Related papers: Gravitational vacuum polarization
We investigate the behaviour of classical and quantum fields in the conical space-time associated with a point mass in 2+1 dimensions. We show that the presence of conical boundary conditions alters the electrostatic field of a point charge…
We renormalize the divergences in the energy-momentum tensor of a scalar field that begins its evolution in an effective initial state. The effective initial state is a formalism that encodes the signatures of new physics in the structure…
The behavior of a arbitrary coupled quantum scalar field is studied in the background of the G\"odel spacetime. Closed forms are derived for the effective action and the vacuum expectation value of quadratic field fluctuations by using…
The effective actions describing the low-energy dynamics of QFTs involving gravity generically exhibit causality violations. These may take the form of superluminal propagation or Shapiro time advances and allow the construction of "time…
The question of general covariance in quantum gravity is considered in the first post-Newtonian approximation. Transformation properties of observable quantities under deformations of a reference frame, induced by variations of the gauge…
Recently, we introduced a non-perturbative quantization of impulsive gravitational null initial data. In this note, we investigate an immediate physical implication of the model. One of the quantum numbers is the total luminosity carried to…
We revisit the question of whether classical general relativity obeys, beyond the linearised order, an analogue of the global U(1) electric-magnetic duality of Maxwell theory, with the Riemann tensor playing the role analogous to the field…
The effective field theory of quantum gravity generically predicts non-locality to be present in the effective action, which results from the low-energy propagation of gravitons and massless matter. Working to second order in gravitational…
The renormalization group in effective quantum gravity can be consistently formulated using the Vilkovisky and DeWitt version of effective action and assuming a non-zero cosmological constant. Taking into account that the vacuum counterpart…
Quantum systems often contain negative energy densities. In general relativity, negative energies lead to time advancement, rather than the usual time delay. As a result, some Casimir systems appear to violate energy conditions that would…
Crystals, as quantum objects typically much larger than their lattice spacing, are a counterexample to a frequent prejudice that quantum effects should not be pronounced at macroscopic distances. We propose that the Einstein theory of…
A fundamental problem with attempting to quantize general relativity is its perturbative non-renormalizability. However, this fact does not rule out the possibility that non-perturbative effects can be computed, at least in some…
Planck scale physics represents a future challenge, located between particle physics and general relativity. The Planck scale marks a threshold beyond which the old description of spacetime breaks down and conceptually new phenomena must…
In the standard model the mass of elementary particles is considered as a dynamical property emerging from their interaction with the Higgs field. We show that this assumption implies peculiar deviations from the law of universal…
On the basis of extensive numerical studies it is argued that there are strong analogies between the probabilistic behavior of quantum systems defined by Hermitian Hamiltonians and the deterministic behavior of classical mechanical systems…
A definition of gravitational energy is proposed for any theory described by a diffeomorphism-invariant Lagrangian. The mathematical structure is a Noether- current construction of Wald involving the boundary term in the action, but here it…
It is well known that the energy density of a quantum state can be negative. It has been shown that there are limits on this negative energy density which are called the quantum inequalities. In this paper we will demonstrate an example of…
The scattering of pointlike particles at very large center of mass energies and fixed low momentum transfers, occurring due to both their electromagnetic and gravitational interactions is re-examined in the particular case when one of the…
We start with a summary of the theory of the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum, which makes it possible to consider the quantum vacuum as a source of gravity in the Universe. Next, because virtual gravitational dipoles are…
Fast moving classical variables can generate quantum mechanical behavior. We demonstrate how this can happen in a model. The key point is that in classically (ontologically) evolving systems one can still define a conserved quantum energy.…