On the renormalization procedure for quantum fields with modified dispersion relation in curved spacetimes

We review our recent results on the renormalization procedure for a free quantum scalar field with modified dispersion relations in curved spacetimes. For dispersion relations containing up to $2s$ powers of the spatial momentum, the subtraction necessary to renormalize $$and$$ depends on $s$. We first describe our previous analysis for spatially flat Friedman-Robertson-Walker and Bianchi type I metrics. Then we present a new power counting analysis for general background metrics in the weak field approximation.Comment: Talk given at the 7th Alexander Friedmann International Seminar on Gravitation and Cosmology, Joao Pessoa, Brazil, July 200

Superconductivity in carbon nanotubes coupled to transition metal atoms

The electronic structures of zig-zag and arm-chair single-walled carbon nanotubes interacting with a transitional-metal atomic nanowire of Ni have been determined. The Ni nanowire creates a large electron density of states (DOS)at the Fermi energy. The dependence of the enhanced DOS on the spin state and positioning of the transition-metal wire(inside or outside the nanotube) is studied. Preliminary estimates of the electron-phonon interaction suggest that such systems may have a superconducting transition temperature of $\sim$ 10-50 K. The signs of superconductivity seen in ``ropes'' of nanotubes may also be related to the effect of intrinsic transition-metal impurities.Comment: 4 pages and two figure

Nonlinear effects of dark energy clustering beyond the acoustic scales

We extend the resummation method of Anselmi & Pietroni (2012) to compute the total density power spectrum in models of quintessence characterized by a vanishing speed of sound. For standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmologies, this resummation scheme allows predictions with an accuracy at the few percent level beyond the range of scales where acoustic oscillations are present, therefore comparable to other, common numerical tools. In addition, our theoretical approach indicates an approximate but valuable and simple relation between the power spectra for standard quintessence models and models where scalar field perturbations appear at all scales. This, in turn, provides an educated guess for the prediction of nonlinear growth in models with generic speed of sound, particularly valuable since no numerical results are yet available.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figure

Vector fuzzy dark matter, fifth forces, and binary pulsars

We study the secular effects that an oscillating background ultralight (fuzzy) cosmological vector field has on the dynamics of binary systems; such effects appear when the field and the binary are in resonance. We first consider the gravitational interaction between the field and the systems, and quantify the main differences with an oscillating background scalar field. If the energy density of such a field is sufficiently large, as required if it is supposed to be all of the dark matter, we show that the secular effects could yield potentially observable signatures in high precision time of arrival measurements of binary pulsars. We then analyse the secular effects that arise when the field is directly coupled to the bodies in the binary. We show that this study is particularly relevant for models where fuzzy dark matter mediates a baryonic force B (or B-L, with L the lepton number), due to the stellar amount of nucleons present in the stars. The constraints we obtain from current data are already competitive with (or even more constraining than) laboratory tests of the equivalence principle.Fil: Lopez Nacir, Diana Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Urban, Federico R.. Czech Academy of Sciences; República Chec

Extreme parameter sensitivity in quasidilaton massive gravity

We reanalyze the behavior of Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker cosmologies in the recently proposed quasidilaton massive-gravity model, and discover that the background dynamics present hitherto unreported features that require unexpected fine-tuning of the additional fundamental parameters of the theory for an observationally consistent background cosmology. We also identify new allowed regions in the parameters space and exclude some of the previously considered ones. The evolution of the mass of gravitational waves reveals non-trivial behavior, exhibiting a mass squared that may be negative in the past, and that presently, while positive, is larger than the square of the Hubble parameter. These properties of the gravity-wave mass have the potential to lead to observational tests of the theory. While quasidilaton massive gravity is known to have issues with stability at short distances, the current analysis is a first step toward the investigation of the more stable extended quasidilaton massive gravity theory, with some expectation that both the fine-tuning of parameters and the interesting behavior of the gravity-wave mass will persist.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Renormalized Stress Tensor for trans-Planckian Cosmology

Finite expressions for the mean value of the stress tensor corresponding to a scalar field with a generalized dispersion relation in a Friedman--Robertson--Walker universe are obtained using adiabatic renormalization. Formally divergent integrals are evaluated by means of dimensional regularization. The renormalization procedure is shown to be equivalent to a redefinition of the cosmological constant and the Newton constant in the semiclassical Einstein equations.Comment: 14 pages. Minor changes; version published in Physical Review

O(N)O(N) model in Euclidean de Sitter space: beyond the leading infrared approximation

We consider an $O(N)$ scalar field model with quartic interaction in $d$-dimensional Euclidean de Sitter space. In order to avoid the problems of the standard perturbative calculations for light and massless fields, we generalize to the $O(N)$ theory a systematic method introduced previously for a single field, which treats the zero modes exactly and the nonzero modes perturbatively. We compute the two-point functions taking into account not only the leading infrared contribution, coming from the self-interaction of the zero modes, but also corrections due to the interaction of the ultraviolet modes. For the model defined in the corresponding Lorentzian de Sitter spacetime, we obtain the two-point functions by analytical continuation. We point out that a partial resummation of the leading secular terms (which necessarily involves nonzero modes) is required to obtain a decay at large distances for massless fields. We implement this resummation along with a systematic double expansion in an effective coupling constant $\sqrt\lambda$ and in 1/N. We explicitly perform the calculation up to the next-to-next-to-leading order in $\sqrt\lambda$ and up to next-to-leading order in 1/N. The results reduce to those known in the leading infrared approximation. We also show that they coincide with the ones obtained directly in Lorentzian de Sitter spacetime in the large N limit, provided the same renormalization scheme is used.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures. Minor changes. Published versio

Renormalization in theories with modified dispersion relations: weak gravitational fields

We consider a free quantum scalar field satisfying modified dispersion relations in curved spacetimes, within the framework of Einstein-Aether theory. Using a power counting analysis, we study the divergences in the adiabatic expansion of and , working in the weak field approximation. We show that for dispersion relations containing up to $2s$ powers of the spatial momentum, the subtraction necessary to renormalize these two quantities on general backgrounds depends on $s$ in a qualitatively different way: while becomes convergent for a sufficiently large value of $s$, the number of divergent terms in the adiabatic expansion of increases with $s$. This property was not apparent in previous results for spatially homogeneous backgrounds.Comment: 12 pages, no figure