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Eduardo Bittencourt

Publications and source records attributed to Eduardo Bittencourt.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2020

Space and time ambiguities in vacuum electrodynamics

It is shown that every regular electromagnetic field in vacuum identically satisfy Maxwell equations in a new manifold where the roles of space and time have been exchanged. The new metric is Lorentzian, depends on the particular solution and forces the flow of time to tilt somehow in the direction of the field lines. We give a detailed description of the transformation and discuss several of its properties, both in the algebraic and differential settings. Examples are given where the new metrics are explicitly computed and carefully analyzed. We conclude with possible applications of the transformation as well as future perspectives.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2020

On the hypotheses of Penrose's singularity theorem under disformal transformations

We analyze how the hypotheses of Penrose's singularity theorem (1965) are modified by the action of disformal transformations (defined in terms of light-like vectors) upon a given space-time metric. In particular, we investigate the transformation of the null energy condition and the existence of closed trapped surfaces in such scenario, in order to derive conditions upon the background metric and the disformal vector that guarantee the validity of Penrose's theorem for disformal metrics. Then, we explain how to apply this technique for static and spherically symmetric space-times in general.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2018

Radiating Spherical Collapse for an Inhomogeneous Interior Solution

We analyze the problem of gravitational collapse considering the matching of an exterior region described by the Vaidya's metric and an interior region described by a spherically symmetric shear-free inhomogeneous geometry sourced by a viscous fluid. We establish initial and final conditions for the process in order that the outcome be a non-singular object, when this is possible, and check how it depends on the fulfillment of the energy conditions. We then apply explicitly the matching procedure to the cases of linear and nonlinear Lagrangians describing electromagnetic fields inside the star, and analyze how the different behaviors for the scale factor of the interior geometry produce singular or nonsingular final stages of the collapse depending on the range where the initial conditions lie.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2017

Controlled opacity in a class of nonlinear dielectric media

Motivated by new technologies for designing and tailoring metamaterials, we seek properties for certain classes of nonlinear optical materials that allow room for a reversibly controlled opacity-to-transparency phase transition through the application of external electromagnetic fields. We examine some mathematically simple models for the dielectric parameters of the medium and compute the relevant geometric quantities that describe the speed and polarization of light rays.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2017

Bianchi-I cosmology from causal thermodynamics

We investigate diagonal Bianchi-I spacetimes in the presence of viscous fluids by using the shear and the anisotropic pressure components as the basic variables, where the viscosity is driven by the (second-order) causal thermodynamics. A few exact solutions are presented, among which we mention the anisotropic versions of de Sitter/anti-de Sitter geometries as well as an asymptotically isotropic spacetime presenting an effective constant cosmic acceleration without any cosmological constant. The qualitative analysis of the solutions for barotropic fluids with linear equations of state suggests that the behaviour is quite general.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2016

The flexibility of optical metrics

We firstly revisit the importance, naturalness and limitations of the so-called optical metrics for describing the propagation of light rays in the limit of geometric optics. We then exemplify their flexibility and nontriviality in some nonlinear material media and in the context of nonlinear theories of the electromagnetism, both underlain by curved backgrounds, where optical metrics could be flat and impermeable membranes only to photons could be conceived, respectively. Finally, we underline and discuss the relevance and potential applications of our analyses in a broad sense, ranging from material media to compact astrophysical systems.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Extended disformal approach in the scenario of Rainbow Gravity

We investigate all feasible mathematical representations of disformal transformations on a space-time metric according to the action of a linear operator upon the manifold's tangent and cotangent bundles. The geometric, algebraic and group structures of this operator and their interfaces are analyzed in detail. Then, we scrutinize a possible physical application, providing a new covariant formalism for a phenomenological approach to quantum gravity known as Rainbow Gravity.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Massless Dirac particles in the vacuum C-metric

We study the behavior of massless Dirac particles in the vacuum C-metric spacetime, representing the nonlinear superposition of the Schwarzschild black hole solution and the Rindler flat spacetime associated with uniformly accelerated observers. Under certain conditions, the C-metric can be considered as a unique laboratory to test the coupling between intrinsic properties of particles and fields with the background acceleration in the full (exact) strong-field regime. The Dirac equation is separable by using, e.g., a spherical-like coordinate system, reducing the problem to one-dimensional radial and angular parts. Both radial and angular equations can be solved exactly in terms of general Heun functions. We also provide perturbative solutions to first-order in a suitably defined acceleration parameter, and compute the acceleration-induced corrections to the particle absorption rate as well as to the angle-averaged cross section of the associated scattering problem in the low-frequency limit. Furthermore, we show that the angular eigenvalue problem can be put in one-to-one correspondence with the analogous problem for a Kerr spacetime, by identifying a map between these "acceleration" harmonics and Kerr spheroidal harmonics. Finally, in this respect we discuss the nature of the coupling between intrinsic spin and spacetime acceleration in comparison with the well known Kerr spin-rotation coupling.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Slicing black hole spacetimes

A general framework is developed to investigate the properties of useful choices of stationary spacelike slicings of stationary spacetimes whose congruences of timelike orthogonal trajectories are interpreted as the world lines of an associated family of observers, the kinematical properties of which in turn may be used to geometrically characterize the original slicings. On the other hand properties of the slicings themselves can directly characterize their utility motivated instead by other considerations like the initial value and evolution problems in the 3-plus-1 approach to general relativity. An attempt is made to categorize the various slicing conditions or "time gauges" used in the literature for the most familiar stationary spacetimes: black holes and their flat spacetime limit.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

On the disformal invariance of the Dirac equation

In this paper we analyze the invariance of the Dirac equation under disformal transformations depending on the propagating spinor field. Using the Weyl-Cartan formalism, we construct a large class of disformal maps between different metric tensors, respecting the order of differentiability of the Dirac operator and satisfying the Clifford algebra in both metrics. Then, we have shown that there is a subclass of solutions of the Dirac equation, provided by Inomata's condition, which keeps the Dirac operator invariant under the action of the disformal group.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Scalar perturbations in a Friedmann-like metric with non-null Weyl tensor

In a previous work the authors have solved the Einstein equations of General Relativity for a class of metrics with constant spatial curvature, where it was found a non vanishing Weyl tensor in the presence of a primordial magnetic field with an anisotropic pressure component. Here, we perform the perturbative analysis of this model in order to study the gravitational stability under linear scalar perturbations. For this purpose, we take the Quasi-Maxwellian formalism of General Relativity as our framework, which offers a naturally covariant and gauge-invariant approach to deal with perturbations that are directly linked to observational quantities.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2014

Magnetic fields and the Weyl tensor in the early universe

We have solved the Einstein-Maxwell equations for a class of isotropic metrics with constant spatial curvature in the presence of magnetic fields. We consider a slight modification of the Tolman averaging relations so that the energy-momentum tensor of the electromagnetic field possesses an anisotropic pressure component. This inhomogeneous magnetic universe is isotropic and its time evolution is guided by the usual Friedmann equations. In the case of flat universe, the space-time metric is free of singularities (except the well-known initial singularity at t = 0). It is shown that the anisotropic pressure of our model has a straightforward relation to the Weyl tensor. We also analyze the effect of this new ingredient on the motion of test particles and on the geodesic deviation of the cosmic fluid.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2014

Chiral symmetry breaking as a geometrical process

This article expands for spinor fields the recently developed Dynamical Bridge formalism which relates a linear dynamics in a curved space to a nonlinear dynamics in Minkowski space. Astonishingly, this leads to a new geometrical mechanism to generate a chiral symmetry breaking without mass, providing an alternative explanation for the undetected right-handed neutrinos. We consider a spinor field obeying the Dirac equation in an effective curved space constructed by its own currents. This way, both chiralities of the spinor field satisfy the same dynamics in the curved space. Subsequently, the dynamical equation is re-expressed in terms of the flat Minkowski space and then each chiral component behaves differently. The left-handed part of the spinor field satisfies the Dirac equation while the right-handed part is trapped by a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) type potential.

hep-th↗