167 research outputs found
Fermion Helicity Flip in Weak Gravitational Fields
The helicity flip of a spin- Dirac particle
interacting gravitationally with a scalar field is analyzed in the context of
linearized quantum gravity. It is shown that massive fermions may have their
helicity flipped by gravity, in opposition to massless fermions which preserve
their helicity.Comment: RevTeX 3.0, 8 pages, 3 figures (available upon request), Preprint
IFT-P.013/9
New thought experiment to test the generalized second law of thermodynamics
We propose an extension of the original thought experiment proposed by
Geroch, which sparked much of the actual debate and interest on black hole
thermodynamics, and show that the generalized second law of thermodynamics is
in compliance with it.Comment: 4 pages (revtex), 3 figure
Is the equivalence for the response of static scalar sources in the Schwarzschild and Rindler spacetimes valid only in four dimensions?
It was shown recently that in four dimensions scalar sources with fixed
proper acceleration minimally coupled to a massless Klein-Gordon field lead to
the same responses when they are (i) uniformly accelerated in Minkowski
spacetime (in the inertial vacuum) and (ii) static in the Schwarzschild
spacetime (in the Unruh vacuum). Here we show that this equivalence is broken
if the spacetime dimension is more than four.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Sudden change in quantum and classical correlations and the Unruh effect
We use the Unruh effect to analyze the dynamics of classical and quantum
correlations for a two-qubit system when one of them is uniformly accelerated
for a finite amount of proper time. We show that the quantum correlation is
completely destroyed in the limit of infinite acceleration, while the classical
one remains nonzero. In particular, we show that such correlations exhibit the
so-called sudden-change behavior as a function of acceleration. Eventually, we
discuss how our results can be interpreted when the system lies in the vicinity
of the event horizon of a Schwarzschild black hole.Comment: Published versio
Particle creation due to tachyonic instability in relativistic stars
Dense enough compact objects were recently shown to lead to an exponentially
fast increase of the vacuum energy density for some free scalar fields properly
coupled to the spacetime curvature as a consequence of a tachyonic-like
instability. Once the effect is triggered, the star energy density would be
overwhelmed by the vacuum energy density in a few milliseconds. This demands
that eventually geometry and field evolve to a new configuration to bring the
vacuum back to a stationary regime. Here, we show that the vacuum fluctuations
built up during the unstable epoch lead to particle creation in the final
stationary state when the tachyonic instability ceases. The amount of created
particles depends mostly on the duration of the unstable epoch and final
stationary configuration, which are open issues at this point. We emphasize
that the particle creation coming from the tachyonic instability will occur
even in the adiabatic limit, where the spacetime geometry changes arbitrarily
slowly, and therefore is quite distinct from the usual particle creation due to
the change in the background geometry.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, discussion improved: paragraph added at the end
of Sec. V B (published version
Influence of detector motion in entanglement measurements with photons
We investigate how the polarization correlations of entangled photons
described by wave packets are modified when measured by moving detectors. For
this purpose, we analyze the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell inequality as a
function of the apparatus velocity. Our analysis is motivated by future
experiments with entangled photons designed to use satellites. This is a first
step towards the implementation of quantum information protocols in a global
scale
Decay of accelerated protons and the existence of the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect
We investigate the weak decay of uniformly {\em accelerated protons} in the
context of {\em standard} Quantum Field Theory. Because the mean {\em proper}
lifetime of a particle is a scalar, the same value for this observable must be
obtained in the inertial and coaccelerated frames. We are only able to achieve
this equality by considering the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect. This reflects the
fact that the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect is mandatory for the consistency of
Quantum Field Theory. There is no question about its existence provided one
accepts the validity of standard Quantum Field Theory in flat spacetime.Comment: 4 pages (revtex), 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Awaking the vacuum in relativistic stars
Void of any inherent structure in classical physics, the vacuum has revealed
to be incredibly crowded with all sorts of processes in relativistic quantum
physics. Yet, its direct effects are usually so subtle that its structure
remains almost as evasive as in classical physics. Here, in contrast, we report
on the discovery of a novel effect according to which the vacuum is compelled
to play an unexpected central role in an astrophysical context. We show that
the formation of relativistic stars may lead the vacuum energy density of a
quantum field to an exponential growth. The vacuum-driven evolution which would
then follow may lead to unexpected implications for astrophysics, while the
observation of stable neutron-star configurations may teach us much on the
field content of our Universe.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
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
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