arXiv subjects

Atsushi Higuchi

Publications and source records attributed to Atsushi Higuchi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Interaction of the gravitational Hawking radiation and a static point mass

We study the interaction of a stress-energy tensor describing a static point mass supported by a string outside a Schwarzschild black hole with the gravitons of the Hawking radiation. We derive a closed-form analytic expression for the total response rate of this stress-energy tensor to the thermal gravitons in the Unruh state, which models the quantum state in the spacetime of a spherically symmetric black hole formed by gravitational collapse. This response rate is finite in contrast with the infrared divergent response rate for a static point mass supported by a string in Rindler spacetime, i.e., a point mass accelerated uniformly by a string in Minkowski spacetime. By comparing the response rate near the black hole horizon with that in Rindler spacetime, we show that the size of the black hole acts as a natural infrared cutoff. We also find that the response rate of this stress-energy tensor to the thermal gravitons incoming from past null infinity in the Hartle-Hawking state vanishes. As a result, the total response rate of a static point mass (supported by a string) in the Unruh and Hartle-Hawking states for gravitons are identical. This is also the case for a static charge interacting with the electromagnetic field but not for a static source for a massless scalar field.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Multipole decomposition of the gravitational field of a point mass at the black hole horizon

The portion of the gravitational energy absorbed by the black hole due to the radial infall of a point mass is known to diverge at leading order in perturbation theory. This divergence is an artifact of the point-particle model, where the contribution of each multipole to the total absorbed energy is observed to be roughly constant. We show explicitly that this divergent energy arises from the infinite energy present in the singular static field arbitrarily close to the point mass, which also flows into the black hole when the particle trajectory crosses the horizon. We perform a multipole decomposition of the linearized gravitational field generated by the point mass near its world line at the black hole horizon. By applying the standard field-theoretical approach to the particle field, we compute the corresponding partial energy and find that it matches the constant multipole contribution.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Unitary SUSY for the chiral graviton and chiral gravitino in de Sitter spacetime

It is commonly believed that a unitary supersymmetric quantum field theory (QFT) involving graviton and gravitino fields on fixed 4-dimensional de Sitter spacetime ($dS_4$) cannot exist due to known challenges associated with supersymmetry (SUSY) on spaces with positive cosmological constant. In this talk, we contradict this expectation by presenting a new unitary supersymmetric QFT on fixed $dS_4$ : the free supersymmetric theory of the chiral graviton and chiral gravitino fields. The theory overcomes the known obstacles to unitary global SUSY on de Sitter because the commutator between two SUSY transformations closes on the conformal algebra $so(4,2)$ rather than the de Sitter algebra $so(4,1)$. Crucially, the $so(4,2)$ symmetry is realised through unconventional conformal-like transformations. Based on arxiv:2503.04515.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Proposal to use laser-accelerated electrons to probe the axion-electron coupling

The axion is a hypothetical particle associated with a possible solution to the strong CP problem and is a leading candidate for dark matter. In this paper we investigate the emission of axions by accelerated electrons. We find the emission probability and energy within the WKB approximation for an electron accelerated by an electromagnetic field. As an application, we estimate the number of axions produced by electrons accelerated using two counter-propagating high-intensity lasers and discuss how they would be converted to photons to be detected. We find that, under realistic experimental conditions, competitive model-independent bounds on the coupling between the axion and the electron could be achieved in such an experiment.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Unitary Rigid Supersymmetry for the Chiral Graviton and Chiral Gravitino in de Sitter Spacetime

It is commonly believed that a unitary supersymmetric quantum field theory (QFT) involving graviton and gravitino fields on fixed 4-dimensional de Sitter spacetime ($dS_{4}$) cannot exist due to known challenges associated with supersymmetry (SUSY) in $dS_{4}$. In this paper, we contradict this expectation by presenting a new unitary supersymmetric QFT on $dS_{4}$: the free supersymmetric theory of the chiral graviton and chiral gravitino fields. By chiral, we mean that the corresponding field strengths are anti-self-dual, and the gauge potentials are complex, each carrying a single complex propagating degree of freedom. The global SUSY transformations are generated by the standard Dirac Killing spinors of $dS_{4}$. The theory overcomes the known obstacles to unitary global SUSY on $dS_{4}$ by closing the commutator between two SUSY transformations on $so(4,2) \oplus u(1)$ rather than the de Sitter algebra $so(4,1)$. Crucially, the $so(4,2)$ symmetry is realised through unconventional conformal-like transformations. This free theory cannot become interacting while preserving SUSY in a way that makes the spin-2 sector the true graviton sector of General Relativity, as the three-graviton coupling cannot be $u(1)$-invariant. We establish the unitarity of the free supersymmetric theory in two complementary ways. First, by studying the action of the superalgebra generators on the space of physical gravitino and graviton mode solutions. Second, by quantising the fields and explicitly constructing the complex quantum supercharges $Q_{A}$ and $Q^{A\dagger}$, we show that the trace $\sum_{A} \{ Q_{A}, Q^{A \dagger} \}$ is positive-definite.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Larmor radiation as a witness to the Unruh effect

We discuss the emission of radiation from general sources in quantum scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational fields using the Rindler coordinate frame, which is suitable for a uniformly accelerated observer, in the Minkowski vacuum. In particular, we point out that, to recover the usual Larmor radiation in the interaction picture, it is necessary to incorporate the Unruh effect. Thus, the observation of classical Larmor radiation could be seen as vindicating the Unruh effect in the sense that it is not correctly reproduced in this context unless the Unruh effect is taken into account.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Semiclassical bremsstrahlung from a charge radially falling into a Schwarzschild black hole

A semiclassical investigation of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a charged particle in a radially freely falling motion in Schwarzschild spacetime is carried out. We use quantum field theory at tree level to obtain the one-particle-emission amplitudes. We analyze and compare the energy spectrum and total energy released, which are calculated from these amplitudes, for particles with varying initial positions and for particles originating from infinity with varying kinetic energy. We also compare the results with those due to a falling charged "string" extended in the radial direction.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Gravitational bremsstrahlung and the Fulling-Davies-Unruh thermal bath

The electromagnetic radiation emitted by an accelerated charged particle can be described theoretically as the interaction of the charge with the so-called Fulling-Davies-Unruh thermal bath in the coordinate frame co-accelerated with the charge. We present a similar analysis on the gravitational radiation from a classical point mass uniformly accelerated, being pulled by a string satisfying the weak energy condition. In particular, we derive the interaction rate (with fixed transverse momentum) of this system of the point mass and string in the Fulling-Davies-Unruh thermal bath in the co-accelerated frame and show that it equals the graviton emission rate calculated in the standard method in Minkowski spacetime.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Classical Larmor formula through the Unruh effect for uniformly accelerated electrons

We investigate the connection between the classical Larmor formula and the quantum Unruh effect by computing the emitted power by a uniformly accelerated charged particle and its angular distribution in the coaccelerated frame. We consider a classical particle accelerated with nonzero charge only for a finite period and then take the infinite-time limit after removing the effects due to the initial charging and final discharging processes. We show that the result found for the interaction rates agrees with previous studies in which the period of acceleration with nonzero charge was taken to be infinite from the beginning. We also show that the power and angular distribution of emission, which is attributed either to the emission or absorption of a Rindler photon in the coaccelerated frame, is given by the Larmor formula, confirming that, at tree level, it is necessary to take into account the Unruh effect in order to reproduce the classical Larmor radiation formula in the coaccelerated frame.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Scalar field in $\mathrm{AdS}_2$ and representations of $\widetilde{\mathrm{SL}}(2,\mathbb{R})$

We study the solutions to the Klein-Gordon equation for the massive scalar field in the universal covering space of two-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. For certain values of the mass parameter, we impose a suitable set of boundary conditions which make the spatial component of the Klein-Gordon operator self-adjoint. This makes the time-evolution of the classical field well defined. Then, we use the transformation properties of the scalar field under the isometry group of the theory, namely, the universal covering group of $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})$, in order to determine which self-adjoint boundary conditions are invariant under this group, and which lead to the positive-frequency solutions forming a unitary representation of this group and, hence, to a vacuum state invariant under this group. Then we examine the cases where the boundary condition leads to an invariant theory with non-invariant vacuum state and determine the unitary representation to which the vacuum state belongs.

math-ph↗

arXiv2023

Automorphic scalar fields in two-dimensional de Sitter space

We study non-interacting automorphic quantum scalar fields with positive mass in two-dimensional de Sitter space. We find that there are no Hadamard states which are de Sitter invariant except in the periodic case, extending the result of Epstein and Moschella for the anti-periodic case. We construct the two-point Wightman functions for the non-Hadamard de Sitter-invariant states by exploiting the fact that they are functions of the geodesic distance between the two points satisfying an ordinary differential equation. We then examine a certain Hadamard state, which is not de Sitter invariant, and show that it is approximately a thermal state with the Gibbons-Hawking temperature when restricted to a static region of the spacetime.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Hartle-Hawking state in the real-time formalism

We study self-interacting massive scalar field theory in static spacetimes with a bifurcate Killing horizon and a wedge reflection. In this theory the Hartle-Hawking state is defined to have the $N$-point correlation functions obtained by analytically continuing those in the Euclidean theory, whereas the double Kubo-Martin-Schwinger (KMS) state is the pure state invariant under the Killing flow and the wedge reflection which is regular on the bifurcate Killing horizon and reduces to the thermal state at the Hawking temperature in each of the two static regions. We demonstrate in the Schwinger-Keldysh operator formalism of perturbation theory the equivalence between the Hartle-Hawking state and the double KMS state with the Hawking temperature, which was shown before by Jacobson in the path-integral framework.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Entanglement of the Vacuum between Left, Right, Future, and Past: Dirac spinor in Rindler spaces and Kasner spaces

We study the relations of the positive frequency mode functions of Dirac field in 4-dimensional Minkowski spacetime covered with Rindler and Kasner coordinates, and describe the explicit form of the Minkowski vacuum state with the quantum states in Kasner and Rindler regions, and analytically continue the solutions. As a result, we obtain the correspondence of the positive frequency mode functions in Kasner region and Rindler region in a unified manner which derives vacuum entanglement.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Infrared problem in the Faddeev-Popov-ghost propagator in perturbative quantum gravity in de Sitter spacetime

The propagators for the Faddeev-Popov (FP) ghosts in Yang-Mills theory and perturbative gravity in the covariant gauge are infrared (IR) divergent in de Sitter spacetime. An IR cutoff in the momentum space to regularize these divergences breaks the de Sitter invariance. These IR divergences are due to the spatially constant modes in the Yang-Mills case and the modes proportional to the Killing vectors in the case of perturbative gravity. It has been proposed that these IR divergences can be removed, with the de Sitter invariance preserved, by first regularizing them with an additional mass term for the FP ghosts and then taking the massless limit. In the Yang-Mills case, this procedure has been shown to correspond to requiring that the physical states, and the vacuum state in particular, be annihilated by some conserved charges in the Landau gauge. In this paper we show that there are similar conserved charges in perturbative gravity in the covariant Landau gauge in de Sitter spacetime and that the IR-regularization procedure described above also correspond to requiring that the vacuum state be annihilated by these charges with a natural definition of the interacting vacuum state.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Self-Adjoint extensions of the one-dimensional Schrödinger operator with symmetric potential

We give an explicit correspondence between the domains of the self-adjoint extensions of a one-dimensional Schrödinger differential operator with symmetric real-valued potential and the boundary conditions the functions in the resulting domains must satisfy. As is well known, each self-adjoint extension is parametrized by a unitary matrix. We make the correspondence of this unitary matrix with the boundary conditions explicit, recovering the most familiar types of boundary conditions as special cases. We also demonstrate this correspondence implicitly for non-symmetric real-valued potential.

math-ph↗

arXiv2020

On-Axis Tidal Forces in Kerr Spacetime

Tidal forces are an important feature of General Relativity, which are related to the curvature tensor. We analyze the tidal tensor in Kerr spacetime, with emphasis on the case along the symmetry axis of the Kerr black hole, noting that tidal forces may vanish at a certain point, unlike in the Schwarzschild spacetime, using Boyer-Lindquist coordinates. We study in detail the effects of vanishing tidal forces in a body constituted of dust infalling along the symmetry axis. We find the geodesic deviation equations and solve them, numerically and analytically, for motion along the symmetry axis of the Kerr geometry. We also point out that the intrinsic Gaussian curvature of the event horizon at the symmetry axis is equal to the component along this axis of the tidal tensor there.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Equivalence between the in-in perturbation theories for quantum fields in Minkowski spacetime and in the Rindler wedge

We investigate the relation between the time-ordered vacuum correlation functions for interacting real scalar fields in Minkowski spacetime and in the Rindler wedge. The correlation functions are constructed perturbatively within the in-in formalism, often employed in calculations in more general spacetimes. We prove to all orders in perturbation theory that the time-ordered vacuum correlation functions can be calculated in the in-in formalism with internal vertices restricted to any Rindler wedge containing the external points. This implies that the Minkowski in-in (or in-out) perturbative expansion of the vacuum correlation functions is reproduced by the Rindler in-in perturbative expansion of these correlators in a thermal state at the Unruh temperature.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Supergravity on a 3-torus: quantum linearization instabilities with a supergroup

It is well known that linearized gravity in spacetimes with compact Cauchy surfaces and continuous symmetries suffers from linearization instabilities: solutions to classical linearized gravity in such a spacetime must satisfy so-called linearization stability conditions (or constraints) for them to extend to solutions in the full non-linear theory. Moncrief investigated implications of these conditions in linearized quantum gravity in such background spacetimes and found that the quantum linearization stability constraints lead to the requirement that all physical states must be invariant under the symmetries generated by these constraints. He studied these constraints for linearized quantum gravity in flat spacetime with the spatial sections of toroidal topology in detail. Subsequently, his result was reproduced by the method of group-averaging. In this paper the quantum linearization stability conditions are studied for $\mathcal{N}=1$ simple supergravity in this spacetime. In addition to the linearization stability conditions corresponding to the spacetime symmetries, i.e. spacetime translations, there are also fermionic linearization stability conditions corresponding to the background supersymmetry. We construct all states satisfying these quantum linearization stability conditions, including the fermionic ones, and show that they are obtained by group-averaging over the supergroup of the global supersymmetry of this theory.

gr-qc↗