793 research outputs found
Quantum Field Theory Constrains Traversable Wormhole Geometries
Recently a bound on negative energy densities in four-dimensional Minkowski
spacetime was derived for a minimally coupled, quantized, massless, scalar
field in an arbitrary quantum state. The bound has the form of an uncertainty
principle-type constraint on the magnitude and duration of the negative energy
density seen by a timelike geodesic observer. When spacetime is curved and/or
has boundaries, we argue that the bound should hold in regions small compared
to the minimum local characteristic radius of curvature or the distance to any
boundaries, since spacetime can be considered approximately Minkowski on these
scales. We apply the bound to the stress-energy of static traversable wormhole
spacetimes. Our analysis implies that either the wormhole must be only a little
larger than Planck size or that there is a large discrepancy in the length
scales which characterize the wormhole. In the latter case, the negative energy
must typically be concentrated in a thin band many orders of magnitude smaller
than the throat size. These results would seem to make the existence of
macroscopic traversable wormholes very improbable.Comment: 26 pages, plain LaTe
The Quantum Interest Conjecture
Although quantum field theory allows local negative energy densities and
fluxes, it also places severe restrictions upon the magnitude and extent of the
negative energy. The restrictions take the form of quantum inequalities. These
inequalities imply that a pulse of negative energy must not only be followed by
a compensating pulse of positive energy, but that the temporal separation
between the pulses is inversely proportional to their amplitude. In an earlier
paper we conjectured that there is a further constraint upon a negative and
positive energy delta-function pulse pair. This conjecture (the quantum
interest conjecture) states that a positive energy pulse must overcompensate
the negative energy pulse by an amount which is a monotonically increasing
function of the pulse separation. In the present paper we prove the conjecture
for massless quantized scalar fields in two and four-dimensional flat
spacetime, and show that it is implied by the quantum inequalities.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, 3 figures, uses eps
Spatially Averaged Quantum Inequalities Do Not Exist in Four-Dimensional Spacetime
We construct a particular class of quantum states for a massless, minimally
coupled free scalar field which are of the form of a superposition of the
vacuum and multi-mode two-particle states. These states can exhibit local
negative energy densities. Furthermore, they can produce an arbitrarily large
amount of negative energy in a given region of space at a fixed time. This
class of states thus provides an explicit counterexample to the existence of a
spatially averaged quantum inequality in four-dimensional spacetime.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, minor corrections and added comment
Motion of Inertial Observers Through Negative Energy
Recent research has indicated that negative energy fluxes due to quantum
coherence effects obey uncertainty principle-type inequalities of the form
|\Delta E|\,{\Delta \tau} \lprox 1\,. Here is the magnitude of
the negative energy which is transmitted on a timescale . Our main
focus in this paper is on negative energy fluxes which are produced by the
motion of observers through static negative energy regions. We find that
although a quantum inequality appears to be satisfied for radially moving
geodesic observers in two and four-dimensional black hole spacetimes, an
observer orbiting close to a black hole will see a constant negative energy
flux. In addition, we show that inertial observers moving slowly through the
Casimir vacuum can achieve arbitrarily large violations of the inequality. It
seems likely that, in general, these types of negative energy fluxes are not
constrained by inequalities on the magnitude and duration of the flux. We
construct a model of a non-gravitational stress-energy detector, which is
rapidly switched on and off, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of such a
detector.Comment: 18pp + 1 figure(not included, available on request), in LATEX,
TUPT-93-
About the stability of the dodecatoplet
A new investigation is done of the possibility of binding the "dodecatoplet",
a system of six top quarks and six top antiquarks, using the Yukawa potential
mediated by Higgs exchange. A simple variational method gives a upper bound
close to that recently estimated in a mean-field calculation. It is
supplemented by a lower bound provided by identities among the Hamiltonians
describing the system and its subsystems.Comment: 5 pages, two figures merged, refs. added, typos correcte
Gyrations: The Missing Link Between Classical Mechanics with its Underlying Euclidean Geometry and Relativistic Mechanics with its Underlying Hyperbolic Geometry
Being neither commutative nor associative, Einstein velocity addition of
relativistically admissible velocities gives rise to gyrations. Gyrations, in
turn, measure the extent to which Einstein addition deviates from commutativity
and from associativity. Gyrations are geometric automorphisms abstracted from
the relativistic mechanical effect known as Thomas precession
Three-boson relativistic bound states with zero-range interaction
For the zero-range interaction providing a given mass M_2 of the two-body
bound state, the mass M_3 of the relativistic three-boson state is calculated.
We have found that the three-body system exists only when M_2 is greater than a
critical value M_c approximately 1.43 m (m is the constituent mass). For
M_2=M_c the mass M_3 turns into zero and for M_2<M_c there is no solution with
real value of M_3.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
The bremsstrahlung equation for the spin motion in LHC
The influence of the bremsstrahlung on the spin motion is expressed by the
equation which is the analogue and generalization of the
Bargmann-Michel-Telegdi equation. The new constant is involved in this
equation. This constant can be immediately determined by the experimental
measurement of the spin motion, or it follows from the classical limit of
quantum electrodynamics with radiative corrections.Comment: 9 page
The role of orbital angular momentum in the proton spin
The orbital angular momenta and of up and down quarks in the
proton are estimated as functions of the energy scale as model-independently as
possible, on the basis of Ji's angular momentum sum rule. This analysis
indicates that is large and negative even at low energy scale of
nonperturbative QCD, in contrast to Thomas' similar analysis based on the
refined cloudy bag model. We pursuit the origin of this apparent discrepancy
and suggest that it may have a connection with the fundamental question of how
to define quark orbital angular momenta in QCD.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 1 table A slightly extended version to appear in
Eur. Phys. J.
Three-body recombination rates near a Feshbach resonance within a two-channel contact interaction model
We calculate the three-body recombination rate into a shallow dimer in a gas
of cold bosonic atoms near a Feshbach resonance using a two-channel contact
interaction model. The two-channel model naturally describes the variation of
the scattering length through the Feshbach resonance and has a finite effective
range. We confront the theory with the available experimental data and show
that the two-channel model is able to quantitatively describe the existing
data. The finite effective range leads to a reduction of the scaling factor
between the recombination minima from the universal value of 22.7. The
reduction is larger for larger effective ranges or, correspondingly, for
narrower Feshbach resonances.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
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