185 research outputs found
De Sitter Waves and the Zero Curvature Limit
We show that a particular set of global modes for the massive de Sitter
scalar field (the de Sitter waves) allows to manage the group representations
and the Fourier transform in the flat (Minkowskian) limit. This is in
opposition to the usual acceptance based on a previous result, suggesting the
appearance of negative energy in the limit process. This method also confirms
that the Euclidean vacuum, in de Sitter spacetime, has to be preferred as far
as one wishes to recover ordinary QFT in the flat limit.Comment: 9 pages, latex no figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Squeezed States in the de Sitter Vacuum
We discuss the treatment of squeezed states as excitations in the Euclidean
vacuum of de Sitter space. A comparison with the treatment of these states as
candidate no-particle states, or alpha-vacua, shows important differences
already in the free theory. At the interacting level alpha-vacua are
inconsistent, but squeezed state excitations seem perfectly acceptable. Indeed,
matrix elements can be renormalized in the excited states using precisely the
standard local counterterms of the Euclidean vacuum. Implications for
inflationary scenarios in cosmology are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, no figures. One new citation in version 3; no other change
Universality of low-energy scattering in (2+1) dimensions
We prove that, in (2+1) dimensions, the S-wave phase shift, , k
being the c.m. momentum, vanishes as either as . The constant is universal and .
This result is established first in the framework of the Schr\"odinger equation
for a large class of potentials, second for a massive field theory from proved
analyticity and unitarity, and, finally, we look at perturbation theory in
and study its relation to our non-perturbative result. The
remarkable fact here is that in n-th order the perturbative amplitude diverges
like as , while the full amplitude vanishes as . We show how these two facts can be reconciled.Comment: 23 pages, Late
Approximate spectral functions in thermal field theory
Causality requires, that the (anti-) commutator of two interacting field
operators vanishes for space-like coordinate differences. This implies, that
the Fourier transform of the spectral function of this quantum field should
vanish in the space-like domain. We find, that this requirement imposes some
constraints on the use of resummed propagators in high temperature gauge
theory.Comment: 15 pages, latex, 3 figures included. Major rewriting of paper.
Available also at ftp://tpri6c.gsi.de/pub/phenning/h95comm/ or at
http://www.gsi.de/~phenning/pahtft.htm
De Sitter space and perpetuum mobile
We give general arguments that any interacting non--conformal {\it classical}
field theory in de Sitter space leads to the possibility of constructing a
perpetuum mobile. The arguments are based on the observation that massive free
falling particles can radiate other massive particles on the classical level as
seen by the free falling observer. The intensity of the radiation process is
non-zero even for particles with any finite mass, i.e. with a wavelength which
is within the causal domain. Hence, we conclude that either de Sitter space can
not exist eternally or that one can build a perpetuum mobile.Comment: 11 pages revtex, no figures. Added discussion to strengthen
conclusio
On the Perturbative Stability of Quantum Field Theories in de Sitter Space
We use a field theoretic generalization of the Wigner-Weisskopf method to
study the stability of the Bunch-Davies vacuum state for a massless,
conformally coupled interacting test field in de Sitter space. We find that in
theory the vacuum does {\em not} decay, while in
non-conformally invariant models, the vacuum decays as a consequence of a
vacuum wave function renormalization that depends \emph{singularly} on
(conformal) time and is proportional to the spatial volume. In a particular
regularization scheme the vacuum wave function renormalization is the same as
in Minkowski spacetime, but in terms of the \emph{physical volume}, which leads
to an interpretation of the decay. A simple example of the impact of vacuum
decay upon a non-gaussian correlation is discussed. Single particle excitations
also decay into two particle states, leading to particle production that
hastens the exiting of modes from the de Sitter horizon resulting in the
production of \emph{entangled superhorizon pairs} with a population consistent
with unitary evolution. We find a non-perturbative, self-consistent "screening"
mechanism that shuts off vacuum decay asymptotically, leading to a stationary
vacuum state in a manner not unlike the approach to a fixed point in the space
of states.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures. Version to appear in JHEP, more explanation
Domain-wall/Cosmology correspondence in adS/dS supergravity
We realize the domain-wall/cosmology correspondence for
(pseudo)supersymmetric domain walls (cosmologies) in the context of
four-dimensional supergravity. The OSp(2|4)-invariant anti-de Sitter (adS)
vacuum of a particular N=2 Maxwell-Einstein supergravity theory is shown to
correspond to the OSp(2^*|2,2)-invariant de Sitter (dS) vacuum of a particular
pseudo-supergravity model, with `twisted' reality conditions on spinors. More
generally, supersymmetric domain walls of the former model correspond to
pseudo-supersymmetric cosmologies of the latter model, with time-dependent
pseudo-Killing spinors that we give explicitly.Comment: 21 pages;v2: rewritten to clarify the link with fake supergravity --
main results unchanged; v3: typos corrected, two refs added, JHEP versio
Photon Production from a Quark--Gluon Plasma
In-medium interactions of a particle in a hot plasma are considered in the
framework of thermal field theory. The formalism to calculate gauge invariant
rates for photon and dilepton production from the medium is given. In the
application to a QED plasma, astrophysical consequences are pointed out. The
photon production rate from strongly interacting quarks in the quark--gluon
plasma, which might be formed in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions, is
calculated in the previously unaccessible regime of photon energies of the
order of the plasma temperature. For temperatures below the chiral phase
transition, an effective field theory incorporating dynamical chiral symmetry
breaking is employed, and perturbative QCD at higher temperatures. A smooth
transition between both regions is obtained. The relevance to the soft photon
problem and to high energy heavy ion experiments is discussed.Comment: Paper in ReVTeX. Figures and complete paper available via anonymous
ftp, ftp://tpri6c.gsi.de/pub/phenning/hq95ga
Protecting the conformal symmetry via bulk renormalization on Anti deSitter space
The problem of perturbative breakdown of conformal symmetry can be avoided,
if a conformally covariant quantum field phi on d-dimensional Minkowski
spacetime is viewed as the boundary limit of a quantum field Phi on
d+1-dimensional anti-deSitter spacetime (AdS). We study the boundary limit in
renormalized perturbation theory with polynomial interactions in AdS, and point
out the differences as compared to renormalization directly on the boundary. In
particular, provided the limit exists, there is no conformal anomaly. We
compute explicitly the "fish diagram" on AdS_4 by differential renormalization,
and calculate the anomalous dimension of the composite boundary field phi^2
with bulk interaction Phi^4.Comment: 40 page
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