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Emilio Elizalde

Publications and source records attributed to Emilio Elizalde.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Hamiltonian approach to the dynamical Casimir effect

A Hamiltonian approach is introduced in order to address some severe problems associated with the physical description of the dynamical Casimir effect at all times. For simplicity, the case of a neutral scalar field in a one-dimensional cavity with partially transmitting mirrors (an essential proviso) is considered, but the method can be extended to fields of any kind and higher dimensions. The motional force calculated in our approach contains a reactive term --proportional to the mirrors' acceleration-- which is fundamental in order to obtain (quasi)particles with a positive energy all the time during the movement of the mirrors --while always satisfying the energy conservation law. Comparisons with other approaches and a careful analysis of the interrelations among the different results previously obtained in the literature are carried out.

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Modified Gravity on the Brane and Dark Energy

We analyze the dynamics of an AdS5 braneworld with matter fields when gravity is allowed to deviate from the Einstein form on the brane. We consider exact 5-dimensional warped solutions which are associated with conformal bulk fields of weight -4 and describe on the brane the following three dynamics: those of inhomogeneous dust, of generalized dark radiation, and of homogeneous polytropic dark energy. We show that, with modified gravity on the brane, the existence of such dynamical geometries requires the presence of non-conformal matter fields confined to the brane.

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Uses of zeta regularization in QFT with boundary conditions: a cosmo-topological Casimir effect

Zeta regularization has proven to be a powerful and reliable tool for the regularization of the vacuum energy density in ideal situations. With the Hadamard complement, it has been shown to provide finite (and meaningful) answers too in more involved cases, as when imposing physical boundary conditions (BCs) in two-- and higher--dimensional surfaces (being able to mimic, in a very convenient way, other {\it ad hoc} cut-offs, as non-zero depths). What we have considered is the {\it additional} contribution to the cc coming from the non-trivial topology of space or from specific boundary conditions imposed on braneworld models (kind of cosmological Casimir effects). Assuming someone will be able to prove (some day) that the ground value of the cc is zero, as many had suspected until very recently, we will then be left with this incremental value coming from the topology or BCs. We show that this value can have the correct order of magnitude in a number of quite reasonable models involving small and large compactified scales and/or brane BCs, and supergravitons.

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Rotating "Black Holes" with Holes in the Horizon

Kerr-Schild solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell field equations, containing semi-infinite axial singular lines, are investigated. It is shown that axial singularities break up the black hole, forming holes in the horizon. As a result, a tube-like region appears which allows matter to escape from the interior without crossing the horizon. It is argued that axial singularities of this kind, leading to very narrow beams, can be created in black holes by external electromagnetic or gravitational excitations and may be at the origin of astrophysically observable effects such as jet formation.

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Heat-kernel expansion on non compact domains and a generalised zeta-function regularisation procedure

Heat-kernel expansion and zeta function regularisation are discussed for Laplace type operators with discrete spectrum in non compact domains. Since a general theory is lacking, the heat-kernel expansion is investigated by means of several examples. It is pointed out that for a class of exponential (analytic) interactions, generically the non-compactness of the domain gives rise to logarithmic terms in the heat-kernel expansion. Then, a meromorphic continuation of the associated zeta function is investigated. A simple model is considered, for which the analytic continuation of the zeta function is not regular at the origin, displaying a pole of higher order. For a physically meaningful evaluation of the related functional determinant, a generalised zeta function regularisation procedure is proposed.

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Dark energy in modified Gauss-Bonnet gravity: late-time acceleration and the hierarchy problem

Dark energy cosmology is considered in a modified Gauss-Bonnet (GB) model of gravity where an arbitrary function of the GB invariant, $f(G)$, is added to the General Relativity action. We show that such theory is endowed with a quite rich cosmological structure: it may naturally lead to an effective cosmological constant, quintessence or phantom cosmic acceleration, with a possible transition from deceleration to acceleration. It is demonstrated in the paper that this theory is perfectly viable, since it is compliant with Solar System constraints. Specific properties of $f(G)$ gravity in a de Sitter universe, such as dS and SdS solutions, their entropy and its explicit one-loop quantization are studied. The issue of a possible solution of the hierarchy problem in modified gravities is addressed too.

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Dark Energy: Vacuum Fluctuations, the Effective Phantom Phase, and Holography

We aim at the construction of dark energy models without exotic matter but with a phantom-like equation of state (an effective phantom phase). The first model we consider is decaying vacuum cosmology where the fluctuations of the vacuum are taken into account. In this case, the phantom cosmology (with an effective, observational $ω$ being less than -1) emerges even for the case of a real dark energy with a physical equation of state parameter $ω$ larger than -1. The second proposal is a generalized holographic model, which is produced by the presence of an infrared cutoff. It also leads to an effective phantom phase, which is not a transient one as in the first model. However, we show that quantum effects are able to prevent its evolution towards a Big Rip singularity.

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One-loop f(R) gravity in de Sitter universe

Motivated by the dark energy issue, the one-loop quantization approach for a family of relativistic cosmological theories is discussed in some detail. Specifically, general $f(R)$ gravity at the one-loop level in a de Sitter universe is investigated, extending a similar program developed for the case of pure Einstein gravity. Using generalized zeta regularization, the one-loop effective action is explicitly obtained off-shell, what allows to study in detail the possibility of (de)stabilization of the de Sitter background by quantum effects. The one-loop effective action maybe useful also for the study of constant curvature black hole nucleation rate and it provides the plausible way of resolving the cosmological constant problem.

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Tachyon fields with effects of quantum matter in an Anti-de Sitter Universe

We consider an Anti-de Sitter universe filled by quantum conformal matter with the contribution from the usual tachyon and a perfect fluid. The model represents the combination of a trace-anomaly annihilated and a tachyon driven Anti-de Sitter universe. The influence exerted by the quantum effects and by the tachyon on the AdS space is studied. The radius corresponding to this universe is calculated and the effect of the tachyon potential is discussed, in particular, concerning to the possibility to get an accelerated scale factor for the proposed model (implying an accelerated expansion of the AdS type of universe). Fulfillment of the cosmological energy conditions in the model is also investigated

gr-qc↗

Late-time phantom universe in ${\bf SO(1,1)}$ dark energy model with exponential potential

We discuss the late-time property of universe and phantom field in the SO(1,1) dark energy model for the potential $V=V_0e^{-βΦ^α}$ with $α$ and $β$ two positive constants. We assume in advance some conditions satisfied by the late-time field to simplify equations, which are confirmed to be correct from the eventual results. For $α<2$, the filed falls exponentially off and the phantom equation of state rapidly approaches -1. When $α=2$, the kinetic energy $ρ_k$ and the coupling energy $ρ_c$ become comparable but there is always $ρ_k<-ρ_c$ so that the phantom property of field proceeds to hold. The analysis on the perturbation to the late-time field $Φ$ illustrates the square effective mass of the perturbation field is always positive and thus the phantom is stable. The universe considered currently may evade the future sudden singularity and will evolve to de Sitter expansion phase.

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Cosmology: Techniques and Observations

These lectures were addressed to nonspecialists willing to learn some basic facts, approaches, tools and observational evidence which conform modern cosmology. The aim is also to try to complement the many excellent treatises that exists on the subject (an exhaustive treatment being in any case impossible for lack of time, in the lectures, and of space here), instead of trying to cover everything in a telegraphic way. We start by recalling in the introduction a couple of philosophical questions that have always upset inquiring minds. We then present some original mathematical approaches to investigate a number of basic questions, as the comparison of two point distributions (each point corresponding to a galaxy or galaxy cluster), the use of non-standard statistics in the analysis of possible non-Gaussianities, and the use of zeta regularization in the study of the contributions of vacuum energy effects at the cosmological scale. And we also summarize a number of important issues which are both undoubtedly beautiful (from the physical viewpoint) and useful in present-day observational cosmology. To finish, the reader should be warned that, for the reasons already given and lack of space, some fundamental issues, as inflation, quantum gravity and string theoretical fundamental approaches to cosmology will not be dealt with here. A minimal treatment of any of them would consume more pages than the ones at disposal and, again, a number of excellent treatments of these subjects are available.

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Late-time cosmology in (phantom) scalar-tensor theory: dark energy and the cosmic speed-up

We consider late-time cosmology in a (phantom) scalar-tensor theory with an exponential potential, as a dark energy model with equation of state parameter close to -1 (a bit above or below this value). Scalar (and also other kinds of) matter can be easily taken into account. An exact spatially-flat FRW cosmology is constructed for such theory, which admits (eternal or transient) acceleration phases for the current universe, in correspondence with observational results. Some remarks on the possible origin of the phantom, starting from a more fundamental theory, are also made. It is shown that quantum gravity effects may prevent (or, at least, delay or soften) the cosmic doomsday catastrophe associated with the phantom, i.e. the otherwise unavoidable finite-time future singularity (Big Rip). A novel dark energy model (higher-derivative scalar-tensor theory) is introduced and it is shown to admit an effective phantom/quintessence description with a transient acceleration phase. In this case, gravity favors that an initially insignificant portion of dark energy becomes dominant over the standard matter/radiation components in the evolution process.

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One-loop effective potential from higher-dimensional AdS black holes

We study the quantum effects in a brane-world model in which a positive constant curvature brane universe is embedded in a higher-dimensional bulk AdS black hole, instead of the usual portion of the AdS$_5$. By using zeta regularisation, in the large mass regime, we explicitly calculate the one-loop effective potential due to the bulk quantum fields and show that it leads to a non-vanishing cosmological constant, which can definitely acquire a positive value.

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Cosmological uses of Casimir energy

A precise zeta-function calculation shows that the contribution of the vacuum energy to the observed value of the cosmological constant can possibly have the desired order of magnitude albeit the sign strongly depends on the topology of the universe. The non-renormalizable, infinite contributions which have been recently shown to occur when one physically imposes boundary conditions on quantum fields (Casimir calculations) are considered. It is shown that using a Hadamard regularization in addition to the zeta method, the ordinary, finite results in the literature are exactly recovered.

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Phantom and quantum matter in an Anti-de Sitter Universe

We consider an Anti-de Sitter Universe filled by quantum CFT with classical phantom matter and perfect fluid. The model represents the combination of a trace-anomaly annihilated and a phantom driven Anti-de Sitter Universes. The influence exerted by the quantum effects and phantom matter on the AdS space is discussed. Different energy conditions in this type of Universe are investigated and compared with those for the corresponding model in a de Sitter Universe.

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Born-Infeld Quantum Condensate as Dark Energy in the Universe

Some cosmological implications of ultraviolet quantum effects leading to a condensation of Born-Infeld matter are considered. It is shown that under very general conditions the quantum condensate can not act as phantom matter if its energy density is positive. On the other hand, it behaves as an effective cosmological constant in the limit where quantum induced contributions to the energy-momentum tensor dominate over the classical effects.

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Casimir effect in de Sitter and Anti-de Sitter braneworlds

We discuss the bulk Casimir effect (effective potential) for a conformal or massive scalar when the bulk represents five-dimensional AdS or dS space with two or one four-dimensional dS brane, which may correspond to our universe. Using zeta-regularization, the interesting conclusion is reached, that for both bulks in the one-brane limit the effective potential corresponding to the massive or to the conformal scalar is zero. The radion potential in the presence of quantum corrections is found. It is demonstrated that both the dS and the AdS braneworlds may be stabilized by using the Casimir force only. A brief study indicates that bulk quantum effects are relevant for brane cosmology, because they do deform the de Sitter brane. They may also provide a natural mechanism yielding a decrease of the four-dimensional cosmological constant on the physical brane of the two-brane configuration.

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