29651175
Spontaneous excitation of an accelerated multilevel atom in dipole coupling to the derivative of a scalar field
We study the spontaneous excitation of an accelerated multilevel atom in dipole coupling to the derivative of a massless quantum scalar field and separately calculate the contributions of the vacuum fluctuation and radiation reaction to the rate of change of the mean atomic energy of the atom. It is found that, in contrast to the case where a monopole-like interaction between the atom and the field is assumed, there appear extra corrections proportional to the acceleration squared, in addition to corrections which can be viewed as a result of an ambient thermal bath at the Unruh temperature, as compared with the inertial case, and the acceleration induced correction terms show anisotropy with the contribution from longitudinal polarization being four times that from the transverse polarization for isotropically polarized accelerated atoms. Our results suggest that the effect of acceleration on the rate of change of the mean atomic energy is dependent not only on the quantum field to which the atom is coupled, but also on the type of the interaction even if the same scalar quantum field is considered.
118525095
Lamb shift for static atoms outside a Schwarzschild black hole
We study, by separately calculating the contributions of vacuum fluctuations and radiation reaction to the atomic energy level shift, the Lamb shift of a static two-level atom interacting with real massless scalar fields in the Boulware, Unruh, and Hartle-Hawking vacuums outside a Schwarzschild black hole. We find that in the Boulware vacuum, the Lamb shift gets a correction arising as a result of the backscattering of vacuum field modes off the space-time curvature, which is reminiscent of the correction to the Lamb shift induced by the presence of cavities. However, when the Unruh and Hartle-Hawking vacua are concerned, our results show that the Lamb shift behaves as if the atom were irradiated by a thermal radiation or immersed in a thermal bath at the Hawking temperature, depending on whether the scalar field is in the Unruh or the Hartle-Hawking vacuum. Remarkably, the thermal radiation is always backscattered by the space-time geometry.
115459673
LIGHTCONE FLUCTUATIONS AND EXTRA DIMENSIONS
119124346
Unruh effect and entanglement generation for accelerated atoms near a reflecting boundary
We study, in the framework of open systems, the entanglement generation of two independent uniformly accelerated atoms in interaction with the vacuum fluctuations of massless scalar fields subjected to a reflecting plane boundary. We demonstrate that, with the presence of the boundary, the accelerated atoms exhibit distinct features from static ones in a thermal bath at the corresponding Unruh temperature in terms of the entanglement creation at the neighborhood of the initial time. In this sense, accelerated atoms in vacuum do not necessarily have to behave as if they were static in a thermal bath at the Unruh temperature.
120986058
Quantum thermal aspects of uniformly accelerating charged black holes
119090796
Fulling–Davies–Unruh effect and spontaneous excitation of an accelerated atom interacting with a quantum scalar field
Abstract We investigate, from the point of view of a coaccelerated frame, the spontaneous excitation of a uniformly accelerated two-level atom interacting with a scalar field in a thermal state at a finite temperature T and show that the same spontaneous excitation rate for the uniformly accelerated atom in the Minkowski vacuum obtained in the inertial frame can only be recovered in the coaccelerated frame assuming a thermal bath at the Fulling–Davies–Unruh temperature T FDU = a / 2 π for what appears to be the Minkowski vacuum to the inertial observer. Our discussion provides another example of a physical process different from those examined before in the literature to better understand the Fulling–Davies–Unruh effect.
122878082
Induced Topological Terms, Hidden Local Symmetry, and Anyon Superconductivity
We show how the topological Chern-Simons term in three dimensions and the θ-term, in four dimensions can be dynamically generated due to quantum fluctuations in Nambu-Jona-Lasinio models. These results give a vivid demonstration of hidden local symmetry at work. The fluctuation-induced Chern-Simons term provides a natural way to incorporate fractional statistics and thus a more direct connection with anyon superconductivity. Possible phenomenological implications of this approach in particle physics are also discussed.
120072882
Quarkonia-Glueball Structure of the Ground Pseudoscalar Mesons
Considering corrections due to SU(3) flavor symmetry breaking, non-ideal ω - ϕ mixing, double OZI and electromagnetic amplitudes of J/ψ decays into a vector and a pseudo-scalar meson, and three-gluon-annihilation amplitudes of radiative decays of J/ψ into a pseudoscalar meson, we investigate two-photon decays of pseudoscalar mesons, radiative decays between pseudoscalar and vector mesons, decays of J/ψ into a vector and a pseudoscalar meson, and radiative decays of J/ψ into a pseudoscalar meson. The quarkonia-glueball structure of η, η′ and η(1440) is phenomenologically deduced from the fit to the updated world average data concerning the above mentioned decays. We find that η (η′) contains about 48.7%, 47.6%, 3.7% (32.9%, 48.8%, 18.3%) non-strange quarkonium, strange quarkonium and glueball components, respectively, and that η(1410) is mainly a glueball state (about 78% glueball component), mixed with 18.5% non-strange quarkonium and 3.5% strange quarkonium. We predict that Br(J/ψ→γη) : Br(J/ψ→γη′) : Br (J/ψ→γη(1410)) = 1.0:5.2:8.0, which can be tested at BEPC/BES with 50 million J/ψ events.
118352399
The Origin of the Immirzi Parameter in Loop Quantum Gravity
119222434
Quantum Modifications to Gravity Waves in de Sitter Spacetime
We treat a model in which tensor perturbations of de Sitter spacetime, represented as a spatially flat model, are modified by the effects of the vacuum fluctuations of a massless conformally invariant field, such as the electromagnetic field. We use the semiclassical theory of gravity with the expectation value of the conformal field stress tensor as a source. We first study the stability of de Sitter spacetime by searching for growing, spatially homogeneous modes, and conclude that it is stable within the limits of validity of the semiclassical theory. We next examine the modification of linearized plane gravity waves by the effects of the quantum stress tensor. We find a correction term which is of the same form as the original wave, but displaced in phase by {pi}/2, and with an amplitude which depends upon an initial time. The magnitude of this effect is proportional to the change in scale factor after this time. We discuss alternative interpretations of this time, but pay particular attention to the view that this is the beginning of inflation. So long as the energy scale of inflation and the proper frequency of the mode at the beginning of inflation are well below the Planckmore » scale, the fractional correction is small. However, modes which are trans-Planckian at the onset of inflation can undergo a significant correction. The increase in amplitude can potentially have observable consequences through a modification of the power spectrum of tensor perturbations in inflationary cosmology. This enhancement of the power spectrum depends upon the initial time, and is greater for shorter wavelengths.« less
119119504
Constraints on Light Majorana dark Matter from Colliders
Abstract We explore model-independent collider constraints on light Majorana dark matter particles. We find that colliders provide a complementary probe of WIMPs to direct detection, and give the strongest current constraints on light DM particles. Collider experiments can access interactions not probed by direct detection searches, and outperform direct detection experiments by about an order of magnitude for certain operators in a large part of parameter space. For operators which are suppressed at low momentum transfer, collider searches have already placed constraints on such operators limiting their use as an explanation for DAMA.