Quantum energies with worldline numerics

We present new results for Casimir forces between rigid bodies which impose Dirichlet boundary conditions on a fluctuating scalar field. As a universal computational tool, we employ worldline numerics which builds on a combination of the string-inspired worldline approach with Monte-Carlo techniques. Worldline numerics is not only particularly powerful for inhomogeneous background configurations such as involved Casimir geometries, it also provides for an intuitive picture of quantum-fluctuation-induced phenomena. Results for the Casimir geometries of a sphere above a plate and a new perpendicular-plates configuration are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Submitted to the Proceedings of the Seventh Workshop QFEXT'05 (Barcelona, September 5-9, 2005), Refs updated, version to appear in JPhys

Optical probes of the quantum vacuum: The photon polarization tensor in external fields

The photon polarization tensor is the central building block of an effective theory description of photon propagation in the quantum vacuum. It accounts for the vacuum fluctuations of the underlying theory, and in the presence of external electromagnetic fields, gives rise to such striking phenomena as vacuum birefringence and dichroism. Standard approximations of the polarization tensor are often restricted to on-the-light-cone dynamics in homogeneous electromagnetic fields, and are limited to certain momentum regimes only. We devise two different strategies to go beyond these limitations: First, we aim at obtaining novel analytical insights into the photon polarization tensor for homogeneous fields, while retaining its full momentum dependence. Second, we employ wordline numerical methods to surpass the constant-field limit.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures; typo in Eq. (5) corrected (matches journal version

Supersymmetry breaking as a quantum phase transition

We explore supersymmetry breaking in the light of a rich fixed-point structure of two-dimensional supersymmetric Wess-Zumino models with one supercharge using the functional renormalization group (RG). We relate the dynamical breaking of supersymmetry to an RG relevant control parameter of the superpotential which is a common relevant direction of all fixed points of the system. Supersymmetry breaking can thus be understood as a quantum phase transition analogously to similar transitions in correlated fermion systems. Supersymmetry gives rise to a new superscaling relation between the critical exponent associated with the control parameter and the anomalous dimension of the field -- a scaling relation which is not known in standard spin systems.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, discussion of results extended, version to appear as a Rapid Communication in Phys. Rev.

Photon propagation in a cold axion background with and without magnetic field

A cold relic axion condensate resulting from vacuum misalignment in the early universe oscillates with a frequency m, where m is the axion mass. We determine the properties of photons propagating in a simplified version of such a background where the sinusoidal variation is replaced by a square wave profile. We prove that previous results that indicated that charged particles moving fast in such a background radiate, originally derived assuming that all momenta involved were much larger than m, hold for long wavelengths too. We also analyze in detail how the introduction of a magnetic field changes the properties of photon propagation in such a medium. We briefly comment on possible astrophysical implications of these results.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, revised version includes an extended discussion on physical implication

Ultraviolet observations of the X-ray photoionized wind of Cygnus X-1 during X-ray soft/high state

(Shortened) Ultraviolet observations of the black hole X-ray binary Cygnus X-1 were obtained using the STIS on HSTubble. We detect P Cygni line features show strong, broad absorption components when the X-ray source is behind the companion star and noticeably weaker absorption when the X-ray source is between us and the companion star. We fit the P Cygni profiles using the SEI method applied to a spherically symmetric stellar wind subject to X-ray photoionization from the black hole. The Si IV doublet provides the most reliable estimates of the parameters of the wind and X-ray illumination. The velocity $v$ increases with radius $r$ according to $v=v_\infty(1-r_\star/r)^\beta$, with$\beta\approx0.75$ and $v_\infty\approx1420$ km s$^{-1}$.The microturbulent velocity was $\approx160$ km s$^{-1}$. Our fit implies a ratio of X-ray luminosity to wind mass-loss rate of L$_{X,38}/\dot M_{-6} \approx 0.33$, measured at $\dot M_{-6}$ = 4.8. Our models determine parameters that may be used to estimate the accretion rate onto the black hole and independently predict the X-ray luminosity. Our predicted L$_x$ matches that determined by contemporaneous RXTE ASM remarkably well, but is a factor of 3 lower than the rate according to Bondi-Hoyle-Littleton spherical wind accretion. We suggest that some of the energy of accretion may go into powering a jet.Comment: 34 pages, 21 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

Renormalization group study of the four-body problem

We perform a renormalization group analysis of the non-relativistic four-boson problem by means of a simple model with pointlike three- and four-body interactions. We investigate in particular the unitarity point where the scattering length is infinite and all energies are at the atom threshold. We find that the four-body problem behaves truly universally, independent of any four-body parameter. Our findings confirm the recent conjectures of Platter et al. and von Stecher et al. that the four-body problem is universal, now also from a renormalization group perspective. We calculate the corresponding relations between the four- and three-body bound states, as well as the full bound state spectrum and comment on the influence of effective range corrections.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; v2: revised and published versio