Related papers: k-Essence, superluminal propagation, causality and…
It is now well-known that vacuum polarisation in QED can lead to superluminal low-frequency phase velocities for photons propagating in curved spacetimes. In a series of papers, we have shown that this quantum phenomenon is dispersive and…
We recently introduced the concept of "k-essence" as a dynamical solution for explaining naturally why the universe has entered an epoch of accelerated expansion at a late stage of its evolution. The solution avoids fine-tuning of…
K-essence models, relying on scalar fields with non-canonical kinetic terms, have been proposed as an alternative to quintessence in explaining the observed acceleration of the Universe. We consider the use of field redefinitions to cast…
The quantum description of reality is quite different from the classical one. Understanding this difference at a fundamental level is still an interesting topic. Recently, Dragan and Ekert [New J. Phys. 22 (2020) 033038] postulated that…
We propose superluminal solitons residing in the momentum gap (k-gap) of nonlinear photonic time-crystals. These gap solitons are structured as plane-waves in space while being periodically self-reconstructing wavepackets in time. The…
Contrary to what is often stated, a fundamental spacetime discreteness need not contradict Lorentz invariance. A causal set's discreteness is in fact locally Lorentz invariant, and we recall the reasons why. For illustration, we introduce a…
Researchers claim to have observed superluminal (faster than light) propagation of a laser pulse in a gain medium by a new mechanism in which there is no distortion of the pulse [Nature, 406, 277 (2000)]. Our analysis shows that the…
We show that phantom dark energy, if it is described by a K-essence theory, has three fundamental problems: first, its hamiltonian is unbounded from below. Second, classical stability precludes the equation of state from crossing the…
Causal emergence is the theory that macroscales can reduce the noise in causal relationships, leading to stronger causes at the macroscale. First identified using the effective information and later the integrated information in model…
We investigate the propagation of certain non-plane wave solutions to Maxwell's equations in both flat and curved spacetimes. We find that such solutions (or rather parts of them) exhibit accelerative behaviour, and in particular do not…
Recently, a number of experimental observations on the superluminal group velocities of pulses propagating in dispersive media have led to reconsidering electromagnetism theory in an unconventional framework. To consider faster-than-light…
One may believe that front velocities of waves in a given theory coincide with the UV limit of phase velocities for any dispersion relations. This implies that IR physics is irrelevant to the discussion of propagation speed of waves. We…
Classical linear wave superposition produces the appearance of interference. This observation can be interpreted in two equivalent ways: one can assume that interference is an illusion because input components remain unperturbed, or that…
Recent cosmological tensions, notably the Hubble and $S_{8}$ tensions, necessitate extensions of the conventional $\Lambda$CDM framework, wherein additional dynamical fields alter the effective spacetime encountered by matter and radiation.…
We study here some consequences of the nonlinearities of the electromagnetic field acting as a source of Einstein's equations on the propagation of photons. We restrict to the particular case of a ``regular black hole'', and show that there…
With the help of the Seiberg-Witten map, one can obtain an effective action of a deformed QED from a noncommutative QED. Starting from the deformed QED, we investigate the propagation of photons in the background of electromagnetic field,…
The effective action for QED in curved spacetime includes equivalence principle violating interactions between the electromagnetic field and the spacetime curvature. These interactions admit the possibility of superluminal yet causal photon…
We analyze the implications of having a divergent speed of sound in k-essence cosmological models. We first study a known theory of that kind, for which the Lagrangian density depends linearly on the time derivative of the k-field. We show…
Scalar-tensor theories of gravity provide a consistent framework to accommodate an ultra-light quintessence scalar field. While the equivalence principle is respected by construction, deviations from General Relativity and standard…
The concept of emergence is critically analyzed in particular with respect to the assumed emergence of mental properties from a neuronal basis. We argue that so-called contextual emergence is needed to avoid an eliminatory reductionism.…