118790490
Observational signatures of pre-inflationary and lower-dimensional effective gravity
Several alternative ways to quantize gravitational interactions seem to indicate that gravity at short distances is effectively two-dimensional. If this were true, and the energy scale at which the dimensional transition occurs is of the order of the inflationary one, it is reasonable to investigate eventual signatures in the primordial perturbation spectra. In this paper we look at this possibility by assuming that the inflationary era was preceded by an effectively two-dimensional evolution of the Universe. We model the transition with a mode matching and we show that, in this case, no observational signatures are expected in the tensor and scalar power spectra nor in their ratio. We also show that assuming modified dispersion relations before the matching between two sets of four-dimensional modes leads to similar results.
119303785
Black holes with non-minimal derivative coupling
We study the gravitational field equations in the presence of a coupling between the derivative of a massless scalar field and the Einstein tensor. This configuration is motivated by Galileon gravity as it preserves shift invariance in the scalar sector. We analytically obtain solutions with static and spherically symmetric geometry, which also include black holes with a single regular horizon. We examine the thermodynamical properties of these solutions, and we reveal the non-perturbative nature of the Galileon coupling constant. We also find a phase transition, similar to the one described by Hawking and Page, which occurs at a critical temperature determined by both the black hole mass and by the strength of the coupling.
119288395
A new approach to non-commutative inflation
We propose an inflationary scenario inspired by a recent formulation, in terms of coherent states, of non-commutative quantum field theory. We consider the semiclassical Einstein equations, and exploit the ultraviolet finiteness of the non-commutative propagator to construct the expectation value of the energy–momentum tensor associated with a generic scalar field. It turns out that the latter is always finite and dominated by an effective cosmological constant. By combining this general feature with the intrinsic fuzziness of spacetime, we show that non-commutativity governs the energy density of the early Universe in such a way that the strong energy condition is violated. Thus, there might be a bounce and a subsequent inflationary phase, which does not need any ad hoc scalar field.
118633927
The entropy of an acoustic black hole in Bose-Einstein condensates: transverse modes as a cure for divergences
We consider the entropy associated to the phonons generated via the Hawking mechanism in a sonic hole in a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC). In a previous paper, we looked at the (1+1)-dimensional case both in the hydrodynamic limit and in the case when high-frequency dispersion is taken in account. Here, we extend the analysis, based on the 't Hooft brick wall model, by including transverse excitations. We show that they can cure the infrared divergence that appears in the (1+1)-dimensional case, by acting as an effective mass for the phonons. In the hydrodynamic limit, where high-frequency dispersion is neglected, the ultraviolet divergence remains. On the contrary, in the dispersive case the entropy not only is finite, but it is completely fixed by the geometric parameters of the system.
53531318
PARTICLE PRODUCTION AND TRANSPLANCKIAN PROBLEM ON THE NONCOMMUTATIVE PLANE
We consider the coherent state approach to noncommutativity and we derive from it an effective quantum scalar field theory. We show how the noncommutativity can be taken into account by a suitable modification of the Klein–Gordon product, and of the equal-time commutation relations. We prove that, in curved space, the Bogoliubov coefficients are unchanged, hence the number density of the produced particle is the same as for the commutative case. What changes though is the associated energy density, and this offers a simple solution to the transplanckian problem.
16113420
Self-T-dual brane cosmology and the cosmological constant problem
We consider a codimension-one brane embedded in a gravity-dilaton bulk action, whose symmetries are compatible with T-duality along the space-like directions parallel to the brane, and the bulk time-like direction. The equations of motions in the string frame allow for a smooth background obtained by the union of two symmetric patches of AdS space. The Poincare invariance of the solution appears to hold independently of the value of the brane vacuum energy, through a self-tuning property of the dilaton ground state. Moreover, the effective cosmology displays a bounce, at which the scale factor does not shrink to zero. Finally, by exploiting the T-duality symmetry, we show how to construct an ever-expanding Universe, along the lines of the Pre-Big-Bang scenario.
6392662
Loop and Path Spaces and¶Four-Dimensional BF Theories:¶Connections, Holonomies and Observables
Abstract: We study the differential geometry of principal G-bundles whose base space is the space of free paths (loops) on a manifold M. In particular we consider connections defined in terms of pairs (A,B), where A is a connection for a fixed principal bundle P(M,G) and B is a 2-form on M. The relevant curvatures, parallel transports and holonomies are computed and their expressions in local coordinates are exhibited. When the 2-form B is given by the curvature of A, then the so-called non-abelian Stokes formula follows.For a generic 2-form B, we distinguish the cases when the parallel transport depends on the whole path of paths and when it depends only on the spanned surface. In particular we discuss generalizations of the non-abelian Stokes formula. We study also the invariance properties of the (trace of the) holonomy under suitable transformation groups acting on the pairs (A,B).In this way we are able to define observables for both topological and non-topological quantum field theories of the BF type. In the non-topological case, the surface terms may be relevant for the understanding of the quark-confinement problem. In the topological case the (perturbative) four-dimensional quantum BF-theory is expected to yield invariants of imbedded (or immersed) surfaces in a 4-manifold M.
16014102
Four-Dimensional Yang–Mills Theory as a Deformation of Topological BF Theory
Abstract:The classical action for pure Yang–Mills gauge theory can be formulated as a deformation of the topological BF theory where, beside the two-form field B, one has to add one extra-field η given by a one-form which transforms as the difference of two connections. The ensuing action functional gives a theory that is both classically and quantistically equivalent to the original Yang–Mills theory. In order to prove such an equivalence, it is shown that the dependency on the field η can be gauged away completely. This gives rise to a field theory that, for this reason, can be considered as semi-topological or topological in some but not all the fields of the theory. The symmetry group involved in this theory is an affine extension of the tangent gauge group acting on the tangent bundle of the space of connections. A mathematical analysis of this group action and of the relevant BRST complex is discussed in detail.
898400
Supersymmetry and Fredholm modules over quantized spaces
The purpose of this paper is to apply the framework of non-commutative differential geometry to quantum deformations of a class of Kähler manifolds. For the examples of the Cartan domains of type I and flat space, we construct Fredholm modules over the quantized manifolds using the supercharges which arise in the quantization of supersymmetric generalizations of the manifolds. We compute an explicit formula for the Chern character on generators of the Toeplitz ℂ*-algebra.
49385697
INSTALLATION AND COMMISSIONING OF THE RF SYSTEM FOR THE NEW ELETTRA BOOSTER
The commissioning of the new booster of the Elettra synchrotron radiation storage ring started in Fall 2007. The RF system of the booster is made of a five cells accelerating cavity fed by a 60 kW 500 MHz power plant. The accelerating cavity voltage is ramped along with the booster energy at repetition rate 3 Hz. The cavity field is controlled by analog feedback loops on amplitude, phase and the resonant frequency. This paper describes the setting into operation of the system and its performances during the commissioning phase of the machine.
117021213
Studying the neutron orbital structure by coherent hard exclusive processes off 3He
Hard exclusive processes, such as Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS), allow to access generalized parton distributions (GPDs). By means of an Impulse Approximation (IA) calculation, it is shown here how, in the low momentum transfer region, the sum of the GPDs H and E is dominated by the neutron contribution. Thanks to this property, 3He could open a new way to access the neutron structure information. In this work, a simple and efficient extraction procedure of the neutron GPDs, able to take into account the nuclear effects included in IA analysis, is proposed.