335 research outputs found
Some aspects of dispersive horizons: lessons from surface waves
Hydrodynamic surface waves propagating on a moving background flow experience
an effective curved space-time. We discuss experiments with gravity waves and
capillary-gravity waves in which we study hydrodynamic black/white-hole
horizons and the possibility of penetrating across them. Such possibility of
penetration is due to the interaction with an additional "blue" horizon, which
results from the inclusion of surface tension in the low-frequency gravity-wave
theory. This interaction leads to a dispersive cusp beyond which both horizons
completely disappear. We speculate the appearance of high-frequency
"superluminal" corrections to be a universal characteristic of analogue gravity
systems, and discuss their relevance for the trans-Planckian problem. We also
discuss the role of Airy interference in hybridising the incoming waves with
the flowing background (the effective spacetime) and blurring the position of
the black/white-hole horizon.Comment: 29 pages. Lecture Notes for the IX SIGRAV School on "Analogue
Gravity", Como (Italy), May 201
Quantum Non-Gravity and Stellar Collapse
Observational indications combined with analyses of analogue and emergent
gravity in condensed matter systems support the possibility that there might be
two distinct energy scales related to quantum gravity: the scale that sets the
onset of quantum gravitational effects (related to the Planck scale) and
the much higher scale signalling the breaking of Lorentz symmetry. We
suggest a natural interpretation for these two scales: is the energy
scale below which a special relativistic spacetime emerges, is the scale
below which this spacetime geometry becomes curved. This implies that the first
`quantum' gravitational effect around could simply be that gravity is
progressively switched off, leaving an effective Minkowski quantum field theory
up to much higher energies of the order of . This scenario may have
important consequences for gravitational collapse, inasmuch as it opens up new
possibilities for the final state of stellar collapse other than an evaporating
black hole.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. v2: Partially restructured; potentially
observable consequence added. Several clarifications + 3 new references. To
appear in Found. of Phy
Quasi-normal mode analysis in BEC acoustic black holes
We perform a quasi-normal mode analysis of black hole configurations in
Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). In this analysis we use the full Bogoliubov
dispersion relation, not just the hydrodynamic or geometric approximation. We
restrict our attention to one-dimensional flows in BEC with step-like
discontinuities. For this case we show that in the hydrodynamic approximation
quasi-normal modes do not exist. The full dispersion relation, however, allows
the existence of quasi-normal modes. Remarkably, the spectrum of these modes is
not discrete but continuous.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Conceptual Challenges on the Road to the Multiverse
The current debate about a possible change of paradigm from a single universe to a multiverse scenario could have deep implications on our view of cosmology and of science in general. These implications therefore deserve to be analyzed from a fundamental conceptual level. We briefly review the different multiverse ideas, both historically and within contemporary physics. We then discuss several positions within philosophy of science with regard to scientific progress, and apply these to the multiverse debate. Finally, we construct some key concepts for a physical multiverse scenario and discuss the challenges this scenario has to deal with in order to provide a solid, testable theory
Horizon effects for surface waves in wave channels and circular jumps
Surface waves in classical fluids experience a rich array of black/white hole
horizon effects. The dispersion relation depends on the characteristics of the
fluid (in our case, water and silicon oil) as well as on the fluid depth and
the wavelength regime. In some cases, it can be tuned to obtain a relativistic
regime plus high-frequency dispersive effects. We discuss two types of ongoing
analogue white-hole experiments: deep water waves propagating against a
counter-current in a wave channel and shallow waves on a circular hydraulic
jump.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figs. To appear in: Proceedings of the Spanish Relativity
Meeting (ERE2010
Hawking tunneling and boomerang behaviour of massive particles with E < m
Copyright © 2012 American Institute of PhysicsTowards New Paradigms: Proceeding of the Spanish Relativity Meeting 2011 (ERE2011), 29 August–2 September 2011, Madrid, SpainMassive particles are radiated from black holes through the Hawking mechanism together with the more familiar radiation of massless particles. For E ≥ m, the emission rate is identical to the massless case. But E < m particles can also tunnel across the horizon. A study of the dispersion relation and wave packet simulations show that their classical trajectory is similar to that of a boomerang. The tunneling formalism is used to calculate the probability for detecting such E < m particles, for a Schwarzschild black hole of astrophysical size or in an analogue gravity experiment, as a function of the distance from the horizon and the energy of the particle
Experimental demonstration of the supersonic-subsonic bifurcation in the circular jump: A hydrodynamic white hole
We provide an experimental demonstration that the circular hydraulic jump
represents a hydrodynamic white hole or gravitational fountain (the
time-reverse of a black hole) by measuring the angle of the Mach cone created
by an object in the "supersonic" inner flow region. We emphasise the general
character of this gravitational analogy by showing theoretically that the white
hole horizon constitutes a stationary and spatial saddle-node bifurcation
within dynamical-systems theory. We also demonstrate that the inner region has
a "superluminal" dispersion relation, i.e., that the group velocity of the
surface waves increases with frequency, and discuss some possible consequences
with respect to the robustness of Hawking radiation. Finally, we point out that
our experiment shows a concrete example of a possible "transplanckian
distortion" of black/white holes.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. New "transplanckian effect" described. Several
clarifications, additional figures and references. Published versio
Stability analysis of sonic horizons in Bose-Einstein condensates
We examine the linear stability of various configurations in Bose-Einstein
condensates with sonic horizons. These configurations are chosen in analogy
with gravitational systems with a black hole horizon, a white hole horizon and
a combination of both. We discuss the role of different boundary conditions in
this stability analysis, paying special attention to their meaning in
gravitational terms. We highlight that the stability of a given configuration,
not only depends on its specific geometry, but especially on these boundary
conditions. Under boundary conditions directly extrapolated from those in
standard General Relativity, black hole configurations, white hole
configurations and the combination of both into a black hole--white hole
configuration are shown to be stable. However, we show that under other (less
stringent) boundary conditions, configurations with a single black hole horizon
remain stable, whereas white hole and black hole--white hole configurations
develop instabilities associated to the presence of the sonic horizons.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures (reduced resolution
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