38 research outputs found
Cosmological horizons and reconstruction of quantum field theories
As a starting point, we state some relevant geometrical properties enjoyed by
the cosmological horizon of a certain class of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker
backgrounds. Those properties are generalised to a larger class of expanding
spacetimes admitting a geodesically complete cosmological horizon \scrim
common to all co-moving observers. This structure is later exploited in order
to recast, in a cosmological background, some recent results for a linear
scalar quantum field theory in spacetimes asymptotically flat at null infinity.
Under suitable hypotheses on , encompassing both the cosmological de Sitter
background and a large class of other FRW spacetimes, the algebra of
observables for a Klein-Gordon field is mapped into a subalgebra of the algebra
of observables \cW(\scrim) constructed on the cosmological horizon. There is
exactly one pure quasifree state on \cW(\scrim) which fulfils a
suitable energy-positivity condition with respect to a generator related with
the cosmological time displacements. Furthermore induces a preferred
physically meaningful quantum state for the quantum theory in the
bulk. If admits a timelike Killing generator preserving \scrim, then the
associated self-adjoint generator in the GNS representation of has
positive spectrum (i.e. energy). Moreover turns out to be invariant
under every symmetry of the bulk metric which preserves the cosmological
horizon. In the case of an expanding de Sitter spacetime, coincides
with the Euclidean (Bunch-Davies) vacuum state, hence being Hadamard in this
case. Remarks on the validity of the Hadamard property for in more
general spacetimes are presented.Comment: 32 pages, 1 figure, to appear on Comm. Math. Phys., dedicated to
Professor Klaus Fredenhagen on the occasion of his 60th birthda
Black Hole Entropy without Brick Walls
We present evidence which confirms a suggestion by Susskind and Uglum
regarding black hole entropy. Using a Pauli-Villars regulator, we find that 't
Hooft's approach to evaluating black hole entropy through a
statistical-mechanical counting of states for a scalar field propagating
outside the event horizon yields precisely the one-loop renormalization of the
standard Bekenstein-Hawking formula, S=\A/(4G). Our calculation also yields a
constant contribution to the black hole entropy, a contribution associated with
the one-loop renormalization of higher curvature terms in the gravitational
action.Comment: 15 pages, plain LaTex minor additions including some references;
version accepted for publicatio
Casimir Effect, Achucarro-Ortiz Black Hole and the Cosmological Constant
We treat the two-dimensional Achucarro-Ortiz black hole (also known as (1+1)
dilatonic black hole) as a Casimir-type system. The stress tensor of a massless
scalar field satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions on two one-dimensional
"walls" ("Dirichlet walls") is explicitly calculated in three different vacua.
Without employing known regularization techniques, the expression in each
vacuum for the stress tensor is reached by using the Wald's axioms. Finally,
within this asymptotically non-flat gravitational background, it is shown that
the equilibrium of the configurations, obtained by setting Casimir force to
zero, is controlled by the cosmological constant.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, minor corrections, comments and clarifications
added, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Method to compute the stress-energy tensor for the massless spin 1/2 field in a general static spherically symmetric spacetime
A method for computing the stress-energy tensor for the quantized, massless,
spin 1/2 field in a general static spherically symmetric spacetime is
presented. The field can be in a zero temperature state or a non-zero
temperature thermal state. An expression for the full renormalized
stress-energy tensor is derived. It consists of a sum of two tensors both of
which are conserved. One tensor is written in terms of the modes of the
quantized field and has zero trace. In most cases it must be computed
numerically. The other tensor does not explicitly depend on the modes and has a
trace equal to the trace anomaly. It can be used as an analytic approximation
for the stress-energy tensor and is equivalent to other approximations that
have been made for the stress-energy tensor of the massless spin 1/2 field in
static spherically symmetric spacetimes.Comment: 34 pages, no figure
Casimir Effect in 2D Stringy Black Hole Backgrounds
We consider the two-dimensional "Schwarzschild" and "Reissner-Nordstrom"
stringy black holes as systems of Casimir type. We explicitly calculate the
energy-momentum tensor of a massless scalar field satisfying Dirichlet boundary
conditions on two one-dimensional "walls". These results are obtained using the
Wald's axioms. Thermodynamical quantities such as pressure, specific heat,
isothermal compressibility and entropy of the two-dimensional stringy black
holes are calculated. A comparison is made between the obtained results and the
laws of thermodynamics. The results obtained for the extremal (Q=M) stringy
two-dimensional charged black hole are identical in all three different vacua
used; a fact that indicates its quantum stability.Comment: RevTeX, 27 pages, no figures, to appear in Phys.Rev. D, Vol 64 (Dec.
2001
Metabolic profiling stratifies colorectal cancer and reveals adenosylhomocysteinase as a therapeutic target
The genomic landscape of colorectal cancer (CRC) is shaped by inactivating mutations in tumour suppressors such as APC, and oncogenic mutations such as mutant KRAS. Here we used genetically engineered mouse models, and multimodal mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to study the impact of common genetic drivers of CRC on the metabolic landscape of the intestine. We show that untargeted metabolic profiling can be applied to stratify intestinal tissues according to underlying genetic alterations, and use mass spectrometry imaging to identify tumour, stromal and normal adjacent tissues. By identifying ions that drive variation between normal and transformed tissues, we found dysregulation of the methionine cycle to be a hallmark of APC-deficient CRC. Loss of Apc in the mouse intestine was found to be sufficient to drive expression of one of its enzymes, adenosylhomocysteinase (AHCY), which was also found to be transcriptionally upregulated in human CRC. Targeting of AHCY function impaired growth of APC-deficient organoids in vitro, and prevented the characteristic hyperproliferative/crypt progenitor phenotype driven by acute deletion of Apc in vivo, even in the context of mutant Kras. Finally, pharmacological inhibition of AHCY reduced intestinal tumour burden in ApcMin/+ mice indicating its potential as a metabolic drug target in CRC