Euclidean thermal spinor Green's function in the spacetime of a straight cosmic string

Within the framework of the quantum field theory at finite temperature on a conical space, we determine the Euclidean thermal spinor Green's function for a massless spinor field. We then calculate the thermal average of the energy-momentum tensor of a thermal bath of massless fermions. In the high-temperature limit, we find that the straight cosmic string does not perturb the thermal bathComment: 11 pages, latex, no figure

On the scattering amplitude in the Aharonov-Bohm gauge field

A general expression for the scattering amplitude of nonrelativistic spinless particles in the Aharonov-Bohm gauge potential is obtained within the time independent formalism. The result is valid also in the backward and forward directions as well as for any choice of the boundary conditions on the wave function at the flux tube position.Comment: 18 pages, plain TE

Time-dependent quantum scattering in 2+1 dimensional gravity

The propagation of a localized wave packet in the conical space-time created by a pointlike massive source in 2+1 dimensional gravity is analyzed. The scattering amplitude is determined and shown to be finite along the classical scattering directions due to interference between the scattered and the transmitted wave functions. The analogy with diffraction theory is emphasized.Comment: 15 pages in LaTeX with 3 PostScript figure

Dirac fields in the background of a magnetic flux string and spectral boundary conditions

We study the problem of a Dirac field in the background of an Aharonov-Bohm flux string. We exclude the origin by imposing spectral boundary conditions at a finite radius then shrinked to zero. Thus, we obtain a behaviour of eigenfunctions which is compatible with the self-adjointness of the radial Hamiltonian and the invariance under integer translations of the reduced flux. After confining the theory to a finite region, we check the consistency with the index theorem, and evaluate its vacuum fermionic number and Casimir energy.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure Two references added To be published in International Journal of Modern Physics

Topological field theories in n-dimensional spacetimes and Cartan's equations

Action principles of the BF type for diffeomorphism invariant topological field theories living in n-dimensional spacetime manifolds are presented. Their construction is inspired by Cuesta and Montesinos' recent paper where Cartan's first and second structure equations together with first and second Bianchi identities are treated as the equations of motion for a field theory. In opposition to that paper, the current approach involves also auxiliary fields and holds for arbitrary n-dimensional spacetimes. Dirac's canonical analysis for the actions is detailedly carried out in the generic case and it is shown that these action principles define topological field theories, as mentioned. The current formalism is a generic framework to construct geometric theories with local degrees of freedom by introducing additional constraints on the various fields involved that destroy the topological character of the original theory. The latter idea is implemented in two-dimensional spacetimes where gravity coupled to matter fields is constructed out, which has indeed local excitations.Comment: LaTeX file, no figure

Pauli-Lubanski scalar in the Polygon Approach to 2+1-Dimensional Gravity

In this paper we derive an expression for the conserved Pauli-Lubanski scalar in 't Hooft's polygon approach to 2+1-dimensional gravity coupled to point particles. We find that it is represented by an extra spatial shift $\Delta$ in addition to the usual identification rule (being a rotation over the cut). For two particles this invariant is expressed in terms of 't Hooft's phase-space variables and we check its classical limit.Comment: Some errors are corrected and a new introduction and discussion are added. 6 pages Latex, 4 eps-figure

Proper incorporation of self-adjoint extension method to Green's function formalism : one-dimensional δ′\delta^{'}-function potential case

One-dimensional $\delta^{'}$-function potential is discussed in the framework of Green's function formalism without invoking perturbation expansion. It is shown that the energy-dependent Green's function for this case is crucially dependent on the boundary conditions which are provided by self-adjoint extension method. The most general Green's function which contains four real self-adjoint extension parameters is constructed. Also the relation between the bare coupling constant and self-adjoint extension parameter is derived.Comment: LATEX, 13 page

Massive 3+1 Aharonov-Bohm fermions in an MIT cylinder

We study the effect of a background flux string on the vacuum energy of massive Dirac fermions in 3+1 dimensions confined to a finite spatial region through MIT boundary conditions. We treat two admissible self-adjoint extensions of the Hamiltonian. The external sector is also studied and unambiguous results for the Casimir energy of massive fermions in the whole space are obtained.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, LaTe

(2+1)-Gravity Solutions with Spinning Particles

We derive, in 2+1 dimensions, classical solutions for metric and motion of two or more spinning particles, in the conformal Coulomb gauge introduced previously. The solutions are exact in the $N$-body static case, and are perturbative in the particles' velocities in the dynamic two-body case. A natural boundary for the existence of our gauge choice is provided by some ``CTC horizons'' encircling the particles, within which closed timelike curves occur.Comment: 30 pages, LaTeX, no figure

Simple Quantum Systems in Spacetimes with Closed Timelike Curves

Three simple examples illustrate properties of path integral amplitudes in fixed background spacetimes with closed timelike curves: non-relativistic potential scattering in the Born approximation is non-unitary, but both an example with hard spheres and the exact solution of a totally discrete model are unitary.Comment: 15 pages, CALT-68-180