We extend previous work on the numerical diagonalization of quantum stress tensor operators in the Minkowski vacuum state, which considered operators averaged in a finite time interval, to operators averaged in a finite spacetime region. Since real experiments occur over finite volumes and durations, physically meaningful fluctuations may be obtained from stress tensor operators averaged by compactly supported sampling functions in space and time. The direct diagonalization, via a Bogoliubov transformation, gives the eigenvalues and the probabilities of measuring those eigenvalues in the vacuum state, from which the underlying probability distribution can be constructed. For the normal-ordered square of the time derivative of a massless scalar field in a spherical cavity with finite degrees of freedom, analysis of the tails of these distributions confirms previous results based on the analytical treatment of the high moments. We find that the probability of large vacuum fluctuations is reduced when spatial averaging is included, but the tail still decreases more slowly than exponentially as the magnitude of the measured eigenvalues increases, suggesting vacuum fluctuations may not always be subdominant to thermal fluctuations and opening up the possibility of experimental observation under the right conditions.
We extend previous work on quantum stress tensor operators which have been averaged over finite time intervals to include averaging over finite regions of space as well. The space and time averaging can be viewed as describing a measurement process for a stress tensor component, such as the energy density of a quantized field in its vacuum state. Although spatial averaging reduces the probability of large vacuum fluctuations compared to time averaging alone, we find that the probability distribution decreases more slowly than exponentially as the magnitude of the measured energy density increa…
Observing physical effects of large quantum stress tensor fluctuations requires knowledge of the interactions between the probe and the particles of the underlying quantum fields. The quantum stress tensor operators must first be averaged in time alone or space and time to confer meaningful results, the details of which may correspond to the physical measurement process. We build on prior results to characterize the particle frequencies associated with quantum fluctuations of different magnitudes. For the square of time derivatives of the massless scalar field in a spherical cavity, we find th…
Large vacuum fluctuations of a quantum stress tensor operator can be described by the asymptotic behavior of the probability distribution of the time or spacetime averaged operator. Here we focus on the case of stress tensor operators averaged with a sampling function in time. The Minkowski vacuum state is not an eigenstate of the time-averaged operator, but can be expanded in terms of its eigenstates. We calculate the probability distribution and the cumulative probability distribution for obtaining a given value in a measurement of the time-averaged operator taken in the vacuum state. In the…
The stress tensor for the quantized electromagnetic field is calculated in the region between a pair of dispersive, dielectric half-spaces. This generalizes the stress tensor for the Casimir energy to the case where the boundaries have finite reflectivity. We also include the effects of finite temperature. This allows us to discuss the circumstances under which the weak energy condition and the null energy condition can be violated in the presence of finite reflectivity and finite temperature.
The effects of compact extra dimensions upon quantum stress tensor fluctuations are discussed. It is argued that as the compactification volume decrease, these fluctuations increase in magnitude. In principle, this would have the potential to create observable effects, such as luminosity fluctuations or angular blurring of distant sources, and lead to constraints upon Kaluza-Klein theories. However, the dependence of the four-dimensional Newton's constant upon the compactification volume causes the gravitational effects of the stress tensor fluctuations to be finite in the limit of small volum…
We calculate the expectation value of the stress energy tensor for a massless dilaton-coupled 2D scalar field propagating on an extremal Reissner-Nordstrom black hole formed by the collapse of a timelike shell, showing its regularity on the horizon.
We calculate the vacuum expectation value of the stress-energy tensor for a quantised bulk scalar field in the Randall-Sundrum model, and discuss the consequences of its local behaviour for the self-consistency of the model. We find that, in general, the stress-energy tensor diverges in the vicinity of the branes. Our main conclusion is that the stress-energy tensor is sufficiently complicated that it has implications for the effective potential, or radion stabilisation, methods that have so far been used.
The recent introduction of a boundary stress tensor for asymptotically flat spacetimes enabled a new construction of energy, momentum, and Lorentz charges. These charges are known to generate the asymptotic symmetries of the theory, but their explicit formulas are not identical to previous constructions in the literature. This paper corrects an earlier comparison with other approaches, including terms in the definition of the stress tensor charges that were previously overlooked. We show that these terms either vanish identically (for d > 4) or take a form that does not contribute to the conse…
Contrary to previous claims, it is shown that the expectation values of the quantum stress tensor for a massless scalar field propagating on a two-dimensional extreme Reissner-Nordstrom black hole are indeed regular on the horizon.
We calculate one, two and three point functions of the holographic stress tensor for any bulk Lagrangian of the form ${\mathcal{L}}(g^{ab}, R_{abcd}, \nabla_e R_{abcd})$. Using the first law of entanglement, a simple method has recently been proposed to compute the holographic stress tensor arising from a higher derivative gravity dual. The stress tensor is proportional to a dimension dependent factor which depends on the higher derivative couplings. In this paper, we identify this proportionality constant with a B-type trace anomaly in even dimensions for any bulk Lagrangian of the above form…
It is shown that different pairs of stress-energy and spin tensors of quantum relativistic fields related by a pseudo-gauge transformation, i.e. differing by a divergence, imply different mean values of physical quantities in thermodynamical nonequilibrium situations. Most notably, transport coefficients and the total entropy production rate are affected by the choice of the spin tensor of the relativistic quantum field theory under consideration. Therefore, at least in principle, it should be possible to disprove a fundamental stress-energy tensor and/or to show that a fundamental spin tensor…
We investigate the stress tensor for holographic fluids at the finite cutoff surface through perturbing the Schwarzchild-AdS black brane background to the first order perturbations in the scenario of fluid/gravity correspondence. We investigate the most general perturbations of the metric without any gauge fixing. We consider various boundary conditions and demonstrate the properties of the corresponding holographic fluids. The critical fact is that the spatial components of the first order stress tensors of the holographic fluids can be rewritten in a concordant form, which implicates that th…
We calculate the expectation values of the stress-energy tensor for both a massless minimally-coupled and dilaton-coupled 2D field propagating on an extremal Reissner-Nordstrom black hole, showing its regularity on the horizon in contrast with previous claims in the literature.
In this paper, we demonstrate that at leading order in post Minkowskian (PM) expansion, the stress-energy tensor of Kerr-Newman can be recovered to all orders in spin from three sets of minimal coupling: the electric and gravitational minimal coupling for higher-spin particles, and the "minimal coupling" for massive spin-2 decay. These couplings are uniquely defined from kinematic consideration alone. This is shown by extracting the classical piece of the one-loop stress-energy tensor form factor, which we provide a basis that is valid to all orders in spin. The 1 PM stress tensor, and the met…
Using the Brown-York prescription for the definition of quasilocal gravitational energy-momentum tensor on a boundary and also complete canonical structure on a null boundary which has been found recently \cite{Aghapour:2018icu}, we propose a similar stress tensor on the null boundary. Then we exploit this stress tensor to compute the quasi-local energy and angular momentum for some well-known gravitational solutions. We have found that in addition to reference spacetime method for regularizing total energy, in the case of null boundary we can add a possible counterterm so avoiding embedding d…
We calculate holographically arbitrary n-point correlators of the boundary stress tensor in three-dimensional Einstein gravity with negative or vanishing cosmological constant. We provide explicit expressions up to 5-point (connected) correlators and show consistency with the Galilean conformal field theory Ward identities and recursion relations of correlators, which we derive. This provides a novel check of flat space holography in three dimensions.
In this paper, we describe an extremely efficient method for computing the renormalized stress-energy tensor of a quantum scalar field in spherically-symmetric black hole spacetimes. The method applies to a scalar field with arbitrary field parameters. We demonstrate the utility of the method by computing the renormalized stress-energy tensor for a scalar field in the Schwarzschild black hole spacetime, applying our results to discuss the null energy condition and the semi-classical backreaction.
We propose a procedure for computing the boundary stress tensor associated with a gravitating system in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space. Our definition is free of ambiguities encountered by previous attempts, and correctly reproduces the masses and angular momenta of various spacetimes. Via the AdS/CFT correspondence, our classical result is interpretable as the expectation value of the stress tensor in a quantum conformal field theory. We demonstrate that the conformal anomalies in two and four dimensions are recovered. The two dimensional stress tensor transforms with a Schwarzian deriva…
It is argued that the ambiguity introduced by the renormalization in the effective action of a four-dimensional renormalizable quantum field theory is at most a local polynomial action of canonical dimension four. The allowed ambiguity in the expected stress-energy tensor of a massive scalar field is severely restricted by this fact.
Continuing a program of examining the behavior of the vacuum expectation value of the stress tensor in a background which varies only in a single direction, we here study the electromagnetic stress tensor in a medium with permittivity depending on a single spatial coordinate, specifically, a planar dielectric half-space facing a vacuum region. There are divergences occurring that are regulated by temporal and spatial point-splitting, which have a universal character for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes. The nature of the divergences depends on the model of dispersion adop…
The recently-conjectured Kerr/CFT correspondence posits a field theory dual to dynamics in the near-horizon region of an extreme Kerr black hole with certain boundary conditions. We construct a boundary stress tensor for this theory via covariant phase space techniques. The structure of the stress tensor indicates that any dual theory is a discrete light cone quantum theory, in agreement with recent arguments by Balasubramanian et al. The key technical step in our construction is the addition of an appropriate counter-term to the symplectic structure, which is necessary to make the theory full…
We extend to curved backgrounds all flat-space scalar field models that obey purely second-order equations, while maintaining their second-order dependence on both field and metric. This extension simultaneously restores to second order the, originally higher derivative, stress tensors as well. The process is transparent and uniform for all dimensions.
The Wightman functions in the Rindler portion of Minkowski space-time are presented for any value of the temperature and for massless spin fields up to s=1 and the renormalized stress tensor relative to Minkowski vacuum is discussed. A gauge ambiguity in the vector case is pointed out.
We derive the anomalous transformation law of the quantum stress tensor for a 2D massless scalar field coupled to an external dilaton. This provides a generalization of the Virasoro anomaly which turns out to be consistent with the trace anomaly. We apply it together with the equivalence principle to compute the expectation values of the covariant quantum stress tensor on a curved background. Finally we briefly illustrate how to evaluate vacuum polarization and Hawking radiation effects from these results.
We calculate, in the context of higher dimensional gravity, the stress-energy tensor and Weyl anomaly associated with anti-de Sitter and anti-de Sitter black hole solutions. The boundary counter-term method is used to regularize the action and the resulting stress-energy tensor yields both the correct black hole energies as well as a vacuum energy contribution which is interpreted as a Casimir energy. This calculation is done up to d = 8 (d being the boundary dimension). We confirm some results for d < 8 as well as comment on some new results (some of which are relevant to (2,0) theory). All r…
For spaces which are not asymptotically anti-de Sitter where the asymptotic behavior is deformed by replacing the cosmological constant by a dilaton scalar potential, we show that it is possible to have well-defined boundary stress-energy tensors and finite Euclidean actions by adding appropriate surface counterterms. We illustrate the method by the examples of domain-wall black holes in gauged supergravities, three-dimensional dilaton black holes and topological dilaton black holes in four dimensions. We calculate the boundary stress-energy tensor and Euclidean action of these black configura…
We propose a quasi-local stress tensor for the four-dimensional asymptotically flat Robinson-Trautman geometries by taking the flat-space limit from the corresponding asymptotically AdS solutions. This stress tensor results in the correct charges of the generators of BMS symmetry if we define conformal infinity by an anisotropic scaling of the metric components. Using flat-space holography this stress tensor is related to expectation values of the stress tensor in a dual field theory called BMS-invariant field theory (BMSFT). We also calculate the two and three point functions of the proposed …
In strongly coupled conformal field theories with a large central charge important light degrees of freedom are the stress tensor and its composites, multi-stress tensors. We consider the OPE expansion of two-point functions of the stress tensor in thermal and heavy states and focus on the contributions from the stress tensor and double-stress tensors in four spacetime dimensions. We compare the results to the holographic finite temperature two-point functions and read off conformal data beyond the leading order in the large central charge expansion. In particular, we compute corrections to th…
After recapitulating the covariant formalism of equilibrium statistical mechanics in special relativity and extending it to the case of a non-vanishing spin tensor, we show that the relativistic stress-energy tensor at thermodynamical equilibrium can be obtained from a functional derivative of the partition function with respect to the inverse temperature four-vector β. For usual thermodynamical equilibrium, the stress-energy tensor turns out to be the derivative of the relativistic thermodynamic potential current with respect to the four-vector β, i.e. T^{μν} = - \partial Φ^μ/\partial β_ν. Th…
A method is given to compute the stress-energy tensor for a massless minimally coupled scalar field in a spacetime where a black hole forms from the collapse of a spherically symmetric null shell in four dimensions. Part of the method involves matching the modes for the in vacuum state to a complete set of modes in Schwarzschild spacetime. The other part involves subtracting from the unrenormalized expression for the stress-energy tensor when the field is in the in vacuum state, the corresponding expression when the field is in the Unruh state and adding to this the renormalized stress-energy …
We investigate a stress-energy tensor for a CFT at strong coupling inside a small five-dimensional rotating Myers-Perry black hole with equal angular momenta by using the holographic method. As a gravitational dual, we perturbatively construct a black droplet solution by applying the "derivative expansion" method, generalizing the work of Haddad (arXiv:1207.2305), and analytically compute the holographic stress-energy tensor for our solution. We find that the stress-energy tensor is finite at both the future and past outer (event) horizons, and that the energy density is negative just outside …
The quantum stress tensor $<T_{μν}>$ is calculated in the 2+1 dimensional black hole found by Banados, Teitelboim, and Zanelli. The Greens function, from which $<T_{μν}> $ is derived, is obtained by the method of images. For the non-rotating black hole, it is shown that $<T_{μν}>$ is finite on the event horizon, but diverges at the singularity. For the rotating solution, the stress tensor is finite at the outer horizon, but diverges near the inner horizon. This suggests that the inner horizon is quantum mechanically unstable against the formation of a singularity.
We compute the holographic stress tensor of colored Lifshitz spacetimes following the proposal by Ross-Saremi for gravity duals of non-relativistic theories. For a well-defined variational principle, we first construct a finite on-shell action for the Einstein-Yang-Mills model in four dimensions with Lifshitz spacetime as a solution. We then solve the linearised equations of motion and identify the modes that preserve the asymptotically Lifshitz condition. Employing these modes, we also show that the stress tensor is finite, obeying the scaling and the diffeomorphism Ward identities, i.e., con…
A method for computing the stress-energy tensor for the quantized, massless, spin 1/2 field in a general static spherically symmetric spacetime is presented. The field can be in a zero temperature state or a non-zero temperature thermal state. An expression for the full renormalized stress-energy tensor is derived. It consists of a sum of two tensors both of which are conserved. One tensor is written in terms of the modes of the quantized field and has zero trace. In most cases it must be computed numerically. The other tensor does not explicitly depend on the modes and has a trace equal to th…
One has not any conventional energy-momentum conservation law in Lagrangian field theory, but relations involving different stress-energy-momentum tensors associated with different connections. It is not obvious how to choose the true energy-momentum tensor. This problem is solved in the framework of the multimomentum Hamiltonian formalism which provides the adequate description of constraint field systems. The goal is that, for different solutions of the same constraint field model, one should choose different stress-energy-momentum tensors in general. Gauge theory illustrates this result. Th…
An important part of a CFT four-point function, the stress tensor sector, comprises the exchanges of the stress tensor and its composites. The OPE coefficients of these multi-stress tensor operators and consequently, the complete stress tensor sector of four-point functions in CFTs with a large central charge, can be determined by computing a heavy-heavy-light-light correlator. We show how one can make substantial progress in this direction by bootstrapping a certain ansatz for the stress tensor sector of the correlator, iteratively computing the OPE coefficients of multi-stress tensor operato…
In this note, we have extended the result of \citep{radiation} to calculate the membrane stress tensor up to ${\cal O}\left(\frac{1}{D}\right)$ localized on the codimension-one membrane world volume propagating in asymptotically at/AdS/dS space-time. We have shown that the subleading order membrane equation follows from the conservation equation of this stress tensor.
Considering arbitrary conformal field theories in general (non-conformally flat) backgrounds, we adopt a dimensional regularization approach to obtain stress tensors from Weyl anomalies. The results of type A anomaly-induced stress tensors in four and six-dimensions generalize the previous results calculated in a conformally flat background. On the other hand, regulators are needed to have well-defined type B anomaly-induced stress tensors. We also discuss ambiguities related to type D anomalies, Weyl invariants and order of limit issues.
We calculate the vacuum fluctuation of the stress tensor of a higher-derivative theory around a thin cosmic string. To this end, we adopt the method to obtain the stress tensor from the effective action developed by Gibbons et al. By their method, the quantum stress tensor of higher-derivative scalar theories without self-interaction is expressed as a simple sum of quantum stress tensors of free massive scalar fields. Unlike the vacuum expectation value of the scalar field squared obtained in the similar model, there appears no reduction of the values near the conical singularity.
In this paper we consider charged and neutral blackfold and extract the Brown-York stress energy tensor. Also, we show that the neutral blackfold spacetime is Ricci- flat and the other spacetime is not. This Ricci-flat condition gives us opportunity to calculate the AAdS spacetime. In order to have dual theory one can consider the AAdS in Fefferman- Graham coordinates. This frame gives correct form of stress tensor in the boundary. The corresponding tensor with using this frame will be traceless and conserved. Such stress tensor is same as perfect fluid and it proves the dual renormalized theo…
We review several related investigations of the effects of the quantum stress tensor of a conformal field in inflationary cosmology. Particular attention will be paid to the effects of quantum stress tensor fluctuations as a source of density and tensor perturbations in inflationary models. These effects can possibly depend upon the total expansion factor during inflation, and hence be much larger than one might otherwise expect. They have the potential to contribute a non-scale invariant and non-Gaussian component to the primordial spectrum of perturbations, and might be observable.
We evaluate the Average Null Energy Condition (ANEC) on momentum eigenstates generated by the stress tensor in perturbative $λ\, ϕ^4$ and general spacetime dimension. We first compute the norm of the stress-tensor state at second order in $λ$; as a by-product of the derivation we obtain the full expression for the stress tensor 2-point function at this order. We then compute the ANEC expectation value to first order in $λ$, which also depends on the coupling of the stress-tensor improvement term $ξ$. We study the bounds on these couplings that follow from the ANEC and unitarity at first order …
We show that in general holographic stress tensor may contain a new term of divergence of a spacelike unit normal acceleration. Then, it is shown that in contrast to previous descriptions, a new stress tensor for Kerr-AdS solutions can be a traceless one. Interestingly, this prescription entails a local failure on the IR-UV connection.
Finite expressions for the mean value of the stress tensor corresponding to a scalar field with a generalized dispersion relation in a Friedman--Robertson--Walker universe are obtained using adiabatic renormalization. Formally divergent integrals are evaluated by means of dimensional regularization. The renormalization procedure is shown to be equivalent to a redefinition of the cosmological constant and the Newton constant in the semiclassical Einstein equations.
Among the different methods to derive particle creation, finding the quantum stress tensor expectation value gives a covariant quantity which can be used for examining the back-reaction issue. However this tensor also includes vacuum polarization in a way that depends on the vacuum chosen. Here we review different aspects of particle creation by looking at energy conservation and at the quantum stress tensor. It will be shown that in the case of general spherically symmetric black holes that have a \emph{dynamical horizon}, as occurs in a cosmological context, one cannot have pair creation on …
This is a quick review on some technology concerning the local zeta function applied to Quantum Field Theory in curved static (thermal) spacetime to regularize the stress-energy tensor and the field fluctuations.
We examine the effect of the stress tensor of a quantum matter field, such as the electromagnetic field, on the spectrum of primordial gravity waves expected in inflationary cosmology. We find that the net effect is a small reduction in the power spectrum, especially at higher frequencies, but which has a different form from that described by the usual spectral index. Thus this effect has a characteristic signature, and is in principle observable. The net effect is a sum of two contributions, one of which is due to quantum fluctuations of the matter field stress tensor. The other is a quantum …
We study gravitational aspects of Brane-World scenarios. We show that the bulk Einstein equations together with the junction condition imply that the induced metric on the brane satisfies the full non-linear Einstein equations with a specific effective stress energy tensor. This result holds for any value of the bulk cosmological constant. The analysis is done by either placing the brane close to infinity or by considering the local geometry near the brane. In the case that the bulk spacetime is asymptotically AdS, we show that the effective stress energy tensor is equal to the sum of the stre…
The stress tensor sector of a heavy-heavy-light-light scalar correlator in CFTs with a large central charge and a large gap is defined by the exchange of multi-stress tensor operators. The Regge limit of this correlator is determined by the phase shift of a highly energetic particle propagating in a dual black hole background. Assuming Einstein gravity in the bulk, the phase shift is known perturbatively to all orders in the ratio of the heavy scaling dimension over the central charge. In the CFT, the order counts the number of stress tensors in the multi-stress tensor operator. By Fourier tra…
We discuss the calculation of the field theory stress tensor from the dual geometry for two recent proposals for gravity duals of non-relativistic conformal field theories. The first of these has a Schrodinger symmetry including Galilean boosts, while the second has just an anisotropic scale invariance (the Lifshitz case). For the Lifshitz case, we construct an appropriate action principle. We propose a definition of the non-relativistic stress tensor complex for the field theory as an appropriate variation of the action in both cases. In the Schrodinger case, we show that this gives physicall…
We discuss the partners of the stress energy tensor and their structure in Logarithmic conformal field theories. In particular we draw attention to the fundamental differences between theories with zero and non-zero central charge. We analyze the OPE for T, \bar{T} and the logarithmic partners t and \bar{t} for c=0 theories.
We propose a stress tensor for the Kerr black hole written in the Boyer-Lindquist coordinate. To achieve this, we use the dictionary of the Flat/CCFT correspondence and take the flat-space limit from the quasi-local stress tensor of the four-dimensional Kerr-AdS black hole. The proposed stress tensor yields the correct values for the mass and angular momentum of the Kerr black hole at spatial infinity. We also calculate some components of the energy momentum tensor of the three dimensional CCFT and show that they are consistent with the holographic calculation of the Kerr black hole. The calcu…
The inspiral of binary systems in vacuum is controlled by the stress-energy of gravitational radiation and any other propagating degrees of freedom. For gravitational waves, the dominant contribution is characterized by an effective stress-energy tensor at future null infinity. We employ perturbation theory and the short-wavelength approximation to compute this stress-energy tensor in a wide class of alternative theories. We find that this tensor is generally a modification of that first computed by Isaacson, where the corrections can dominate over the general relativistic term. In a wide clas…
We exploit the relationship between the space components of the energy-momentum tensor and the supercurrent to discuss the connection between the BPS equations and the vanishing of the components of the stress tensor in various supersymmetric theories with solitons. Using the fact that certain combination of supercharges annihilate BPS states, we show that $T_{ij}=0$ for kinks, vortices and dyons, displaying the connection between supersymmetry and non-interacting BPS solitons.
In this second paper of the series we calculate the stress tensor of excited matter, created by ``debris'' of high energy collisions at the boundary. We found that massive objects (``stones'') falling into the AdS center produce gravitational disturbance which however has $zero$ stress tensor at the boundary. The falling open strings, connected to receeding charges, do produce a nonzero stress tensor which we found analytically from time-dependent linearized Einstein equations in the bulk. It corresponds to exploding non-equilibrium matter: we discuss its behavior in some detail, including its…
Local modes and local particles are defined at any point in curved space time as those that most resemble Minkowsky modes at that point. It is shown that the renormalised stress tensor is the difference of energy between the physical vacuum and that defined by these local modes.
Starting with the general stress-tensor commutation relations consistent with the Poincaré algebra in local quantum field theory, we impose the tracelessness condition and focus on the dominating contributions in the lightcone limit. It is shown that, under a certain assumption on the Schwinger term, a Virasoro-algebra-like structure emerges near the lightcone in $d>2$ conformal field theories.
