arXiv subjects

Edward Teo

Publications and source records attributed to Edward Teo.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Accelerating black diholes and static black di-rings

We show how a recently discovered black ring solution with a rotating 2-sphere can be turned into two new solutions of Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory. The first is a four-dimensional solution describing a pair of oppositely charged, extremal black holes--known as a black dihole--undergoing uniform acceleration. The second is a five-dimensional solution describing a pair of concentric, static extremal black rings carrying opposite dipole charges--a so-called black di-ring. The properties of both solutions, which turn out to be formally very similar, are analyzed in detail. We also present, in an appendix, an accelerating version of the Zipoy-Voorhees solution in four-dimensional Einstein gravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2005

A no-go theorem for accelerating cosmologies from M-theory compactifications

It is known that four-dimensional cosmologies exhibiting transient phases of acceleration can be obtained by compactifications of low-energy effective string or M-theory on time-varying manifolds. In the four-dimensional theory, the acceleration can be attributed to a quintessential scalar field with a positive effective potential. Recently, Townsend has conjectured that the potentials obtained by such compactifications cannot give rise to late-time accelerating universes which possess future event horizons. Such a `no-go' result would be desirable, since current string or M-theory seems unable to provide an adequate description of space-times with future event horizons. In this letter, we provide a proof of this conjecture for a class of warped compactifications with a single scalar modulus parametrising the volume of the compactification manifold.

hep-th↗

arXiv2004

A new form of the rotating C-metric

In a previous paper, we showed that the traditional form of the charged C-metric can be transformed, by a change of coordinates, into one with an explicitly factorizable structure function. This new form of the C-metric has the advantage that its properties become much simpler to analyze. In this paper, we propose an analogous new form for the rotating charged C-metric, with structure function G(ξ)=(1-ξ^2)(1+r_{+}Aξ)(1+r_{-}Aξ), where r_\pm are the usual locations of the horizons in the Kerr-Newman black hole. Unlike the non-rotating case, this new form is not related to the traditional one by a coordinate transformation. We show that the physical distinction between these two forms of the rotating C-metric lies in the nature of the conical singularities causing the black holes to accelerate apart: the new form is free of torsion singularities and therefore does not contain any closed timelike curves. We claim that this new form should be considered the natural generalization of the C-metric with rotation.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2003

Black diholes in five dimensions

Using a generalized Weyl formalism, we show how stationary, axisymmetric solutions of the four-dimensional vacuum Einstein equation can be turned into static, axisymmetric solutions of five-dimensional dilaton gravity coupled to a two-form gauge field. This procedure is then used to obtain new solutions of the latter theory describing pairs of extremal magnetic black holes with opposite charges, known as black diholes. These diholes are kept in static equilibrium by membrane-like conical singularities stretching along two different directions. We also present solutions describing diholes suspended in a background magnetic field, and with unbalanced charges.

hep-th↗

arXiv2003

Multi-black hole solutions in five dimensions

Using a recently developed generalized Weyl formalism, we construct an asymptotically flat, static vacuum Einstein solution that describes a superposition of multiple five-dimensional Schwarzschild black holes. The spacetime exhibits a U(1)\times U(1) rotational symmetry. It is argued that for certain choices of parameters, the black holes are collinear and so may be regarded as a five-dimensional generalization of the Israel-Khan solution. The black holes are kept in equilibrium by membrane-like conical singularities along the two rotational axes; however, they still distort one another by their mutual gravitational attraction. We also generalize this solution to one describing multiple charged black holes, with fixed mass-to-charge ratio, in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2003

A new form of the C-metric

The usual form of the C-metric has the structure function G(ξ)=1-ξ^2-2mAξ^3, whose cubic nature can make calculations cumbersome, especially when explicit expressions for its roots are required. In this paper, we propose a new form of the C-metric, with the explicitly factorisable structure function G(ξ)=(1-ξ^2)(1+2mAξ). Although this form is related to the usual one by a coordinate transformation, it has the advantage that its roots are now trivial to write down. We show that this leads to potential simplifications, for example, when casting the C-metric in Weyl coordinates. These results also extend to the charged C-metric, whose structure function can be written in the new form G(ξ)=(1-ξ^2)(1+r_{+}Aξ)(1+r_{-}Aξ), where r_{\pm} are the usual locations of the horizons in the Reissner-Nordstrom solution. As a by-product, we explicitly cast the extremally charged C-metric in Weyl coordinates.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2002

Quantum interest in two dimensions

The quantum interest conjecture of Ford and Roman asserts that any negative-energy pulse must necessarily be followed by an over-compensating positive-energy one within a certain maximum time delay. Furthermore, the minimum amount of over-compensation increases with the separation between the pulses. In this paper, we first study the case of a negative-energy square pulse followed by a positive-energy one for a minimally coupled, massless scalar field in two-dimensional Minkowski space. We obtain explicit expressions for the maximum time delay and the amount of over-compensation needed, using a previously developed eigenvalue approach. These results are then used to give a proof of the quantum interest conjecture for massless scalar fields in two dimensions, valid for general energy distributions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2001

Macroscopic and Microscopic Description of Black Diholes

We study configurations consisting of a pair of non-extremal black holes in four dimensions, both with the same mass, and with charges of the same magnitude but opposite sign---diholes, for short. We present such exact solutions for Einstein-Maxwell theory with arbitrary dilaton coupling, and also solutions to the U(1)^4 theories that arise from compactified string/M-theory. Despite the fact that the solutions are very complicated, physical properties of these black holes, such as their area, charge, and interaction energy, admit simple expressions. We also succeed in providing a microscopic description of the entropy of these black holes using the `effective string' model, and taking into account the interaction between the effective string and anti-string.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

Black diholes with unbalanced magnetic charges

We present a technique that can be used to generate a static, axisymmetric solution of the Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton equations from a stationary, axisymmetric solution of the vacuum Einstein equations. Starting from the Kerr solution, Davidson and Gedalin have previously made use of this technique to obtain a pair of oppositely charged, extremal dilatonic black holes, known as a black dihole. In this paper, we shall instead start from the Kerr-NUT solution. It will be shown that the new solution can also be interpreted as a dihole, but with the black holes carrying unbalanced magnetic charges. The effect of the NUT-parameter is to introduce a net magnetic charge into the system. Finally, we uplift our solution to ten dimensions to describe a system consisting of D6 and anti-D6-branes with unbalanced charges. The limit in which they coincide agrees with a solution recently derived by Brax et al..

hep-th↗

arXiv2000

Quantum inequalities and `quantum interest' as eigenvalue problems

Quantum inequalities (QI's) provide lower bounds on the averaged energy density of a quantum field. We show how the QI's for massless scalar fields in even dimensional Minkowski space may be reformulated in terms of the positivity of a certain self-adjoint operator - a generalised Schroedinger operator with the energy density as the potential - and hence as an eigenvalue problem. We use this idea to verify that the energy density produced by a moving mirror in two dimensions is compatible with the QI's for a large class of mirror trajectories. In addition, we apply this viewpoint to the `quantum interest conjecture' of Ford and Roman, which asserts that the positive part of an energy density always overcompensates for any negative components. For various simple models in two and four dimensions we obtain the best possible bounds on the `quantum interest rate' and on the maximum delay between a negative pulse and a compensating positive pulse. Perhaps surprisingly, we find that - in four dimensions - it is impossible for a positive delta-function pulse of any magnitude to compensate for a negative delta-function pulse, no matter how close together they occur.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1999

Bounds on negative energy densities in static space-times

Certain exotic phenomena in general relativity, such as backward time travel, appear to require the presence of matter with negative energy. While quantum fields are a possible source of negative energy densities, there are lower bounds - known as quantum inequalities - that constrain their duration and magnitude. In this paper, we derive new quantum inequalities for scalar fields in static space-times, as measured by static observers with a choice of sampling function. Unlike those previously derived by Pfenning and Ford, our results do not assume any specific sampling function. We then calculate these bounds in static three- and four-dimensional Robertson-Walker universes, the de Sitter universe, and the Schwarzschild black hole. In each case, the new inequality is stronger than that of Pfenning and Ford for their particular choice of sampling function.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1998

Black hole absorption cross-sections and the anti-de Sitter -- conformal field theory correspondence

Recent work has uncovered a correspondence between theories in anti-de Sitter space, and those on its boundary. This has important implications for black holes in string theory which have near-horizon AdS geometries. Using the effective coupling to the boundary conformal field theory, I compute the low-energy, s-wave absorption cross-sections for a minimally coupled scalar in the near-extremal four- and five-dimensional black holes. The results agree precisely with semi-classical gravity calculations. Agreement for fixed scalars, and for the BTZ black hole, is also found.

hep-th↗

arXiv1998

Rotating traversable wormholes

The general form of a stationary, axially symmetric traversable wormhole is discussed. This provides an explicit class of rotating wormholes that generalize the static, spherically symmetric ones first considered by Morris and Thorne. In agreement with general analyses, it is verified that such a wormhole generically violates the null energy condition at the throat. However, for suitable model wormholes, there can be classes of geodesics falling through it which do not encounter any energy-condition-violating matter. The possible presence of an ergoregion surrounding the throat is also noted.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1998

Statistical entropy of charged two-dimensional black holes

The statistical entropy of a five-dimensional black hole in Type II string theory was recently derived by showing that it is U-dual to the three-dimensional Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli black hole, and using Carlip's method to count the microstates of the latter. This is valid even for the non-extremal case, unlike the derivation which relies on D-brane techniques. In this letter, I shall exploit the U-duality that exists between the five-dimensional black hole and the two-dimensional charged black hole of McGuigan, Nappi and Yost, to microscopically compute the entropy of the latter. It is shown that this result agrees with previous calculations using thermodynamic arguments.

hep-th↗

arXiv1997

Monopoles, vortices and kinks in the framework of non-commutative geometry

Non-commutative differential geometry allows a scalar field to be regarded as a gauge connection, albeit on a discrete space. We explain how the underlying gauge principle corresponds to the independence of physics on the choice of vacuum state, should it be non-unique. A consequence is that Yang-Mills-Higgs theory can be reformulated as a generalised Yang-Mills gauge theory on Euclidean space with a $Z_2$ internal structure. By extending the Hodge star operation to this non-commutative space, we are able to define the notion of self-duality of the gauge curvature form in arbitrary dimensions. It turns out that BPS monopoles, critically coupled vortices, and kinks are all self-dual solutions in their respective dimensions. We then prove, within this unified formalism, that static soliton solutions to the Yang-Mills-Higgs system exist only in one, two and three spatial dimensions.

hep-th↗

arXiv1993

Non-Singularity of the Exact Two-Dimensional String Black Hole

We study the global structure of the exact two-dimensional space-time which emerges from string theory. Previous work has shown that in the semi-classical limit, this is a black hole similar to the Schwarzschild solution. However, we find that in the exact case, a new Euclidean region appears "between" the singularity and black hole interior. However the boundary between the Lorentzian and Euclidean regions is a coordinate singularity, which turns out to be a surface of time reflection symmetry in an extended space-time. Thus strings having fallen through the black hole horizon would eventually emerge through another one into a new asymptotically flat region. The maximally extended space-time consists of an infinite number of universes connected by wormholes. There are no singularities present in this geometry. We also calculate the mass and temperature associated with the space-time.

hep-th↗

arXiv1992

Topological Conformal Gravity in Four Dimensions

In this paper, we present a new formulation of topological conformal gravity in four dimensions. Such a theory was first considered by Witten as a possible gravitational counterpart of topological Yang-Mills theory, but several problems left it incomplete. The key in our approach is to realise a theory which describes deformations of conformally self-dual gravitational instantons. We first identify the appropriate elliptic complex which does precisely this. By applying the Atiyah-Singer index theorem, we calculate the number of independent deformations of a given gravitational instanton which preserve its self-duality. We then quantise topological conformal gravity by BRST gauge-fixing, and discover how the quantum theory is naturally described by the above complex. Indeed, it is a process which closely parallels that of the Yang-Mills theory, and we show how the partition function generates an uncanny gravitational analogue of the first Donaldson invariant.

hep-th↗

arXiv1992

BRS and Anti-BRS Symmetry in Topological Yang--Mills Theory

We incorporate both BRS symmetry and anti-BRS symmetry into the quantisation of topological Yang--Mills theory. This refines previous treatments which consider only the BRS symmetry. Our formalism brings out very clearly the geometrical meaning of topological Yang--Mills theory in terms of connections and curvatures in an enlarged superspace; and its simple relationship to the geometry of ordinary Yang--Mills theory. We also discover a certain SU(3) triality between physical spacetime, and the two ghost directions of superspace. Finally, we demonstrate how to recover the usual gauge-fixed topological Yang--Mills action from our formalism.

hep-th↗