Cosmological effects in the local static frame

What is the influence of cosmology (the expansion law and its acceleration, the cosmological constant...) on the dynamics and optics of a local system like the solar system, a galaxy, a cluster, a supercluster...? The answer requires the solution of Einstein equation with the local source, which tends towards the cosmological model at large distance. There is, in general, no analytic expression for the corresponding metric, but we calculate here an expansion in a small parameter, which allows to answer the question. First, we derive a static expression for the pure cosmological (Friedmann-Lema\^itre) metric, whose validity, although local, extends in a very large neighborhood of the observer. This expression appears as the metric of an osculating de Sitter model. Then we propose an expansion of the cosmological metric with a local source, which is valid in a very large neighborhood of the local system. This allows to calculate exactly the (tiny) influence of cosmology on the dynamics of the solar system: it results that, contrary to some claims, cosmological effects fail to account for the unexplained acceleration of the Pioneer probe by several order of magnitudes. Our expression provide estimations of the cosmological influence in the calculations of rotation or dispersion velocity curves in galaxies, clusters, and any type of cosmic structure, necessary for precise evaluations of dark matter and/or cosmic flows. The same metric can also be used to estimate the influence of cosmology on gravitational optics in the vicinity of such systems.Comment: to appear in Astron. & Astrop

Space and Observers in Cosmology

I provide a prescription to define space, at a given moment, for an arbitrary observer in an arbitrary (sufficiently regular) curved space-time. This prescription, based on synchronicity (simultaneity) arguments, defines a foliation of space-time, which corresponds to a family of canonically associated observers. It provides also a natural global reference frame (with space and time coordinates) for the observer, in space-time (or rather in the part of it which is causally connected to him), which remains Minkowskian along his world-line. This definition intends to provide a basis for the problem of quantization in curved space-time, and/or for non inertial observers. Application to Mikowski space-time illustrates clearly the fact that different observers see different spaces. It allows, for instance, to define space everywhere without ambiguity, for the Langevin observer (involved in the Langevin pseudoparadox of twins). Applied to the Rindler observer (with uniform acceleration) it leads to the Rindler coordinates, whose choice is so justified with a physical basis. This leads to an interpretation of the Unruh effect, as due to the observer's dependence of the definition of space (and time). This prescription is also applied in cosmology, for inertial observers in the Friedmann - Lemaitre models: space for the observer appears to differ from the hypersurfaces of homogeneity, which do not obey the simultaneity requirement. I work out two examples: the Einstein - de Sitter model, in which space, for an inertial observer, is not flat nor homogeneous, and the de Sitter case.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures. Astronomy & Astrophysics, in pres

Large deviations in quantum lattice systems: one-phase region

We give large deviation upper bounds, and discuss lower bounds, for the Gibbs-KMS state of a system of quantum spins or an interacting Fermi gas on the lattice. We cover general interactions and general observables, both in the high temperature regime and in dimension one.Comment: 30 pages, LaTeX 2

Phase transitions, entanglement and quantum noise interferometry in cold atoms

We show that entanglement monotones can characterize the pronounced enhancement of entanglement at a quantum phase transition if they are sensitive to long-range high order correlations. These monotones are found to develop a sharp peak at the critical point and to exhibit universal scaling. We demonstrate that similar features are shared by noise correlations and verify that these experimentally accessible quantities indeed encode entanglement information and probe separability.Comment: 4 pages 4 figure

Transferable Control

In this paper, we introduce the notion of transferable control, defined as a situation where one party (the principal, say) can transfer control to another party (the agent) but cannot commit herself to do so. One theoretical foundation for this notion builds on the distinction between formal and real authority introduced by Aghion and Tirole, in which the actual exercise of authority may require noncontractible information, absent which formal control rights are vacuous. We use this notion to study the extent to which control transfers may allow an agent to reveal information regarding his ability or willingness to cooperate with the principal in the future. We show that the distinction between contractible and transferable control can drastically influence how learning takes place: with contractible control, information about the agent can often be acquired through revelation mechanisms that involve communication and message-contingent control allocations; in contrast, when control is transferable but not contractible, it can be optimal to transfer control unconditionally and learn instead from the way in which the agent exercises control