2,380 research outputs found
Sonoluminescence as a QED vacuum effect: Probing Schwinger's proposal
Several years ago Schwinger proposed a physical mechanism for
sonoluminescence in terms of photon production due to changes in the properties
of the quantum-electrodynamic (QED) vacuum arising from a collapsing dielectric
bubble. This mechanism can be re-phrased in terms of the Casimir effect and has
recently been the subject of considerable controversy. The present paper probes
Schwinger's suggestion in detail: Using the sudden approximation we calculate
Bogolubov coefficients relating the QED vacuum in the presence of the expanded
bubble to that in the presence of the collapsed bubble. In this way we derive
an estimate for the spectrum and total energy emitted. We verify that in the
sudden approximation there is an efficient production of photons, and further
that the main contribution to this dynamic Casimir effect comes from a volume
term, as per Schwinger's original calculation. However, we also demonstrate
that the timescales required to implement Schwinger's original suggestion are
not physically relevant to sonoluminescence. Although Schwinger was correct in
his assertion that changes in the zero-point energy lead to photon production,
nevertheless his original model is not appropriate for sonoluminescence. In
other works (see quant-ph/9805023, quant-ph/9904013, quant-ph/9904018,
quant-ph/9905034) we have developed a variant of Schwinger's model that is
compatible with the physically required timescales.Comment: 18 pages, ReV_TeX 3.2, 9 figures. Major revisions: This document is
now limited to providing a probe of Schwinger's original suggestion for
sonoluminescence. For details on our own variant of Schwinger's ideas see
quant-ph/9805023, quant-ph/9904013, quant-ph/9904018, quant-ph/990503
Schwinger, Pegg and Barnett approaches and a relationship between angular and Cartesian quantum descriptions II: Phase Spaces
Following the discussion -- in state space language -- presented in a
preceding paper, we work on the passage from the phase space description of a
degree of freedom described by a finite number of states (without classical
counterpart) to one described by an infinite (and continuously labeled) number
of states. With that it is possible to relate an original Schwinger idea to the
Pegg and Barnett approach to the phase problem. In phase space language, this
discussion shows that one can obtain the Weyl-Wigner formalism, for both
Cartesian {\em and} angular coordinates, as limiting elements of the discrete
phase space formalism.Comment: Subm. to J. Phys A: Math and Gen. 7 pages, sequel of quant-ph/0108031
(which is to appear on J.Phys A: Math and Gen
Alternative derivation of the Feigel effect and call for its experimental verification
A recent theory by Feigel [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 92}, 020404 (2004)] predicts
the finite transfer of momentum from the quantum vacuum to a fluid placed in
strong perpendicular electric and magnetic fields. The momentum transfer arises
because of the optically anisotropic magnetoelectric response induced in the
fluid by the fields. After summarising Feigel's original assumptions and
derivation (corrected of trivial mistakes), we rederive the same result by a
simpler route, validating Feigel's semi-classical approach. We then derive the
stress exerted by the vacuum on the fluid which, if the Feigel hypothesis is
correct, should induce a Poiseuille flow in a tube with maximum speed m/s (2000 times larger than Feigel's original prediction). An experiment
is suggested to test this prediction for an organometallic fluid in a tube
passing through the bore of a high strength magnet. The predicted flow can be
measured directly by tracking microscopy or indirectly by measuring the flow
rate (ml/min) corresponding to the Poiseuille flow. A second
experiment is also proposed whereby a `vacuum radiometer' is used to test a
recent prediction that the net force on a magnetoelectric slab in the vacuum
should be zero.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figures. revised and improved versio
Scalar Casimir Energies of Tetrahedra
New results for scalar Casimir self-energies arising from interior modes are
presented for the three integrable tetrahedral cavities. Since the eigenmodes
are all known, the energies can be directly evaluated by mode summation, with a
point-splitting regulator, which amounts to evaluation of the cylinder kernel.
The correct Weyl divergences, depending on the volume, surface area, and the
corners, are obtained, which is strong evidence that the counting of modes is
correct. Because there is no curvature, the finite part of the quantum energy
may be unambiguously extracted. Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions are
considered and systematic behavior of the energy in terms of geometric
invariants is explored.Comment: Talk given at QFEXT 1
Casimir Energy for a Spherical Cavity in a Dielectric: Applications to Sonoluminescence
In the final few years of his life, Julian Schwinger proposed that the
``dynamical Casimir effect'' might provide the driving force behind the
puzzling phenomenon of sonoluminescence. Motivated by that exciting suggestion,
we have computed the static Casimir energy of a spherical cavity in an
otherwise uniform material. As expected the result is divergent; yet a
plausible finite answer is extracted, in the leading uniform asymptotic
approximation. This result agrees with that found using zeta-function
regularization. Numerically, we find far too small an energy to account for the
large burst of photons seen in sonoluminescence. If the divergent result is
retained, it is of the wrong sign to drive the effect. Dispersion does not
resolve this contradiction. In the static approximation, the Fresnel drag term
is zero; on the mother hand, electrostriction could be comparable to the
Casimir term. It is argued that this adiabatic approximation to the dynamical
Casimir effect should be quite accurate.Comment: 23 pages, no figures, REVTe
Quantum radiation in external background fields
A canonical formalism is presented which allows for investigations of quantum
radiation induced by localized, smooth disturbances of classical background
fields by means of a perturbation theory approach. For massless,
non-selfinteracting quantum fields at zero temperature we demonstrate that the
low-energy part of the spectrum of created particles exhibits a non-thermal
character. Applied to QED in varying dielectrics the response theory approach
facilitates to study two distinct processes contributing to the production of
photons: the squeezing effect due to space-time varying properties of the
medium and of the velocity effect due to its motion. The generalization of this
approach to finite temperatures as well as the relation to sonoluminescence is
indicated.Comment: 20 page
The Massive Schwinger Model in a Fast Moving Frame
We present a non-perturbative study of the massive Schwinger model. We use a
Hamiltonian approach, based on a momentum lattice corresponding to a fast
moving reference frame, and equal time quantization.Comment: contribution to Lattice'98 including: 2 style files
(espcrc2.sty,psfig.sty) + text file (LaTeX) + 3 figures (ps) + complete
paper(ps
Poincare Invariance of a Quantized Duality Symmetric Theory
The noncovariant duality symmetric action put forward by Schwarz-Sen is
quantized by means of the Dirac bracket quantization procedure. The resulting
quantum theory is shown to be, nevertheless, relativistically invariant
Identity of the van der Waals Force and the Casimir Effect and the Irrelevance of these Phenomena to Sonoluminescence
We show that the Casimir, or zero-point, energy of a dilute dielectric ball,
or of a spherical bubble in a dielectric medium, coincides with the sum of the
van der Waals energies between the molecules that make up the medium. That
energy, which is finite and repulsive when self-energy and surface effects are
removed, may be unambiguously calculated by either dimensional continuation or
by zeta function regularization. This physical interpretation of the Casimir
energy seems unambiguous evidence that the bulk self-energy cannot be relevant
to sonoluminescence.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, REVTe
Aspects of mutually unbiased bases in odd prime power dimensions
We rephrase the Wootters-Fields construction [Ann. Phys., {\bf 191}, 363
(1989)] of a full set of mutually unbiased bases in a complex vector space of
dimensions , where is an odd prime, in terms of the character
vectors of the cyclic group of order . This form may be useful in
explicitly writing down mutually unbiased bases for .Comment: 3 pages, latex, no figure
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