Lifshitz black branes, and study more generally the thermodynamic relationship
between energy, entropy, and chemical potential. We also consider the effect of
Maxwell charge on the effective potential between objects in the dual theory.Comment: Latex, 28 pages, 14 figures, some references adde
On the Definition of Decoherence
We examine the relationship between the decoherence of quantum-mechanical
histories of a closed system (as discussed by Gell-Mann and Hartle) and
environmentally-induced diagonalization of the density operator for an open
system. We study a definition of decoherence which incorporates both of these
ideas, and show that it leads to a consistent probabilistic interpretation of
the reduced density operator.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, SJSU/TP-93-1
Inverted Hybrid Inflation as a solution to gravitino problems in Gravity Mediation
It was recently found that the decay of inflaton and the SUSY breaking field
produces many gravitinos in the gravity mediation scenario. These discoveries
led to an exclusion of many inflation models such as chaotic, (smooth) hybrid,
topological and new inflation models. Under these circumstances we searched for
a successful inflation model and found that the ``inverted'' hybrid inflation
models can solve the gravitino overproduction problem by their distinctive
shape of the potential. Furthermore, we found that this inflation model
simultaneously can explain the observed baryon asymmetry through the
non-thermal leptogenesis and is consistent with the WMAP results, that is,
and the negligible tensor to scalar ratio.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures in
Black Holes in (Quartic) Quasitopological Gravity
We construct quartic quasitopological gravity, a theory of gravity containing
terms quartic in the curvature that yields second order differential equations
in the spherically symmetric case. Up to a term proportional to the quartic
term in Lovelock gravity we find a unique solution for this quartic case, valid
in any dimensionality larger than 4 except 8. This case is the highest degree
of curvature coupling for which explicit black hole solutions can be
constructed, and we obtain and analyze the various black hole solutions that
emerge from the field equations in dimensions. We discuss the
thermodynamics of these black holes and compute their entropy as a function of
the horizon radius. We then make some general remarks about -th order
quasitopological gravity, and point out that the basic structure of the
solutions will be the same in any dimensionality for general apart from
particular cases.Comment: LaTex, 9 figures, 27 pages. A new section on holographic
hydrodynamics is added. Introduction and concluding remarks have been revise
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