arXiv subjects

Alessio Belenchia

Publications and source records attributed to Alessio Belenchia.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Lorentz violation naturalness revisited

We revisit here the naturalness problem of Lorentz invariance violations on a simple toy model of a scalar field coupled to a fermion field via a Yukawa interaction. We first review some well-known results concerning the low-energy percolation of Lorentz violation from high energies, presenting some details of the analysis not explicitly discussed in the literature and discussing some previously unnoticed subtleties. We then show how a separation between the scale of validity of the effective field theory and that one of Lorentz invariance violations can hinder this low-energy percolation. While such protection mechanism was previously considered in the literature, we provide here a simple illustration of how it works and of its general features. Finally, we consider a case in which dissipation is present, showing that the dissipative behaviour does not percolate generically to lower mass dimension operators albeit dispersion does. Moreover, we show that a scale separation can protect from unsuppressed low-energy percolation also in this case.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Universal behaviour of generalized Causal set d'Alembertians in curved spacetime

Causal set non-local wave operators allow both for the definition of an action for Causal set theory and the study of deviations from local physics that may have interesting phenomenological consequences. It was previously shown that, in all dimensions, the (unique) minimal discrete operators give averaged continuum non-local operators that reduce to $\Box-R/2$ in the local limit. Recently, dropping the constraint of minimality, it was shown that there exist an infinite number of discrete operators satisfying basic physical requirements and with the right local limit in flat spacetime. In this work, we consider this entire class of Generalized Causal set d'Alembertins in curved spacetimes and extend to them the result about the universality of the $-R/2$ factor. Finally, we comment on the relation of this result to the Einstein Equivalence principle.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Tests of Quantum Gravity induced non-locality via opto-mechanical quantum oscillators

Several quantum gravity scenarios lead to physics below the Planck scale characterised by nonlocal, Lorentz invariant equations of motion. We show that such non-local effective field theories lead to a modified Schrödinger evolution in the nonrelativistic limit. In particular, the nonlocal evolution of opto-mechanical quantum oscillators is characterised by a spontaneous periodic squeezing that cannot be generated by environmental effects. We discuss constraints on the nonlocality obtained by past experiments, and show how future experiments (already under construction) will either see such effects or otherwise cast severe bounds on the non-locality scale (well beyond the current limits set by the Large Hadron Collider). This paves the way for table top, high precision experiments on massive quantum objects as a promising new avenue for testing some quantum gravity phenomenology.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Spectral Dimension from Nonlocal Dynamics on Causal Sets

We investigate the spectral dimension obtained from non-local continuum d'Alembertians derived from causal sets. We find a universal dimensional reduction to 2 dimensions, in all dimensions. We conclude by discussing the validity and relevance of our results within the broader context of quantum field theories based on these nonlocal dynamics.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Causal Set theory, non-locality and phenomenology

This proceeding is based on a talk prepared for the XIV Marcel Grossmann meeting. We review some results on causal set inspired non-local theories as well as work in progress concerning their phenomenology.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Nonlocal Scalar Quantum Field Theory from Causal Sets

We study a non-local scalar quantum field theory in flat spacetime derived from the dynamics of a scalar field on a causal set. We show that this non-local QFT contains a continuum of massive modes in any dimension. In 2 dimensions the Hamiltonian is positive definite and therefore the quantum theory is well-defined. In 4-dimensions, we show that the unstable modes of the non-local d'Alembertian are propagated via the so called Wheeler propagator and hence do not appear in the asymptotic states. In the free case studied here the continuum of massive mode are shown to not propagate in the asymptotic states. However the Hamiltonian is not positive definite, therefore potential issues with the quantum theory remain. Finally, we conclude with hints toward what kind of phenomenology one might expect from such non-local QFTs.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Emergent gravitational dynamics in relativistic Bose--Einstein condensate

Analogue models of gravity have played a pivotal role in the past years by providing a test bench for many open issues in quantum field theory in curved spacetime such as the robustness of Hawking radiation and cosmological particle production. More recently, the same models have offered a valuable framework within which current ideas about the emergence of spacetime and its dynamics could be discussed via convenient toy models. In this context, we study here an analogue gravity system based on a relativistic Bose--Einstein condensate. We show that in a suitable limit this system provides not only an example of an emergent spacetime (with a massive and a massless relativistic fields propagating on it) but also that such spacetime is governed by an equation with geometric meaning that takes the familiar form of Nordstr{ö}m theory of gravitation. In this equation the gravitational field is sourced by the expectation value of the trace of the effective stress energy tensor of the quasiparticles while the Newton and cosmological constants are functions of the fundamental scales of the microscopic system. This is the first example of analogue gravity in which a Lorentz invariant, geometric theory of semiclassical gravity emerges from an underlying quantum theory of matter in flat spacetime.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Universality of Computation in Real Quantum Theory

Recently de La Torre et al. [1] reconstructed Quantum Theory from its local structure on the basis of local discriminability and the existence of a one-parameter group of bipartite transformations containing an entangling gate. This result relies on universality of an entangling gate for quantum computation. Here we prove universality of C-NOT with local gates for Real Quantum Theory (RQT), showing that such universality would not be sufficient for the result, whereas local discriminability and the qubit structure play a crucial role. For reversible computation, generally an extra rebit is needed for RQT. As a byproduct we also provide a short proof of universality of C-NOT for CQT.

quant-ph↗