The effect of gravitational tidal forces on renormalized quantum fields propagating in curved spacetime is investigated and a generalisation of the optical theorem to curved spacetime is proved. In the case of QED, the interaction of tidal forces with the vacuum polarization cloud of virtual e^+ e^- pairs dressing the renormalized photon has been shown to produce several novel phenomena. In particular, the photon field amplitude can locally increase as well as decrease, corresponding to a negative imaginary part of the refractive index, in apparent violation of unitarity and the optical theorem. Below threshold decays into e^+ e^- pairs may also occur. In this paper, these issues are studied from the point of view of a non-equilibrium initial-value problem, with the field evolution from an initial null surface being calculated for physically distinct initial conditions and for both scalar field theories and QED. It is shown how a generalised version of the optical theorem, valid in curved spacetime, allows a local increase in amplitude while maintaining consistency with unitarity. The picture emerges of the field being dressed and undressed as it propagates through curved spacetime, with the local gravitational tidal forces determining the degree of dressing and hence the amplitude of the renormalized quantum field. These effects are illustrated with many examples, including a description of the undressing of a photon in the vicinity of a black hole singularity.
The end stage of a gravitational collapse process can generically result in a black hole or a naked singularity. Here we undertake a comparative analysis of the nature of tidal forces in these backgrounds. The effect of such forces is generically exemplified by the Roche limit, which predicts the distance within which a celestial object disintegrates due to the tidal effects of a second more massive object. In this paper, using Fermi normal coordinates, we numerically compute the Roche limit for a class of non-rotating naked singularity backgrounds, and compare them with known results for Schw…
Dynamical Tidal Response of Non-rotating Black Holes: Connecting the MST Formalism and Worldline EFT
Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University(京都大学汤川理论物理研究所);Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo(东京大学理学研究科);Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS), The University of Tokyo(东京大学宇宙物质量子前沿研究中心(WPI),东京大学高等研究院,东京大学);The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University(京都大学博慧中心);RIKEN iTHEMS(理化学研究所 iTHEMS);Department of Physics, College of Humanities and Sciences, Nihon University(日本大学文理学部物理学系);High Energy Physics Research Unit, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University(朱拉隆功大学理学院物理学系高能物理研究组)
The dynamical evolution of the Hajicek $1$-form is derived in Einstein-Cartan (EC) theory. We find that like Einstein theory of gravity, the evolution equation is related to a projected part of the Einstein tensor $(\hat{G}_{ab})$ on a generic null surface $\mathcal{H}$, particularly $\hat{G}_{ab}l^a q^b_{~c}$, where $l^a$ and $q^a_{~c}$ are the outgoing null generators of $\mathcal{H}$ and the induced metric to a transverse spatial cross-section of $\mathcal{H}$ respectively. Under the {\it geodesic constraint} a possible fluid interpretation of this evolution equation is then proposed. We fi…
A spherically symmetric wormhole in Newtonian gravitation in curved space, enhanced with a connection between the mass density and the Ricci scalar, is presented. The wormhole, consisting of two connected asymptotically flat regions, inhabits a spherically symmetric curved space. The gravitational potential, gravitational field and the pressure that supports the fluid that permeates the Newtonian wormhole are computed. Particle dynamics and tidal effects in this geometry are studied. The possibility of having Newtonian black holes in this theory is sketched.
The effect of gravitational tidal forces on photon propagation in curved spacetime is investigated. It is found that the imaginary part of the local refractive index Im n(u;w) may be negative as well as positive, corresponding to a local amplification as well as attenuation of the amplitude of the renormalized photon field. This is interpreted in terms of the effect of tidal forces on the virtual e^+e^- cloud surrounding the bare photon field---a positive/negative Im n(u;w) corresponds to an increased dressing/undressing of the bare photon. Below threshold decays of the photon to e^+e^- pairs …
Here we consider two phenomena in the vicinity of a black hole deformed by the tidal gravitational force of surrounding matter and by a strong magnetic field: equatorial motion of charged particles and the decay of a test scalar field. We were able to analyze both phenomena with analytical and simple numerical tools, which was unexpected given the low symmetry of the system. We show that both the tidal gravitational force and the magnetic field strongly enhance the release of the binding energy for the matter spiralling into the black hole. In the presence of the magnetic field, the left and r…
Gravitational tidal forces may induce polarization of D0 branes, in analogy to the same effects arising in the context of constant background gauge fields. Such phenomena can teach us about the correspondence between smooth curved spacetime and its underlying non-commutative structure. However, unlike polarization by gauge fields, the gravitational counterpart involves concerns regarding the classical stability of the corresponding polarized states. In this work, we study this issue with respect to the solutions presented in hep-th/0010237 and find that they are classically unstable. The insta…
We investigate the properties of a class of near-extreme static black hole solutions called naked black holes. These black holes, which occur in string theory, have small curvature invariants but large tidal forces outside their event horizons. We show that these large tidal forces are due to a concentration of dilaton stress-energy near the horizon. We study infalling test strings and find that they are highly excited by the large tidal forces, but remain small. Perhaps most importantly, it turns out that a small amount of infalling matter will cause the curvature invariants to become large o…
We consider the fate of a massless (or ultra-relativistic massive) string probe propagating down the BTZ-like throat of a microstate geometry in the D1-D5 system. Far down the throat, the probe encounters large tidal forces that stretch and excite the string. The excitations are limited by the very short transit time through the region of large tidal force, leading to a controlled approximation to tidal stretching. We show that the amount of stretching is proportional to the incident energy, and that it robs the probe of the kinetic energy it would need to travel back up the throat. As a conse…
In this work, we consider a Casimir apparatus that is put into free fall (e.g., falling into a black hole). Working in 1+1D, we find that two main effects occur: First, the Casimir energy density experiences a tidal effect where negative energy is pushed toward the plates and the resulting force experienced by the plates is increased. Second, the process of falling is inherently nonequilibrium and we treat it as such, demonstrating that the Casimir energy density moves back and forth between the plates after being "dropped,'' with the force modulating in synchrony. In this way, the Casimir ene…
The Casimir effect is one of the most remarkable consequences of the non-zero vacuum energy predicted by quantum field theory. In this paper we use a local approach to study the Lorentz violation effects of the minimal standard model extension on the Casimir force between two parallel conducting plates in the vacuum. Using a perturbative method similar to that used for obtaining the Born series for the scattering amplitudes in quantum mechanics, we compute, at leading order in the Lorentz-violating coefficients, the relevant Green's function which satisfies given boundary conditions. The stand…
We compute the regularized force density and renormalized action due to fields of external origin coupled to a brane of arbitrary dimension in a spacetime of any dimension. Specifically, we consider forces generated by gravitational, dilatonic and generalized antisymmetric form-fields. The force density is regularized using a recently developed gradient operator. For the case of a Nambu--Goto brane, we show that the regularization leads to a renormalization of the tension, which is seen to be the same in both approaches. We discuss the specific couplings which lead to cancellation of the self-…