arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G. E. Volovik.
The new mode of magnetization precession in superfluid 3He-A in a squeezed aerogel has been recently reported. We consider this mode in terms of the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of magnons. The difference between magnon BEC states in 3He-A and in 3He-B is discussed.
From a macroscopic theory of the quantum vacuum in terms of conserved relativistic charges (generically denoted by q^{(a)} with label a), we have obtained, in the low-energy limit, a particular type of f(R) model relevant to cosmology. The macroscopic quantum-vacuum theory allows us to distinguish between different phenomenological f(R) models on physical grounds.
We discuss why the tunneling picture does not necessarily lead to Hawking radiation from the de Sitter horizon. The experience with the condensed matter analogs of event horizon suggests that the de Sitter vacuum is stable against the Hawking radiation. On the other hand the detector immersed into the de Sitter background will detect the radiation which looks as thermal with the effective temperature twice larger than the Hawking temperature associated with the cosmological horizon.
We discuss the problem of the spectral function of vacuum energy. In traditional approach the ultraviolet divergencies of the vacuum energy are cancelled by imposing relations between different quantum fields and their masses. The emergent theories suggest that the microscopic degrees of the underlying quantum vacuum add to the spectral function and their contribution cancels the diverging zero point energy of quantum fields. Examples of the spectral function of the vacuum energy in the condensed-matter systems with relativity emerging at low energy are presented. In the Sakharov induced gravity situation may be even more dramatic: only microscopic (Planck scale) constituent fields contribute to the vacuum energy, while the diverging zero-point energy of emergent quantum field (gravitational field) is missing. On the other hand consideration of the fermionic condensed matter systems suggests that emergent relativistic fermionic quasiparticles contribute in conventional way as Dirac vacuum.
A modified-gravity theory is considered with a four-form field strength F, a variable gravitational coupling parameter G(F), and a standard matter action. This theory provides a concrete realization of the general vacuum variable q as the four-form amplitude F and allows for a study of its dynamics. The theory gives a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe with rapid oscillations of the effective vacuum energy density (cosmological "constant"), whose amplitude drops to zero asymptotically. Extrapolating to the present age of the Universe, the order of magnitude of the average vacuum energy density agrees with the observed near-critical vacuum energy density of the present universe. It may even be that this type of oscillating vacuum energy density constitutes a significant part of the so-called cold dark matter in the standard Friedmann-Robertson-Walker framework.
20 years ago a new quantum state of matter was discovered and identified. The observed dynamic quantum state of spin precession in superfluid 3He-B bears the properties of spin current superfluidity, Bose condensation of spin waves -- magnons, off-diagonal long-range order and related phenomena of quantum coherence
Recent experiments [1],[2] which measured the spectrum of the Goldstone collective mode of coherently precessing state in 3He-B are discussed using the presentation of the coherent spin precession in terms of the Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons. The mass in the spectrum of the Goldstone boson -- phonon in the superfluid magnon liquid -- is induced by the symmetry breaking field, which is played by the RF magnetic field
Deformation of aerogel strongly modifies the orientation of the order parameter of superfluid 3He confined in aerogel. We used a radial squeezing of aerogel to keep the orbital angular momentum of the 3He Cooper pairs in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field. We did not find strong evidence for a "polar" phase, with a nodal line along the equator of the Fermi surface, predicted to occur at large radial squeezing. Instead we observed 3He-A with a clear experimental evidence of the destruction of the long-range order by random anisotropy -- the Larkin-Imry-Ma effect. In 3He-B we observed and identified new modes of NMR, which are impossible to obtain in bulk 3He-B. One of these modes is characterized by a repulsive interaction between magnons, which is suitable for the magnon Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC).
A spacetime-independent variable is introduced which characterizes a Lorentz-invariant self-sustained quantum vacuum. For a perfect (Lorentz-invariant) quantum vacuum, the self-tuning of this variable nullifies the effective energy density which enters the low-energy gravitational field equations. The observed small but nonzero value of the cosmological constant may then be explained as corresponding to the effective energy density of an imperfect quantum vacuum (perturbed by, e.g., the presence of thermal matter).
The Fermi-point scenario of emergent gravity has the following consequences: gravity emerges together with fermionic and bosonic matter; emergent fermionic matter consists of massless Weyl fermions; emergent bosonic matter consists of gauge fields; Lorentz symmetry persists well above the Planck energy; space-time is naturally 4-dimensional; Universe is naturally flat; cosmological constant is naturally small or zero; underlying physics is based on discrete symmetries; `quantum gravity' cannot be obtained by quantization of Einstein equations; there is no contradiction between quantum mechanics and gravity; etc.
Let us assume that gravity is an emergent low-energy phenomenon arising from a topologically stable defect in momentum space -- the Fermi point. What are the consequences? We discuss the natural values of fermion masses and cosmological constant; flatness of the Universe; bounds on Lorentz violation; etc.
The phenomenon of the spontaneous phase-coherent precession of magnetization in superfluid 3He and the related effects of spin superfluidity are based on the true Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons. Several different magnon BEC states have been observed: homogeneously precessing domain (HPD); BEC condensation in the spin-orbit potential trap (Q-balls); coherent precession with fractional magnetization; and two modes of the coherent precession in squeezed aerogel. The spin superfluidity effects, like spin Josephson phenomena, spin current vortices, spin phase slippage, long distance magnetization transport by spin supercurrents have been observed.
Superfluid 3He-A shares the properties of spin nematic and chiral orbital ferromagnet. Its order parameter is characterized by two vectors d and l. This doubly anisotropic superfluid, when it is confined in aerogel, represents the most interesting example of a system with continuous symmetry in the presence of random anisotropy disorder. We discuss the Larkin-Imry-Ma state, which is characterized by the short-range orientational order of the vector l, while the long-range orientational order is destroyed by the collective action of the randomly oriented aerogel strings. On the other hand, sufficiently large regular anisotropy produced either by the deformation of the aerogel or by applied superflow suppresses the Larkin-Imry-Ma effect leading to the uniform orientation of the vector l. This interplay of regular and random anisotropy allows us to study many different effects.
The possibility of Bose-Einstein condensation of excitations has been discussed for a long time. The phenomenon of the phase-coherent precession of magnetization in superfluid 3He and the related effects of spin superfluidity are based on the true Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons. Several different states of coherent precession has been observed in 3He-B: homogeneously precessing domain (HPD); persistent signal formed by Q-balls at very low temperatures; coherent precession with fractional magnetization; and two new modes of the coherent precession in compressed aerogel. In compressed aerogel the coherent precession has been also found in 3He-A. Here we demonstrate that all these cases are examples of a Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons, with the magnon interaction term in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation being provided by different types of spin-orbit coupling in the background of the coherent precession.
Investigation of the many-body condensed-matter systems allows us to connect the microscopic physics at the atomic energy scale and the macroscopic physics emerging in the low-energy corner. It gives some hints on the mechanisms of the formation of the physical laws which our Universe obeys. The paper is devoted to the centenary of Matvei Petrovich Bronstein.
The theoretical prediction of Q-balls in relativistic quantum fields is realized here experimentally in superfluid 3He-B. The condensed-matter analogs of relativistic Q-balls are responsible for an extremely long lived signal of magnetic induction -- the so-called Persistent Signal -- observed in NMR at the lowest temperatures. This Q-ball is another representative of a state with phase coherent precession of nuclear spins in 3He-B, similar to the well known Homogeneously Precessing Domain which we interpret as Bose condensation of spin waves -- magnons. At large Q the effect of self-localization is observed. In the language of relativistic quantum fields it is caused by interaction between the charged and neutral fields, where the neutral field provides the potential for the charged one. In the process of self-localization the charged field modifies locally the neutral field so that the potential well is formed in which the charge is condensed.
We discuss some lessons from quantum hydrodynamics to quantum gravity.
Rapid new developments have occurred in superfluid hydrodynamics since the discovery of a host of unusual phenomena which arise from the diverse structure and dynamics of quantized vortices in 3He superfluids. These have been studied in rotating flow with NMR measurements which at best provide an accurate mapping of the different types of topological defects in the superfluid order parameter field. Four observations are reviewed here: (1) the interplay of different vortex structures at the first order interface between the two major superfluid 3He phases, 3He-A and 3He-B; (2) the shear flow instability of this phase boundary, which is now known as the superfluid Kelvin-Helmholtz instability; (3) the hydrodynamic transition from turbulent to regular vortex dynamics as a function of increasing dissipation in vortex motion; and (4) the peculiar propagation of vortex lines in a long rotating column which even in the turbulent regime occurs in the form of a helically twisted vortex state behind a well-developed vortex front. The consequences and implications of these observations are discussed, as inferred from measurements, numerical calculations, and analytical work.