arXiv subjects

Henri Epstein

Publications and source records attributed to Henri Epstein.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Loops in Anti de Sitter space

We discuss general one and two-loop banana diagrams and one-loop diagrams with external lines with arbitrary masses on the anti de Sitter spacetime by using methods of AdS quantum field theory in the dimensional regularization approach. The banana diagrams explicitly computed in this paper are indeed the necessary ingredients for the evaluation of the two-loop effective potential of the Standard Model and can be used to extend the flat space results in in presence of a negative cosmological constant. In the one-loop case we also compute the effective potential for an $O(N)$ model in $d=4$ dimension as an explicit function of the cosmological constant $\Lambda$, both exactly and perturbatively up to order $\Lambda$. In the two-loop case we show the explicit calculation is possible thanks to a remarkable discrete K\"all\'en-Lehmann formula which we found and proved sometimes ago and whose domain of applicability we extend in the present paper.

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arXiv2024

Loops in de Sitter space

We discuss general one and two-loops banana diagrams with arbitrary masses on the de Sitter spacetime by using direct methods of dS quantum field theory in the dimensional regularization approach. In the one-loop case we also compute the effective potential for an $O(N)$ model in $d=4$ dimension as an explicit function of the cosmological constant $\Lambda$, both exactly and perturbatively up to order $\Lambda$. For the two-loop case we show that the calculation is made easy thanks to a remarkable Kallen-Lehmann formula that has been in the literature for a while. We discuss the divergent cases at d=3 using a contiguity formula for generalized hypergeometric functions and we extract the dominant term at d=4 proving a general formula to deal with a divergent hypergeometric series.

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arXiv2023

Banana integrals in configuration space

We reconsider the computation of banana integrals at different loops, by working in the configuration space, in any dimension. We show how the 2-loop banana integral can be computed directly from the configuration space representation, without the need to resort to differential equations, and we include the analytic extension of the diagram in the space of complex masses. We also determine explicitly the $\varepsilon$ expansion of the two loop banana integrals, for $d=j-2\varepsilon$, $j=2,3,4$.

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arXiv2022

The massless thermal field and the thermal fermion bosonization in two dimensions

We come back to the issue of bosonization of fermions in two spacetime dimension and give a new costruction in the steady state case where left and right moving particles can coexist at two different temperatures. A crucial role in our construction is played by translation invariant infrared states and the corresponding field operators which are naturally linked to the infrared behaviour of the correlation functions. We present two applications: a simple new derivation in the free relativistic case of a formula by Bernard and Doyon and a full operator solution of the massless Thirring model in the steady state case where the left and right movers have two distinct temperatures.

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arXiv2020

QFT and topology in two dimensions: $SL(2,{\Bbb R})$-symmetry and the de Sitter universe

We study bosonic Quantum Field Theory on the double covering $\widetilde{dS}_{2}$ of the 2-dimensional de Sitter universe, identified to a coset space of the group $SL(2,{\Bbb R})$. The latter acts effectively on $\widetilde{dS}_{2}$ and can be interpreted as it relativity group. The manifold is locally identical to the standard the Sitter spacetime ${dS}_2$; it is globally hyperbolic, geodesically complete and an inertial observer sees exactly the same bifurcate Killing horizons as in the standard one-sheeted case. The different global Lorentzian structure causes however drastic differences between the two models. We classify all the $SL(2,{\Bbb R})$-inveriant two-point functions and show that: 1) there is no Hawking-Gibbons temperature; 2) there is no covariant field theory solving the Klein-Gordon equation with mass less than $1/2R$ , i.e. the complementary fields go away.

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arXiv2019

A rigorous lower bound on the scattering amplitude at large angle

We prove a lower bound for the modulus of the amplitude for a two-body process at large scattering angle. This is based on the interplay of the analyticity of the amplitude and the positivity properties of its absorptive part. The assumptions are minimal, namely those of local quantum field theory (in the case when dispersion relations hold). In Appendix A, lower bounds for the forward particle-particle and particle-antiparticle amplitudes are obtained. This is of independent interest.

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arXiv2019

Topological surprises in de Sitter QFT in two-dimensions

Motivated by the study of soluble models of quantum field theory, we illustrate a new type of topological effect by comparing the constructions of canonical Klein-Gordon quantum fields on the two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime as opposed to its double covering. We show that the while commutators of the two fields coincide locally, the global topological differences make the theories drastically different. Many of the well-known features of de Sitter quantum field theory disappear. In particular there is nothing like a Bunch-Davies vacuum. Correspondingly, even though the local horizon structure is the same for the two universes there is no Hawking - Gibbons thermal state. Finally, there is no complementary series of fields.

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arXiv2016

de Sitter symmetry of Neveu-Schwarz spinors

We study the relations between Dirac fields living on the 2-dimensional Lorentzian cylinder and the ones living on the double-covering of the 2-dimensional de Sitter manifold, here identified as a certain coset space of the group $SL(2,R)$. We show that there is an extended notion of de Sitter covariance only for Dirac fields having the Neveu-Schwarz anti-periodicity and construct the relevant cocycle. Finally, we show that the de Sitter symmetry is naturally inherited by the Neveu-Schwarz massless Dirac field on the cylinder.

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arXiv2016

Trees

An algebraic formalism, developped with V. Glaser and R. Stora for the study of the generalized retarded functions of quantum field theory, is used to prove a factorization theorem which provides a complete description of the generalized retarded functions associated with any tree graph. Integrating over the variables associated to internal vertices to obtain the perturbative generalized retarded functions for interacting fields arising from such graphs is shown to be possible for a large category of space-times.

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arXiv2014

de Sitter tachyons and related topics

We present a complete study of a family of tachyonic scalar fields living on the de Sitter universe. We show that for an infinite set of discrete values of the negative squared mass the fields exhibit a gauge symmetry and there exists for them a fully acceptable local and covariant quantization similar to the Feynman-Gupta-Bleuler quantization of free QED. For general negative squares masses we also construct positive quantization where the de Sitter symmetry is spontaneously broken. We discuss the sense in which the two quantizations may be considered physically inequivalent even when there is a Lorentz invariant subspace in the second one.

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arXiv2011

Anti de Sitter quantum field theory and a new class of hypergeometric identities

We use Anti-de Sitter quantum field theory to prove a new class of identities between hypergeometric functions related to the Källén-Lehmann representation of products of two Anti-de Sitter two-point functions. A rich mathematical structure emerges. We apply our results to study the decay of unstable Anti-de Sitter particles. The total amplitude is in this case finite and Anti-de Sitter invariant.

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arXiv2010

Scalar tachyons in the de Sitter universe

We provide a construction of a class of local and de Sitter covariant tachyonic quantum fields which exist for discrete negative values of the squared mass parameter and which have no Minkowskian counterpart. These quantum fields satisfy an anomalous non-homogeneous Klein-Gordon equation. The anomaly is a covariant field which can be used to select the physical subspace (of finite codimension) where the homogeneous tachyonic field equation holds in the usual form. We show that the model is local and de Sitter invariant on the physical space. Our construction also sheds new light on the massless minimally coupled field, which is a special instance of it.

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arXiv2009

Particle decays and stability on the de Sitter universe

We study particle decay in de Sitter space-time as given by first order perturbation theory in a Lagrangian interacting quantum field theory. We study in detail the adiabatic limit of the perturbative amplitude and compute the "phase space" coefficient exactly in the case of two equal particles produced in the disintegration. We show that for fields with masses above a critical mass $m_c$ there is no such thing as particle stability, so that decays forbidden in flat space-time do occur here. The lifetime of such a particle also turns out to be independent of its velocity when that lifetime is comparable with de Sitter radius. Particles with mass lower than critical have a completely different behavior: the masses of their decay products must obey quantification rules, and their lifetime is zero.

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arXiv2009

Triangular invariants, three-point functions and particle stability on the de Sitter universe

We study a class of three-point functions on the de Sitter universe and on the asymptotic cone. A blending of geometrical ideas and analytic methods is used to compute some remarkable integrals, on the basis of a generalized star-triangle identity living on the cone and on the complex de Sitter manifold. We discuss an application of the general results to the study of the stability of scalar particles on the Sitter universe.

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arXiv2007

Lifetime of a massive particle in a de Sitter universe

We study particle decay in de Sitter space-time as given by first order perturbation theory in an interacting quantum field theory. We show that for fields with masses above a critical mass $m_c$ there is no such thing as particle stability, so that decays forbidden in flat space-time do occur there. The lifetime of such a particle also turns out to be independent of its velocity when that lifetime is comparable with de Sitter radius. Particles with lower mass are even stranger: The masses of their decay products must obey quantification rules, and their lifetime is zero.

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arXiv2002

Towards a General Theory of Quantized Fields on the Anti-de Sitter Space-Time

We propose a general framework for studying quantum field theory on the anti-de-Sitter space-time, based on the assumption of positivity of the spectrum of the possible energy operators. In this framework we show that the n-point functions are analytic in suitable domains of the complex AdS manifold, that it is possible to Wick rotate to the Euclidean manifold and come back, and that it is meaningful to restrict AdS quantum fields to Poincare' branes. We give also a complete characterization of two-point functions which are the simplest example of our theory. Finally we prove the existence of the AdS-Unruh effect for uniformly accelerated observers on trajectories crossing the boundary of AdS at infinity, while that effect does not exist for all the other uniformly accelerated trajectories.

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arXiv2001

Microcausality and Energy-Positivity in all frames imply Lorentz Invariance of dispersion laws

A new presentation of the Borchers-Buchholz result of the Lorentz-invariance of the energy-momentum spectrum in theories with broken Lorentz symmetry is given in terms of properties of the Green's functions of microcausal Bose and Fermi-fields. Strong constraints based on complex geometry phenomenons are shown to result from the interplay of the basic principles of causality and stability in Quantum Field Theory: if microcausality and energy-positivity in all Lorentz frames are satisfied, then it is unavoidable that all stable particles of the theory be governed by Lorentz-invariant dispersion laws: in all the field sectors, discrete parts outside the continuum as well as the thresholds of the continuous parts of the energy-momentum spectrum, with possible holes inside it, are necessarily represented by mass-shell hyperboloids (or the light-cone). No violation of this geometrical fact can be produced by spontaneous breaking of the Lorentz symmetry.

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arXiv2000

Existence and properties of p-tupling fixed points

We prove the existence of fixed points of p-tupling renormalization operators for interval and circle mappings having a critical point of arbitrary real degree r > 1. Some properties of the resulting maps are studied: analyticity, univalence, behavior as $r$ tends to infinity.

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