arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Elizabeth Winstanley.
We outline an analytic method for computing the renormalised vacuum expectation value of the quadratic fluctuations and stress-energy tensor associated with a quantised scalar field propagating on $AdS_{n}$. Explicit results have been obtained using Hadamard renormalisation in the case of a massive neutral scalar field with arbitrary coupling to the curvature, for $n=2$ to $n=11$ inclusive.
We present the vacuum polarisation of a massless, conformally coupled scalar field on the brane for a Schwarzschild-Tangherlini black hole in a bulk of zero to seven additional dimensions.
We review the phenomenology of mini black holes at colliders in light of the latest data from the LHC. By improving the conventional production cross-section, we show that the current non-observation of black hole signals can be explained in terms of quantum gravity effects. In the most optimistic case, black hole production could take place at a scale slightly above the LHC design energy. We also analyse possible new signatures of quantum-corrected Planck-scale black holes: in contrast to the semiclassical scenario the emission would take place in terms of soft particles mostly on the brane.
We investigate the rigidly rotating quantum thermal distribution of fermions in flat space-time. We find that thermal states diverge on the speed of light surface. We remove the divergences by enclosing the system inside a cylindrical boundary and investigate thermal expectation values and the Casimir effect for two sets of boundary conditions.
We study dyonic soliton and black hole solutions of the ${\mathfrak {su}}(2)$ Einstein-Yang-Mills equations in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space. We prove the existence of non-trivial dyonic soliton and black hole solutions in a neighbourhood of the trivial solution. For these solutions the magnetic gauge field function has no zeros and we conjecture that at least some of these non-trivial solutions will be stable. The global existence proof uses local existence results and a non-linear perturbation argument based on the (Banach space) implicit function theorem.
In the light of the "no-hair" conjecture, we revisit stable black holes in su(N) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory with a negative cosmological constant. These black holes are endowed with copious amounts of gauge field hair, and we address the question of whether these black holes can be uniquely characterized by their mass and a set of global non-Abelian charges defined far from the black hole. For the su(3) case, we present numerical evidence that stable black hole configurations are fixed by their mass and two non-Abelian charges. For general N, we argue that the mass and N-1 non-Abelian charges are sufficient to characterize large stable black holes, in keeping with the spirit of the "no-hair" conjecture, at least in the limit of very large magnitude cosmological constant and for a subspace containing stable black holes (and possibly some unstable ones as well).
We study higher-dimensional soliton and hairy black hole solutions of the Einstein equations non-minimally coupled to a scalar field. The scalar field has no self-interaction potential but a cosmological constant is included. Non-trivial solutions exist only when the cosmological constant is negative and the constant governing the coupling of the scalar field to the Ricci scalar curvature is positive. At least some of these solutions are stable when this coupling constant is not too large.
We address the issue of modelling quantum gravity effects in the evaporation of higher dimensional black holes in order to go beyond the usual semi-classical approximation. After reviewing the existing six families of quantum gravity corrected black hole geometries, we focus our work on non-commutative geometry inspired black holes, which encode model independent characteristics, are unaffected by the quantum back reaction and have an analytical form compact enough for numerical simulations. We consider the higher dimensional, spherically symmetric case and we proceed with a complete analysis of the brane/bulk emission for scalar fields. The key feature which makes the evaporation of non-commutative black holes so peculiar is the possibility of having a maximum temperature. Contrary to what happens with classical Schwarzschild black holes, the emission is dominated by low frequency field modes on the brane. This is a distinctive and potentially testable signature which might disclose further features about the nature of quantum gravity.
The possibility of creating microscopic black holes is one of the most exciting predictions for the LHC, with potentially major consequences for our current understanding of physics. We briefly review the theoretical motivation for micro black hole production, and our understanding of their subsequent evolution. Recent work on modelling the radiation from quantum-gravity-corrected black holes is also discussed.
We study the existence of soliton and black hole solutions of four-dimensional su(N) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory with a negative cosmological constant. We prove the existence of non-trivial solutions for any integer N, with N-1 gauge field degrees of freedom. In particular, we prove the existence of solutions in which all the gauge field functions have no zeros. For fixed values of the parameters (at the origin or event horizon, as applicable) defining the soliton or black hole solutions, if the magnitude of the cosmological constant is sufficiently large, then the gauge field functions all have no zeros. These latter solutions are of special interest because at least some of them will be linearly stable.
One possible feature of quantum gravity may be the violation of Lorentz invariance. In this paper we consider one particular manifestation of the violation of Lorentz invariance, namely modified dispersion relations for massive neutrinos. We show how such modified dispersion relations may affect atmospheric neutrino oscillations. We then consider how neutrino telescopes, such as ANTARES, may be able to place bounds on the magnitude of this type of Lorentz invariance violation.
We present new hairy black hole solutions of su(N) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory (EYM) in asymptotically anti-de Sitter (adS) space. These black holes are described by N+1 independent parameters, and have N-1 independent gauge field degrees of freedom. Solutions in which all gauge field functions have no zeros exist for all N, and for sufficiently large (and negative) cosmological constant. At least some of these solutions are shown to be stable under classical, linear, spherically symmetric perturbations. Therefore there is no upper bound on the amount of stable gauge field hair with which a black hole in adS can be endowed.
The properties of hairy black holes in Einstein-Yang-Mills (EYM) theory are reviewed, focusing on spherically symmetric solutions. In particular, in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space (adS) stable black hole hair is known to exist for su(2) EYM. We review recent work in which it is shown that stable hair also exists in su(N) EYM for arbitrary N, so that there is no upper limit on how much stable hair a black hole in adS can possess.
We compute the renormalized expectation value of the square of a quantum scalar field on a Reissner-Nordstrom-de Sitter black hole in which the temperatures of the event and cosmological horizons are equal (`lukewarm' black hole). Our numerical calculations for a thermal state at the same temperature as the two horizons indicate that this renormalized expectation value is regular on both the event and cosmological horizons. We are able to show analytically, using an approximation for the field modes near the horizons, that this is indeed the case.
We present new soliton and hairy black hole solutions of su(N) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space. These solutions are described by N+1 independent parameters, and have N-1 gauge field degrees of freedom. We examine the space of solutions in detail for su(3) and su(4) solitons and black holes. If the magnitude of the cosmological constant is sufficiently large, we find solutions where all the gauge field functions have no zeros. These solutions are of particular interest because we anticipate that at least some of them will be linearly stable.
We review recent work on the Hawking radiation of rotating brane black holes, as may be produced at the LHC. We outline the methodology for calculating the fluxes of particles, energy and angular momentum by spin-0, spin-1/2 and spin-1 quantum fields on the brane. We briefly review some of the key features of the emission, in particular the changes in the spectra as the number of extra dimensions or the angular velocity of the black hole increases. These quantities will be useful for accurate simulations of black hole events at the LHC.
We study the renormalized stress-energy tensor (RSET) for static quantum states on (n+1)-dimensional, static, spherically symmetric black holes. By solving the conservation equations, we are able to write the stress-energy tensor in terms of a single unknown function of the radial co-ordinate, plus two arbitrary constants. Conditions for the stress-energy tensor to be regular at event horizons (including the extremal and ``ultra-extremal'' cases) are then derived using generalized Kruskal-like co-ordinates. These results should be useful for future calculations of the RSET for static quantum states on spherically symmetric black hole geometries in any number of space-time dimensions.
Quantum decoherence, the evolution of pure states into mixed states, may be a feature of quantum gravity. In this paper, we show how these effects can be modelled for atmospheric neutrinos and illustrate how the standard oscillation picture is modified. We examine how neutrino telescopes, such as ANTARES, are able to place upper bounds on these quantum decoherence effects.