The next generation of analogue gravity experiments
Maxime J Jacquet, Silke Weinfurtner, Friedrich Koenig
备注:
Accepted for publication. Introduction article to a special issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A on Analogue Gravity. Follows on the Scientific Discussion meeting (https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2019/12/analogue-gravity/) at the Royal Society in December 2019. 9 pages, no figures
This article is an introduction for a theme issue following a Scientific Discussion Meeting on \emph{The next generation of analogue gravity experiments} held at the Royal Society in December 2019. This theme issue comprises a collection of recent advances of the research programme, as well as their philosophical implications, that were presented at the meeting.
Quantum fluctuations on curved spacetimes cause the emission of pairs of particles from the quantum vacuum, as in the Hawking effect from black holes. We use an optical analogue to gravity to investigate the influence of the curvature on quantum emission. Due to dispersion, the spacetime curvature varies with frequency here. We analytically calculate for all frequencies the particle flux, correlations and entanglement. We find that horizons increase the flux with a characteristic spectral shape. The photon number correlations transition from multi- to two-mode, with close to maximal entangleme…
We consider a moving refractive index perturbation in an optical medium as an optical analogue to waves under the influence of gravity. We describe the dielectric medium by the Lagrangian of the Hopfield model. We supplement the field theory in curved spacetime for this model to solve the scattering problem for all modes and frequencies analytically. Because of dispersion, the kinematic scenario of the field modes may contain optical event horizons for some frequencies. We calculate the spectra of spontaneous emission in the frame co-moving with the perturbation and in the laboratory frame. We…
We set up a tunneling approach to the analogue Hawking effect in the case of models of analogue gravity which are affected by dispersive effects. An effective Schroedinger-like equation for the basic scattering phenomenon IN->P+N*, where IN is the incident mode, P is the positive norm reflected mode, and N* is the negative norm one, signalling particle creation, is derived, aimed to an approximate description of the phenomenon. Horizons and barrier penetration play manifestly a key-role in giving rise to pair-creation. The non-dispersive limit is also correctly recovered. Drawbacks of the mode…
The problem of finding a minimal-time path for an aeroplane travelling in a wind flow has a simple formulation in terms of analogue gravity. This paper gives an elementary explanation with equations and some numerical solutions.
We investigate the possibility to generate quantum-correlated quasi-particles utilizing analogue gravity systems. The quantumness of these correlations is a key aspect of analogue gravity effects and their presence allows for a clear separation between classical and quantum analogue gravity effects. However, experiments in analogue systems, such as Bose-Einstein condensates, and shallow water waves, are always conducted at non-ideal conditions, in particular, one is dealing with dispersive media at nonzero temperatures. We analyze the influence of the initial temperature on the entanglement ge…
Taking the principles of quantum mechanics as they stand and applying them to gravity, leads to the conclusion that one might be able to generate superpositions of spacetimes, at least formally. We analyze such a possibility from an analogue gravity perspective. We present an analogue toy model consisting of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential and identify the states that could potentially be interpreted as superposition of effective spacetimes. These states are unstable and the source of instability from a microscopic point of view can be related to the absence of a well-def…
We describe how analogues of a Hawking evaporating black hole as well as the Unruh effect for an oscillatory, accelerating photodetector in vacuum may be realized using superconducting, microwave circuits that are fashioned out of Josephson tunnel junction and film bulk acoustic resonator elements.
We show here a general approach to include the quantum potential term in the emergent gravity model of Bose-Einstein condensate by using multiple scales. Our main result shows the emergence of a massive scalar modulating field at larger length scales as a result of Lorentz symmetry breaking at the length scales comparable to the healing length. We also propose that, the nonlocal interactions induced tuning of healing length can be exploited experimentally to observe the systematics of small and large scale coupling as emerges in our present analysis.
It is shown that when a strong electric field is turned on as a background in a charged scalar field, the vacuum state of the scalar field becomes exponentially amplified. This is an analogue to gravity induced vacuum amplification, where the vacuum state becomes exponentially amplified for some geometries.
We consider dissipation of surface waves on fluids, with a view to its effects on analogue gravity experiments. We begin by reviewing some general properties of wave dissipation, before restricting our attention to surface waves and the dissipative role played by viscosity there. Finally, with particular focus on water, we consider several experimental setups inspired by analogue gravity: the analogue Hawking effect, the black hole laser, the analogue wormhole, and double bouncing at the wormhole entrance. Dissipative effects are considered in each, and we give estimates for their optimized ex…
This chapter gives an introduction to the connection between the physics of water waves and analogue gravity. Only a basic knowledge of fluid mechanics is assumed as a prerequisite.
Formal analogies between the ordinary differential equations describing geophysical flows and Friedmann cosmology are developed. As a result, one obtains Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of these equations, while laboratory experiments aimed at testing geophysical flows are shown to constitute analogue gravity systems for cosmology.
Analogue gravity systems offer many insights into gravitational phenomena, both at the classical and at the semiclassical level. The existence of an underlying Minkowskian structure (or Galilean in the non-relativistic limit) in the laboratory has been argued to directly forbid the simulation of geometries with Closed Timelike Curves (CTCs) within analogue systems. We will show that this is not strictly the case. In principle, it is possible to simulate spacetimes with CTCs whenever this does not entail the presence of a chronological horizon separating regions with CTCs from regions that do n…
Empirical confirmation in some areas of physics is obscure; for example in Hawking radiation. However, the analogue gravity can simulate these phenomena in condensed matter systems. That is an important question whether the observation of these phenomena in the condensed matter systems can be confirmatory of the original phenomenon or not. In this work we answer affirmatively to this question via structuralism.
We show that Schwarzschild black hole solutions in asymptotically Anti-de Sitter (AdS) and de Sitter (dS) spaces may, up to a conformal factor, be reproduced in the framework of analogue gravity. The aforementioned derivation is performed using relativistic and non-relativistic Bose-Einstein condensates. In addition, we demonstrate that the (2+1) planar AdS black hole can be mapped into the non-relativistic acoustic metric. Given that AdS black holes are extensively employed in the gauge/gravity duality, we then comment on the possibility to study the AdS/CFT correspondence and gravity/fluid d…
A nonlinear scalar field theory from which an effective metric can be deduced is considered. This metric is shown to be compatible with requirements of general relativity. It is demonstrated that there is a class of solutions which fulfill both the nonlinear field equation as the Einstein equations for this metric.
Simulation and experimental realization of acoustic black holes in analogue gravity systems have lead to a novel understanding of relevant phenomena such as Hawking radiation or superradiance. We explore here the possibility to use relativistic systems for simulating rotating black hole solutions and possibly get an acoustic analogue of a Kerr black hole. In doing so we demonstrate a precise relation between non-relativistic and relativistic solutions and provide a new class of vortex solutions for relativistic systems. Such solutions might be used in the future as a test bed in numerical simu…
We address the issues related to the presence of the quantum potential term in a BEC on the observable Analogue Gravity systems. We show that the quantum potential term apparently gives rise to massive scalar excitations of length scales of the order $\mathcal{O}(1/ξ)$ in the lower dimensional space. Since, in 'analogue models', there is a window for experimental observations generally in (2 + 1) or even lower dimensional space, one has to take proper account of the presence of these massive excitations to interpret the results.
We discuss the backreaction force exerted by quantum fluctuations in dilute Bose-Einstein condensates onto the motion of the classical background, derived by an ab initio approach from microscopic physics. It is shown that the effective-action method, widely employed in semiclassical quantum gravity, fails to give the full backreaction force. The failure of the effective-action method is traced back, inter alia, to the problem of the correct choice of the fundamental variables and the related operator ordering issues.
General Relativity's Kerr metric is famous for its many symmetries which are responsible for the separability of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation governing the geodesic motion and of the Teukolsky equation for wave dynamics. We show that there is a unique stationary and axisymmetric Newtonian gravitational potential that has exactly the same dual property of separable point-particle and wave motion equations. This `Kerr metric analogue' of Newtonian gravity is none other than Euler's 18th century problem of two-fixed gravitating centers.
Analogue gravity can be used to reproduce the phenomenology of quantum field theory in curved spacetime and in particular phenomena such as cosmological particle creation and Hawking radiation. In black hole physics, taking into account the backreaction of such effects on the metric requires an extension to semiclassical gravity and leads to an apparent inconsistency in the theory: the black hole evaporation induces a breakdown of the unitary quantum evolution leading to the so called information loss problem. Here we show that analogue gravity can provide an interesting perspective on the res…
In the context of field theory in curved spacetimes, it is known that suitable background spacetime geometries can trigger instabilities of fields, leading to exponential growth of their (quantum and classical) fluctuations --- a phenomenon called $\textit{vacuum awakening}$ in the quantum context, which in some classical scenarios seeds $\textit{spontaneous scalarization/vectorization}$. Despite its conceptual interest, an actual observation in nature of this effect is uncertain since it depends on the existence of fields with appropriate masses and couplings in strong-gravity regimes. Here, …
Ultrashort laser pulse filaments in dispersive nonlinear Kerr media induce a moving refractive index perturbation which modifies the space-time geometry as seen by co-propagating light rays. We study the analogue geometry induced by the filament and show that one of the most evident features of filamentation, namely conical emission, may be precisely reconstructed from the geodesics. We highlight the existence of favorable conditions for the study of analogue black hole kinematics and Hawking type radiation.
Why are "analogue spacetimes'' interesting? For the purposes of this workshop the answer is simple: Analogue spacetimes provide one with physically well-defined and physically well-understood concrete models of many of the phenomena that seem to be part of the yet incomplete theory of "quantum gravity'', or more accessibly, "quantum gravity phenomenology''. Indeed "analogue spacetimes'' provide one with concrete models of "emergence'' (whereby the effective low-energy theory can be radically different from the high-energy microphysics). They also provide many concrete and controlled models of …
The quasiparticle content of a quantum field depends on the observer, in particular on its motional state, on the way the observer's detector couples to the quantum field, and on the frequency standard in which the detector carried by the observer measures the quanta to be detected. I review a procedure of making this fundamental property of quantum field theory experimentally manifest using quantum-optical means in Bose-Einstein condensates.
Exact results concerning ray-tracing methods in Plebanski-Tamm media are derived. In particular, Hamilton equations describing the propagation of quasi-plane wave electromagnetic fields in the geometrical optics regime are explicitly written down in terms of the 3-metric representing the properties of the optical analogue, anisotropic medium. We exemplify our results by obtaining the trajectories of light in the resulting analogue medium recreating Gödel's universe.
So called "analogue models" use condensed matter systems (typically hydrodynamic) to set up an "effective metric" and to model curved-space quantum field theory in a physical system where all the microscopic degrees of freedom are well understood. Known analogue models typically lead to massless minimally coupled scalar fields. We present an extended "analogue space-time" programme by investigating a condensed-matter system - in and beyond the hydrodynamic limit - that is in principle capable of simulating the massive Klein-Gordon equation in curved spacetime. Since many elementary particles h…
We discuss a class of teleparallel scalar-torsion theories of gravity, which is parametrized by five free functions of the scalar field. The theories are formulated covariantly using a flat, but non-vanishing spin connection. We show how the actions of different theories within this class are related via conformal transformations of the tetrad and redefinitions of the scalar field, and derive the corresponding transformation laws for the free function in the action. From these we construct a number of quantities which are invariant under these transformations, and use them to write the action …
Charles University(查理大学);Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Catania branch(意大利国家核物理研究所卡塔尼亚分部);Università della Calabria(卡拉布里亚大学);Technische Universität Wien(维也纳工业大学);Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)(基础科学研究院);Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS)(基础科学高等研究院)
It was predicted that the spin precession frequency of a stationary gyroscope shows various anomalies in the strong gravity regime if its orbit shrinks, and eventually its precession frequency becomes arbitrarily high very close to the horizon of a rotating black hole. Considering the gravity waves of a flowing fluid with vortex in a shallow basin, that acts as a rotating analogue black hole, one can observe the predicted strong gravity effect on the spin precession in the laboratory. Attaching a thread with the buoyant particles and anchored it to the bottom of the fluid container with a shor…
For almost a century, the cosmological constant has been a mysterious object, in relation to both its origin and its very small value. By using a Bose-Einstein condensate analogue model for gravitational dynamics, we address here the cosmological constant issue from an analogue gravity standpoint. Starting from the fundamental equations describing a system of condensed bosons, we highlight the presence of a vacuum source term for the analogue gravitational field, playing the role of a cosmological constant. In this simple system it is possible to compute from scratch the value of this constant…
Nonmagnetic and spherically symmetric dielectric material media are investigated in their generality as analogue models, in the domains of geometrical optics, for a few relevant static and spherically symmetric solutions of gravitation, including black holes and wormholes. Typic and desirable gravitational features are systematically linked to the nonlinear properties of the phenomenological dielectric permittivity of the medium. From this, the limitations of such analogies are explored in terms of their corresponding geometric flexibility, dielectric configurations and causal structure.
Analogue gravity is based on a mathematical identity between quantum field theory in curved space-time and the propagation of perturbations in certain condensed matter systems. But not every curved space-time can be simulated in such a way, because one does not only need a condensed matter system that generates the desired metric tensor, but that system then also has to obey its own equations of motion. And specifying the metric tensor that one wishes to realize usually overdetermines the underlying condensed matter system, such that its equations of motion are in general not fulfilled, in whi…
In recent years, strong analogies have been established between the physics of acoustic perturbations in an inhomogeneous dynamical fluid system, and some kinematic features of space-time in general relativity. An effective metric, referred to as the `acoustic metric', which describes the geometry of the manifold in which acoustic perturbations propagate, can be constructed. This effective geometry can capture the properties of curved space-time in general relativity. Physical models constructed utilizing such analogies are called `analogue gravity models'. Classical analogue gravity effect ma…
We show that non-linear dynamics of a scalar field ϕ may be described as a mod- ification of the spacetime geometry. Thus, the self-interaction is interpreted as a coupling of the scalar field with an effective gravitational metric that is constructed with ϕ itself. We prove that this process is universal, that is, it is valid for arbi- trary Lagrangian. Our results are compared to usual analogue models of gravitation, where the emergence of a metric appears as a consequence of linear perturbation.
We present an analogue spacetime model that reproduces the salient features of the most common ansatz for quantum gravity phenomenology. We do this by investigating a system of two coupled Bose-Einstein condensates. This system can be tuned to have two "phonon" modes (one massive, one massless) which share the same limiting speed in the hydrodynamic approximation [Phys. Rev. D72 (2005) 044020, gr-qc/0506029; cond-mat/0409639]. The system nevertheless possesses (possibly non-universal) Lorentz violating terms at very high energies where "quantum pressure" becomes important. We investigate the p…
Analogue gravity is based on the simple observation that perturbations propagating in several physical systems can be described by a quantum field theory in a curved spacetime. While phenomena like Hawking radiation are hardly detectable in astrophysical black holes, these effects may be experimentally tested in analogue systems. In this Thesis, focusing on Bose-Einstein condensates, we present our recent results about analogue models of gravity from three main perspectives: as laboratory tests of quantum field theory in curved spacetime, for the techniques that they provide to address various…
Using the formalism of relativistic acoustic geometry we study the expanding chiral fluid in the regime of broken chiral symmetry near the QCD chiral phase transition temperature T_c. The dynamics of pions below T_c is described by the equation of motion for a massless scalar field propagating in curved spacetime similar to an open FRW universe. The metric tensor depends locally on the soft pion dispersion relation and the four-velocity of the fluid. In the neighborhood of the critical point an analogue trapped region forms with the analogue trapped horizon as its boundary. We show that the as…
It is well known that extraordinary photons in hyperbolic metamaterials may be described as living in an effective Minkowski spacetime, which is defined by the peculiar form of the strongly anisotropic dielectric tensor in these metamaterials. Here we demonstrate that within the scope of this approximation the sound waves in hyperbolic metamaterials look similar to gravitational waves, and therefore the quantized sound waves (phonons) look similar to gravitons. Such an analogue model of quantum gravity looks especially interesting near the phase transitions in hyperbolic metamaterials where it…
Condensed matter systems, such as acoustics in flowing fluids, light in moving dielectrics, or quasiparticles in a moving superfluid, can be used to mimic aspects of general relativity. More precisely these systems (and others) provide experimentally accessible models of curved-space quantum field theory. As such they mimic kinematic aspects of general relativity, though typically they do not mimic the *dynamics*. Although these analogue models are thereby limited in their ability to duplicate all the effects of Einstein gravity they nevertheless are extremely important -- they provide black h…
We report the explicit form of the general static, spherically symmetric, and asymptotically flat solution of vacuum Brans-Dicke gravity in the Jordan frame, assuming that the Brans-Dicke scalar field has no singularities or zeros (except possibly for a central singularity). This general solution is conformal to the Fisher-Wyman geometry of Einstein theory and its nature depends on a scalar charge parameter. Apart from the Schwarzschild black hole, only wormhole throats and central naked singularities are possible
In the analogue gravity framework, the acoustic disturbances in a moving fluid can be described by an equation of motion identical to a relativistic scalar massless field propagating in a curved spacetime. This description is possible only when the fluid under consideration is barotropic, inviscid and irrotational. In this case, the propagation of the perturbations is governed by an acoustic metric which depends algebrically on the local speed of sound, density and the background flow velocity, the latter assumed to be vorticity free. In this work we provide an straightforward extension in ord…
Sub-wavelength confinement of light in nonlinear hyperbolic metamaterials due to formation of spatial solitons has attracted much recent attention because of its seemingly counter-intuitive behavior. In order to achieve self-focusing in a hyperbolic wire medium, a nonlinear self-defocusing Kerr medium must be used as a dielectric host. Here we demonstrate that this behavior finds natural explanation in terms of analogue gravity. Wave equation describing propagation of extraordinary light inside hyperbolic metamaterials exhibits 2+1 dimensional Lorentz symmetry. The role of time in the correspo…
The current article explores the problem of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in an anisotropic three-dimensional harmonic-oscillator potential, with positive effective interatomic interactions, and the analogue gravity acoustic metric emerging from it. We find that the latter gives rise to a family of conformally equivalent metrics and the space-time interval corresponds to that of an accelerated observer subject to a position-dependent acceleration. Furthermore, such acceleration can be deduced differentiating the potential of the trap, which leads us to infer that, for a Bose-Einstei…
We extend to the $n$-dimensional case a recent theorem establishing the validity of the Huygens' envelope principle for wavefronts in Finsler spaces. Our results have direct applications in analogue gravity models, for which the Fermat's principle of least time naturally gives origin to an underlying Finslerian geometry. For the sake of illustration, we consider two explicit examples motivated by recent experimental results: surface waves in flumes and vortices. For both examples, we have distinctive directional spacetime structures, namely horizons and ergospheres, respectively. We show that …
We show that the defects of graphene, which lead to the non-equality between positive curvature of fermions with anti-parallel spins and negative curvature of fermions with parallel spins, imply an emergence of F(R) gravity. By increasing the number of atoms at each defect, the order of scalar curvature increases and the shape of F(R) gravity changes. This gravity has a direct relation with energy-momentum tensor and leads to motion of electrons in a special path and hence producing superconductivity. Also, for some special angles, parallel spins become close to each other and repel to each ot…
Propagation of coherent light in a Kerr nonlinear medium can be mapped onto a flow of an equivalent fluid. Here we use this mapping to model the conditions in the vicinity of a rotating black hole as a Laguerre-Gauss vortex beam. We describe weak fluctuations of the phase and amplitude of the electric field by wave equations in curved space, with a metric that is similar to the Kerr metric. We find the positions of event horizons and ergoregion boundaries, and the conditions for the onset of superradiance, which are simultaneously the conditions for a resonance in the analogue Hawking radiatio…
For axially symmetric flow of dissipationless inhomogeneous fluid onto a non rotating astrophysical black hole under the influence of a generalized pseudo-Schwarzschild gravitational potential, we investigate the influence of the background flow configuration on determining the salient features of the corresponding acoustic geometry. The acoustic horizon for the aforementioned flow structure has been located and the corresponding acoustic surface gravity $κ$ as well as the associated analogue Hawking temperature $T_{\rm AH}$ has been calculated {\it analytically}. The dependence of $κ$ on the …
We provide an updated study of some electronic properties of graphene nanoscrolls, exploiting a related curved space Dirac equation for the charge carriers. To this end, we consider an explicit parametrization in cylindrical coordinates, together with analytical solutions for the pseudoparticle modes living on the two--dimensional background. These results are then used to obtain a compact expression for the sample optical conductivity, deriving from a Kubo formula adapted to the 1+2 dimensional curved space. The latter formulation is then adopted to perform some simulations for a cylindrical …
Can Light Cross a Singularity? Exact Solutions from Analogue Gravity
Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (IAFE, CONICET-UBA)(太空物理与天文学研究所);Grupo de Comunicaciones Ópticas, Departamento de Ingeniería en Telecomunicaciones, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and Instituto Balseiro (UNCUYO)(光学通信组,电信工程系,国家科学研究委员会和巴尔塞罗研究所)