Light polarization oscillations induced by photon-photon scattering

We consider the Heisenberg-Euler action for an electromagnetic field in vacuum, which includes quantum corrections to the Maxwell equations induced by photon-photon scattering. We show that, in some configurations, the plane monochromatic waves become unstable, due to the appearance of secularities in the dynamical equations. These secularities can be treated using a multiscale approach, introducing a slow time variable. The amplitudes of the plane electromagnetic waves satisfy a system of ordinary differential nonlinear equations in the slow time. The analysis of this system shows that, due to the effect of photon-photon scattering, in the unstable configurations the electromagnetic waves oscillate periodically between left-hand-sided and right-hand-sided polarizations. Finally, we discuss the physical implications of this finding, and the possibility of disclosing traces of this effect in optical experiments.Comment: Version published in PRA, some typos correcte

Collective behavior of light in vacuum

Under the action of light-by-light scattering, light beams show collective behaviors in vacuum. For instance, in the case of two counterpropagating laser beams with specific initial helicity, the polarization of each beam oscillates periodically between the left and right helicity. Furthermore, the amplitudes and the corresponding intensities of each polarization propagate like waves. Such polarization waves might be observationally accessible in future laser experiments, in a physical regime complementary to those explored by particle accelerators.Comment: Version published in Phys. Rev. A. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1710.0333

Interaction effects on atomic laboratory trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

We discuss the effect of inter-atoms interactions on the condensation temperature $T_c$ of an atomic laboratory trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. We show that, in the mean-field Hartree-Fock and semiclassical approximations, interactions produce a shift $\Delta T_{c}/T_{c}^{0} \approx b_1 (a/\lambda_{T_c}) + b_2 (a/\lambda_{T_c})^2 + \psi[a/\lambda_{T_c}]$ with $a$ the s-wave scattering length, $\lambda_T$ the thermal wavelength and $\psi[a/\lambda_{T_c}]$ a non-analytic function such that $\psi[0] = \psi'[0] = \psi"[0] = 0$ and $|\psi"'[0]| = \infty$. Therefore, with no more assumptions than Hartree-Fock and semiclassical approximations, interaction effecs are perturbative to second order in $a/\lambda_{T_c}$ and the expected non-perturbativity of physical quantities at critical temperature appears only to third order. We compare this finding with different results by other authors, which are based on more than the Hartree-Fock and semiclassical approximations. Moreover, we obtain an analytical estimation for $b_2 \simeq 18.8$ which improves a previous numerical result. We also discuss how the discrepancy between $b_2$ and the empirical value of $b_2 = 46 \pm 5$ may be explained with no need to resort to beyond-mean field effects.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in Eur. Phys. J. B (2013

Isochronous solutions of Einstein's equations and their Newtonian limit

It has been recently demonstrated that it is possible to construct isochronous cosmologies, extending to general relativity a result valid for non-relativistic Hamiltonian systems. In this paper we review these findings and we discuss the Newtonian limit of these isochronous spacetimes, showing that it reproduces the analogous findings in the context of non-relativistic dynamics.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1406.715

Isochronous Spacetimes

The possibility has been recently demonstrated to manufacture (nonrelativistic, Hamiltonian) many-body problems which feature an isochronous time evolution with an arbitrarily assigned period $T$ yet mimic with good approximation, or even exactly, any given many-body problem (within a quite large class, encompassing most of nonrelativistic physics) over times $\tilde{T}$ which may also be arbitrarily large (but of course such that $\tilde{T}<T$). In this paper we review and further explore the possibility to extend this finding to a general relativity context, so that it becomes relevant for cosmology.Comment: Submitted to Acta Appl. Mat

Nonlinear stability of Minkowski spacetime in Nonlocal Gravity

We prove that the Minkowski spacetime is stable at nonlinear level and to all perturbative orders in the gravitational perturbation in a general class of nonlocal gravitational theories that are unitary and finite at quantum level

On the occurrence of gauge-dependent secularities in nonlinear gravitational waves

We study the plane (not necessarily monochromatic) gravitational waves at nonlinear quadratic order on a flat background in vacuum. We show that, in the harmonic gauge, the nonlinear waves are unstable. We argue that, at this order, this instability can not be eliminated by means of a multiscale approach, i.e. introducing suitable long variables, as it is often the case when secularities appear in a perturbative scheme. However, this is a non-physical and gauge-dependent effect that disappears in a suitable system of coordinates. In facts, we show that in a specific gauge such instability does not occur, and that it is possible to solve exactly the second order nonlinear equations of gravitational waves. Incidentally, we note that this gauge coincides with the one used by Belinski and Zakharov to find exact solitonic solutions of Einstein's equations, that is to an exactly integrable case, and this fact makes our second order nonlinear solutions less interesting. However, the important warning is that one must be aware of the existence of the instability reported in this paper, when studying nonlinear gravitational waves in the harmonic gauge

Super-renormalizable or finite completion of the Starobinsky theory

The recent Planck data of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropies support the Starobinsky theory in which the quadratic Ricci scalar drives cosmic inflation. We build up a multi-dimensional quantum consisted ultraviolet completion of the model in a phenomenological "bottom-up approach". We present the maximal class of theories compatible with unitarity and (super-)renormalizability or finiteness which reduces to the Starobinsky theory in the low-energy limit. The outcome is a maximal extension of the Krasnikov-Tomboulis-Modesto theory including an extra scalar degree of freedom besides the graviton field. The original theory was afterwards independently discovered by Biswas-Gerwick-Koivisto-Mazumdar starting from first principles. We explicitly show power counting super-renormalizability or finiteness (in odd dimensions) and unitarity (no ghosts) of the theory. Any further extension of the theory is non-unitary confirming the existence of at most one single extra degree of freedom, the scalaron. A mechanism to achieve the Starobinsky theory in string (field) theory is also investigated at the end of the paper.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

Non-unitarity of Minkowskian non-local quantum field theories

We show that Minkowskian non-local quantum field theories are not unitary. We consider a simple one loop diagram for a scalar non-local field and show that the imaginary part of the corresponding complex amplitude is not given by Cutkosky rules, indeed this diagram violates the unitarity condition. We compare this result with the case of an Euclidean non-local scalar field, that has been shown to satisfy the Cutkosky rules, and we clearly identify the reason of the breaking of unitarity of the Minkowskian theory

Cutkosky rules and perturbative unitarity in Euclidean nonlocal quantum field theories

We prove the unitarity of the Euclidean nonlocal scalar field theory to all perturbative orders in the loop expansion. The amplitudes in the Euclidean space are calculated assuming that all the particles have purely imaginary energies, and afterwards they are analytically continued to real energies. We show that such amplitudes satisfy the Cutkowsky rules and that only the cut diagrams corresponding to normal thresholds contribute to their imaginary part. This implies that the theory is unitary. This analysis is then exported to nonlocal gauge and gravity theories by means of Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin or diffeomorphism invariance, and Ward identities