We study a relativistic fluid with longitudinal boost invariance in a quantum-statistical framework as an example of a solvable non-equilibrium problem. For the free quantum field, we calculate the exact form of the expectation values of the stress-energy tensor and the entropy current. For the stress-energy tensor, we find that a finite value can be obtained only by subtracting the vacuum of the density operator at some fixed proper time τ_0. As a consequence, the stress-energy tensor acquires non-trivial quantum corrections to the classical free-streaming form.
In this note we discuss the invariance under general changes of reference frame of all the physical predictions of particle detector models in quantum field theory in general and, in particular, of those used in quantum optics to model atoms interacting with light. We find explicitly how the light-matter interaction Hamiltonians change under general coordinate transformations, and analyze the subtleties of the Hamiltonians commonly used to describe the light-matter interaction when relativistic motion is taken into account.
Physical origin of Milne boost invariance of the Newton Cartan spacetime is traced to the effect of local Galilean boosts in its metric structure, using galilean gauge theory. Specifically, we do not require any gauge field to understand Milne boost invariance.
At strong coupling holographic studies have shown that heavy ion collisions do not obey normal boost invariance. Here we study a modified boost invariance through a complex shift in time, and show that this leads to surprisingly good agreement with numerical holographic computations. When including perturbations the agreement becomes even better, both in the hydrodynamic and the far-from-equilibrium regime. One of the main advantages is an analytic formulation of the stress-energy tensor of the longitudinal dynamics of holographic heavy ion collisions.
An algorithmic approach towards the formulation of non-relativistic diffeomorphism invariance has been developed which involves both matter and gauge fields. A step by step procedure has been provided which can accommodate all types of (abelian) gauge interaction. The algorithm is applied to the problem of a two dimensional electron moving under an external field and also under the Chern-Simons dynamics.
Relativistic invariance of the vacuum is (or follows from) one of the Wightman axioms which is commonly believed to be true. Without these axioms, here we present a direct and general proof of continuous relativistic invariance of all real-time vacuum correlations of fields, not only scattering (forward in time), based on closed time path formalism. The only assumptions are basic principles of relativistic quantum field theories: the relativistic invariance of the Lagrangian, of the form including known interactions (electromagnetic, weak and strong), and standard rules of quantization. The pr…
We use relativistic invariance to investigate two aspects of integrable AdS${}_3$ string theory. Firstly, we write down the all-loop TBA equations for the massless sector of the theory with R-R flux, using the recently discovered hidden relativistic symmetry. Secondly, for the low-energy relativistic limit of the theory with NS-NS flux we write down the S matrix, dressing factors and TBA. We find that the integrable system coincides with a restriction to AdS${}_3$ of the relativistic q-deformed AdS${}_5$ theory. We also comment on the relativistic limit of the the small-$k$ NS-NS theory.
We provide a new formulation of nonrelativistic diffeomorphism invariance. It is generated by localising the usual global Galilean Symmetry. The correspondence with the type of diffeomorphism invariant models currently in vogue in the theory of fractional quantum Hall effect has been discussed. Our construction is shown to open up a general approach of model building in theoretical condensed matter physics. Also, this formulation has the capacity of obtaining Newton - Cartan geometry from the gauge procedure.
Recent developments on emergence of logarithmic terms in correlators or response functions of models which exhibit dynamical symmetries analogous to conformal invariance in not necessarily relativistic systems are reviewed. The main examples of these are logarithmic Schrödinger-invariance and logarithmic conformal Galilean invariance. Some applications of these ideas to statistical physics are described.
It is argued that the zero-point energies of free quantum fields diverge at most quadratically and not quartically, as is generally believed. This is a consequence of the relativistic invariance which requires that the energy density of the vacuum $ρ$ and its pressure $p$ satisfy $ρ=-p$. The usually obtained quartic divergence is an artifact of the use of a noninvariant regularization which violates this relation. One consequence of our results is that the zero-point energies of free massless fields vanish. Implications for the cosmological constant problem are briefly discussed.
We extend a result by Ojima on spontaneous symmetry breaking of Lorentz boosts in thermal (KMS) states and show that it is in fact a special case in a more general class of examples of spontaneous symmetry breaking of Lorentz symmetry in relativistic many-body systems. Furthermore we analyse the nature of the corresponding Goldstone phenomenon and the type of Goldstone excitations (provided they have particle character).
While general relativity possesses local Lorentz invariance, both canonical quantum gravity and string theory suggest that Lorentz invariance may be broken at high energies. Broken Lorentz invariance has also been postulated as an explanation for astrophysical anomalies such as the missing GZK cutoff. Therefore, we seek an effective field theory description of gravity where Lorentz invariance is broken. We will construct a candidate theory and then briefly discuss some of the implications.
We present a systematic framework for noncommutative (NC) QFT within the new concept of relativistic invariance based on the notion of twisted Poincaré symmetry (with all 10 generators), as proposed in ref. [7]. This allows to formulate and investigate all fundamental issues of relativistic QFT and offers a firm frame for the classification of particles according to the representation theory of the twisted Poincaré symmetry and as a result for the NC versions of CPT and spin-statistics theorems, among others, discussed earlier in the literature. As a further application of this new concept of …
If several interventions performed on a quantum system are localized in mutually space-like regions, they will be recorded as a sequence of ``quantum jumps'' in one Lorentz frame, and as a different sequence of jumps in another Lorentz frame. Conditions are specified that must be obeyed by the various operators involved in the calculations so that these two different sequences lead to the same observable results. These conditions are similar to the equal-time commutation relations in quantum field theory. They are sufficient to prevent superluminal signaling. (The derivation of these results d…
We investigate the relativistic properties under boost transformations of the $κ$-Poincaré model with multiple causally connected interactions, both at the level of its formulation in momentum space only and when it is endowed with a full phase space construction, provided by the relative locality framework. Previous studies focussing on the momentum space picture showed that in presence of just one interaction vertex the model is relativistic, provided that the boost parameter acting on each given particle receives a "backreaction" from the momenta of the other particles that participate in t…
In the framework of the most-studied doubly special relativity models the use of the naive formula $v=dE/dp$ has been argued to lead to inconsistencies connected to different rules of transformation, under boosts, of particles with the same energy but with different masses. In this paper we show that, at least in 1+1 dimensions, doubly special relativity can be formulated in such a way that the formula $v=dE/dp$ is fully consistent with the invariance of the relative rest, easily fitting to the relativity principle. It is also argued that, always in 1+1d, is not necessary to renounce to the us…
Momentum space Ward identities are derived for the amputated n-point Green's functions in 3+1 dimensional non-relativistic conformal field theory. For n=4 and 6 the implications for scattering amplitudes (i.e. on-shell amputated Green's functions) are considered. Any scale invariant 2-to-2 scattering amplitude is also conformally invariant. However, conformal invariance imposes constraints on off-shell Green's functions and the three particle scattering amplitude which are not automatically satisfied if they are scale invariant. As an explicit example of a conformally invariant theory we consi…
The virial theorem is related to the dilatation properties of bound states. This is realized, in particular, by the Landau-Lifshitz formulation of the relativistic virial theorem, in terms of the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. We construct a Hamiltonian formulation of dilatations in which the relativistic virial theorem naturally arises as the condition of stability against dilatations. A bound state becomes scale invariant in the ultrarelativistic limit, in which its energy vanishes. However, for very relativistic bound states, scale invariance is broken by quantum effects and the viria…
In the present work, we investigate the effects of magnetic field on expanding hot and dense nuclear matter as an ideal fluid. We consider QGP, on the particular case of a (1 + 2) dimensional longitudinally boost-invariant fluid expansion, in the background of an inhomogeneous magnetic field that is generated by external sources. We assume the magnetic field points in the direction perpendicular to the reaction plane, follows the power-law decay in proper time, and has two components on the transverse plane. To simplify the calculation, we suppose the investigated fluid has azimuthal symmetry,…
Poincaré invariance is a well-tested symmetry of nature and sits at the core of our description of relativistic particles and gravity. At the same time, in most systems Poincaré invariance is not a symmetry of the ground state and is hence broken spontaneously. This phenomenon is ubiquitous in cosmology where Lorentz boosts are spontaneously broken by the existence of a preferred reference frame in which the universe is homogeneous and isotropic. This motivates us to study scattering amplitudes without requiring invariance of the interactions under Lorentz boosts. In particular, using on-shell…
Relativistic invariance in Euclidean formulations of quantum mechanics is discussed. Relativistic treatments of quantum theory are needed to study hadronic systems at sub-hadronic distance scales. Euclidean formulations of relativistic quantum mechanics have some computational advantages. In the Euclidean representation the physical Hilbert space inner product is expressed in terms of Euclidean space-time variables with no need for any analytic continuation. The identification of the complex Euclidean group with the complex Poincaré group relates the infinitesimal generators of both groups. In…
The possibility of interaction among multiverses is studied assuming that in the first instants of the big-bang, many disjoint regions were created producing many independent universes (multiverses). Many of these mini-universes were unstable and they decayed, but other remained as topological remnant (like domain walls or baby universes) or possibly as mini-black-holes. In this paper, we study the quantum statistical mechanics of multiverses assuming that in the first instants of the big-bang, the relativistic symmetry was only an approximate symmetry and the interaction among multiverses was…
In the present work, we study the interplay between relativistic effects and quantumness in the system of two relativistic fermions. In particular, we explore entropic measures of quantum correlations and quantum discord before and after application of a boost and subsequent Wigner rotation. We also study the positive operator-valued measurements (POVM) invasiveness before and after the boosts. While the relativistic principle is universal and requires Lorentz invariance of quantum correlations in the entire system, we have found specific partitions where quantum correlations stored in particu…
We find finite-boost transformations DSR theories in first order of the Planck length $l_p$, by solving differential equations for the modified generators. We obtain corresponding dispersion relations for these transformations, which help us classify the DSR theories via four types. The final type of our classification has the same special relativistic dispersion relation but the transformations are not Lorentz. In DSR theories, the velocity of photons is generally different from the ordinary speed c and possess time delay, however in this new DSR light has the same special relativistic speed …
We consider the exact $R$-matrix of $AdS_3/CFT_2$, which is the building block for describing the scattering of worldsheet excitations of the light-cone gauge-fixed backgrounds $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$ and $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times S^3 \times S^1$ with pure Ramond-Ramond fluxes. We show that $R$ is invariant under a "deformed boost" symmetry, for which we write an explicit exact coproduct, i.e. its action on 2-particle states. When we include the boost, the symmetries of the $R$-matrix close into a $q$-Poincaré superalgebra. Our findings suggest that the recently discovered boost invarianc…
Proposals that $O(d,d)$ boosts of trivial backgrounds lead to non-trivial conformally invariant backgrounds are checked to two loop order. We find that conformal invariance can be achieved by adding simple higher order corrections to the metric and dilaton.
We extend the cohomological analysis in arXiv:1410.5831 of anisotropic Lifshitz scale anomalies. We consider non-relativistic theories with a dynamical critical exponent $z=2$ with or without non-relativistic boosts and a particle number symmetry. We distinguish between cases depending on whether the time direction does or does not induce a foliation structure. We analyse both $1+1$ and $2+1$ spacetime dimensions. In $1+1$ dimensions we find no scale anomalies with Galilean boost symmetries. The anomalies in $2+1$ dimensions with Galilean boosts and a foliation structure are all B-type and are…
We consider second-order viscous hydrodynamics in conformal field theories at finite temperature. We show that conformal invariance imposes powerful constraints on the form of the second-order corrections. By matching to the AdS/CFT calculations of correlators, and to recent results for Bjorken flow obtained by Heller and Janik, we find three (out of five) second-order transport coefficients in the strongly coupled N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We also discuss how these new coefficents can arise within the kinetic theory of weakly coupled conformal plasmas. We point out that the Muelle…
We derive finite boost transformations based on the Lorentz sector of the bicross-product-basis $κ$-Poincare' Hopf albegra. We emphasize the role of these boost transformations in a recently-proposed new relativistic theory. We find that when the (dimensionful) deformation parameter is identified with the Planck length, which together with the speed-of-light constant has the status of observer-independent scale in the new relativistic theory, the deformed boosts saturate at the value of momentum that corresponds to the inverse of the Planck length.
We explicitly calculate the $AdS_2 \times S^2 \times T^6$ transfer-matrix eigenvalues in the massless sector using the exact integrable S-matrix, for up to 5 particles. This enables us to conjecture the general pattern. We use the conjectured form of the eigenvalues to write down a set of massless Bethe ansatz equations. The same procedure applies to the relativistic as well as to the non-relativistic situation. In the relativistic case, the right and left modes decouple. We speculate that the relativistic massless Bethe ansatz we obtain in that case might capture the integrable structure of a…
A common misconception is that Lorentz invariance is inconsistent with a discrete spacetime structure and a minimal length: under Lorentz contraction, a Planck length ruler would be seen as smaller by a boosted observer. We argue that in the context of quantum gravity, the distance between two points becomes an operator and show through a toy model, inspired by Loop Quantum Gravity, that the notion of a quantum of geometry and of discrete spectra of geometric operators, is not inconsistent with Lorentz invariance. The main feature of the model is that a state of definite length for a given obs…
It is shown that by imposing the relativistic symmetries on the cutoff in field theories one rules out all known non-perturbative regulators except the point splitting. The relativistic cutoff dynamics is non-local in time and thereby unstable, bringing the very existence of relativistic field theory into question. It is argued within the context of a scalar field theory model that the combination of the point splitting with a sufficiently fast suppression in the field amplitude may lead to stable semiclassical dynamics and to a new kind of realistic vacuum structure.
We perform a detailed analysis of Galilean field theories, starting with free theories and then interacting theories. We consider non-relativistic versions of massless scalar and Dirac field theories before we go on to review our previous construction of Galilean Electrodynamics and Galilean Yang-Mills theory. We show that in all these cases, the field theories exhibit non-relativistic conformal structure (in appropriate dimensions). The surprising aspect of the analysis is that the non-relativistic conformal structure exhibited by these theories, unlike relativistic conformal invariance, beco…
A method is presented for constructing a class of Poincare invariant quantum mechanical models of systems of a finite number of degrees of freedom that satisfy cluster separability, the spectral condition, but do not conserve particle number. The class of models includes the relativistic Lee model and relativistic isobar models.
We investigate the physics of black hole formation from the head-on collisions of boosted equal mass Oscillatons (OS) in full numerical relativity, for both the cases where the OS have equal phases or are maximally off-phase (anti-phase). While unboosted OS collisions will form a BH as long as their initial compactness $\mathcal{C}\equiv GM/R$ is above a numerically determined critical value $\mathcal{C}>0.035$, we find that imparting a small initial boost counter-intuitively \emph{prevents} the formation of black holes even if $\mathcal{C}> 0.035$. If the boost is further increased, at very h…
We discuss a relativistic free particle with fractional spin in 2+1 dimensions, where the dual spin components satisfy the canonical angular momentum algebra $\left\{ S_μ, S_ν\right\}\,=\,ε_{μνγ}S^γ$. It is shown that it is a general consequence of these features that the Poincarè invariance is broken down to the Lorentz one, so indicating that it is not possible to keep simultaneously the free nature of the anyon and the translational invariance.
We comprehensively study Galilean and Carrollian hydrodynamics on arbitrary backgrounds, in the presence of a matter/charge conserved current. For this purpose, we follow two distinct and complementary paths. The first is based on local invariance, be it Galilean or Carrollian diffeomorphism invariance, possibly accompanied by Weyl invariance. The second consists in analyzing the relativistic fluid equations at large or small speed of light, after choosing an adapted gauge, ADM-Zermelo for the former and Papapetrou-Randers for the latter. Unsurprisingly, the results agree, but the second appro…
We present two new results on relativistic hydrodynamics with anomalies and external electromagnetic fields, "Chiral MagnetoHydroDynamics" (CMHD). First, we study CMHD in four dimensions at second order in the derivative expansion assuming the conformal/Weyl invariance. We classify all possible independent conformal second order viscous corrections to the energy-momentum tensor and to the U(1) current in the presence of external electric and/or magnetic fields, and identify eighteen terms that originate from the triangle anomaly. We then propose and motivate the following guiding principle to …
We apply a new bosonization technique to relativistic field theories of fermions whose partition function is dominated by bosonic composites, and derive the effective action for these bosons. The derivation respects all symmetries, including gauge invariance, with the exception of Euclidean invariance which must be checked a posteriori. We use a lattice regularization which should make applications to gauge theories easier. We test the method on a fermion field theory with quartic interaction in the limit when the number of flavours N_f is large, and show that it reproduces the exact results i…
We show that the algebraic aspects of Lie symmetries and generalized symmetries in nonrelativistic and relativistic quantum mechanics can be preserved in linear lattice theories. The mathematical tool for symmetry preserving discretizations on regular lattices is the umbral calculus.
We show that the full spurionic symmetry of Galilean-invariant field theories can be deduced when those theories are the limits of relativistic parents. Under the limit, the non-relativistic daughter couples to Newton-Cartan geometry together with all of the symmetries advocated in previous work, including the recently revived Milne boosts. Our limit is a covariant version of the usual one, where we start with a gapped relativistic theory with a conserved charge, turn on a chemical potential equal to the rest mass of the lightest charged state, and then zoom in to the low energy sector. This p…
In relativistic quantum field theory particles of half-integer spin must obey Fermi-Dirac statistics. Their quantum operators must anticommute at spacelike separation in contrast to commuting physical observables. We show that Fermi-Dirac spin $1/2$ operators can be emergent in a fully commuting field theory forming directed strings and loops of spin 0 and 1 constituents, reproducing massive Dirac dynamics with background fields. Such underlying description may violate relativistic invariance but there are no manifest interactions at a distance and rotation symmetry remains preserved. We show …
We consider a relativistic effective field theory of vector boson whose vacuum exhibits spontaneous breaking of Lorentz invariance. We argue that a simple model of this type, considered recently by Kraus and Tomboulis, is obstructed from having a consistent ultraviolet completion according to the diagnostic recently suggested by Adams, Arkani-Hamed, Dubovsky, Nicolis, and Rattazzi.
We study scale invariant but not necessarily conformal invariant deformations of non-relativistic conformal field theories from the dual gravity viewpoint. We present the corresponding metric that solves the Einstein equation coupled with a massive vector field. We find that, within the class of metric we study, when we assume the Galilean invariance, the scale invariant deformation always preserves the non-relativistic conformal invariance. We discuss applications to scaling regime of Reggeon field theory and non-linear quantum finance. These theories possess scale invariance but may or may n…
Parity and time invariance violating (P,T-odd) nuclear forces produce P,T-odd nuclear moments. In turn, these moments can induce electric dipole moments (EDMs) in atoms through the mixing of electron wavefunctions of opposite parity. The nuclear EDM is screened by atomic electrons. The EDM of an atom with closed electron subshells is induced by the nuclear Schiff moment. Previously the interaction with the Schiff moment has been defined for a point-like nucleus. No problems arise with the calculation of the electron matrix element of this interaction as long as the electrons are considered to …
