Related papers: Principal equatorial null geodesic congruences in …
Using the Raychaudhuri equation, we show that a quantum probability amplitude (Feynman propagator) can be univocally associated to any timelike or null affinely parametrized geodesic congruence.
We consider second order differential operators with coefficients which are Gaussian random fields. When the covariance becomes singular at short distances then the propagators of the Schr\"odinger equation as well as of the wave equation…
The Raychaudhuri equation for a geodesic congruence in the presence of a zero-point length has been investigated. This is directly related to the small-scale structure of spacetime and possibly captures some quantum gravity effects. The…
We compute quantum corrections to the Raychaudhuri equation, by replacing classical geodesics with quantal (Bohmian) trajectories, and show that they prevent focusing of geodesics, and the formation of conjugate points. We discuss…
The effects on Raychaudhuri's equation of an intrinsically-discrete or particle nature of spacetime are investigated. This is done through the consideration of null congruences emerging from, or converging to, a generic point of spacetime,…
In General Relativity, gravity is universally attractive, a feature embodied by the Raychaudhuri equation which requires that the expansion of a congruence of geodesics is always non-increasing, as long as matter obeys the strong or weak…
We give a general procedure for extracting the propagators in gauge theories in presence of a sharp gauge fixing and we apply it to derive the propagators in quantum gravity in the radial gauge, both in the first and in the second order…
We consider a congruence of null geodesics in the presence of a quantized spacetime metric. The coupling to a quantum metric induces fluctuations in the congruence; we calculate the change in the area of a pencil of geodesics induced by…
It has been known that the propagation of sound in fluids can be used to model acoustic spacetimes. These acoustic spacetimes offer analogue models for gravity. We use the Raychaudhuri equation to study the propagation of sound in these…
The classical Raychaudhuri equation predicts the formation of conjugate points for a congruence of geodesics, in a finite proper time. This in conjunction with the Hawking-Penrose singularity theorems predicts the incompleteness of…
We argue that the well-known geodesic completeness property of pp-waves, can be disregarded once the geodesics are extracted as being extended along sets of Brinkmann coordinates. This issue is investigated in the more general context of…
We obtain generalized Raychaudhuri equations for spinning test particles corresponding to congruences of particle's world-lines, momentum, and spin. These are physical examples of the Raychaudhuri equation for a non-normalized vector, unit…
We study null geodesic congruences (NGCs) in the presence of spacetime torsion, recovering and extending results in the literature. Only the highest spin irreducible component of torsion gives a proper acceleration with respect to metric…
Implications of the Raychaudhuri equation in focusing of geodesic congruences are studied in the framework of scalar--tensor theory of gravity. Specifically, we investigate the Brans--Dicke theory and Bekenstein's scalar field theory. In…
A recent attempt to arrive at a quantum version of Raychaudhuri's equation is looked at critically. It is shown that the method, and even the idea, has some inherent problems. The issues are pointed out here. We have also shown that it is…
Making use of the Kerr theorem for shear-free null congruences and of Newman's representation for a virtual charge ``moving'' in complex space-time, we obtain an axisymmetric time-dependent generalization of the Kerr congruence, with a…
The Kerr geometry is believed to represent the exterior spacetime of astrophysical black holes. We here re-analyze the geometry of Kerr-like metrics (Kerr, Kerr-Newman, Kerr-de Sitter, and Kerr-anti de Sitter), paying particular attention…
For a general formulation of linearised hybrid inverse problems in impedance tomography, the qualitative properties of the solutions are analysed. Using an appropriate scalar pseudo-differential formulation, the problems are shown to permit…
A three-dimensional reduction of the homogeneous Bethe-Salpeter equation retaining, in contrast to the Salpeter equation, the exact propagators (crucial for, e.g., a proper incorporation of dynamical chiral symmetry breakdown) is proposed.…
Given a spacetime with nonvanishing torsion, we discuss the equation for the evolution of the separation vector between infinitesimally close curves in a congruence. We show that the presence of a torsion field leads, in general, to tangent…