Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Herondy Mota

Publications and source records attributed to Herondy Mota.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

Casimir effect for a massive scalar field confined between parallel plates with a spatially varying effective mass

We investigate the Casimir effect for a massive real scalar field confined between two perfectly reflecting parallel plates in the presence of a position-dependent effective mass, a mechanism for coupling a scalar background to a scalar field. Exact normal modes are obtained by solving the corresponding Klein-Gordon equation, leading to a transverse energy spectrum that exhibits a characteristic Landau-like structure despite the absence of an external magnetic field. Upon quantization of the field, the vacuum energy is evaluated by means of generalized zeta-function regularization together with an appropriate renormalization procedure. The renormalized vacuum energy naturally separates into a Landau-like contribution and an additional term induced by the spatial dependence of the effective mass. We show analytically and numerically that both contributions are exponentially suppressed in the strong-coupling regime. In the opposite limit, the Landau-like contribution smoothly reproduces the standard vacuum energy for a massive scalar field confined between parallel plates, whereas the additional contribution becomes singular owing to the restricted domain of validity of the exact spectrum. Except in the vicinity of this singular limit, the vacuum energy is shown to be dominated by the Landau-like sector. Our results establish a direct connection between position-dependent effective masses and boundary-induced quantum vacuum phenomena, providing a new exactly solvable framework for the investigation of Casimir effects in spatially inhomogeneous relativistic systems.

hep-th↗

Vacuum-induced current density from a magnetic flux threading a cosmic dispiration in $(D+1)$-dimensional spacetime

We investigate the vacuum-induced current density for a charged scalar field in a $(D+1)$-dimensional cosmic dispiration spacetime threaded by a magnetic flux. This background combines a cosmic string and a screw dislocation, yielding a nontrivial helical geometry. By constructing the normalized mode functions of the Klein--Gordon equation, we evaluate the Wightman function and obtain the vacuum expectation value of the current density. We show that, in addition to the azimuthal component describing a persistent current around the defect, a nonvanishing axial component is induced as a direct consequence of the helical structure of the spacetime. Both components are periodic functions of the magnetic flux, depending only on its fractional part, reflecting the Aharonov--Bohm nature of the effect. Closed expressions are obtained for both massive and massless fields in arbitrary dimensions. We demonstrate that the screw dislocation parameter plays a crucial role in the behavior of the induced currents, leading to the regularization of the axial component at the origin and controlling its magnitude. The asymptotic behavior of both components is analyzed in detail. Our results reduce to known expressions in the absence of the screw dislocation, providing a consistency check. In particular, we examine the physically relevant $(3+1)$-dimensional case, where numerical analysis reveals nontrivial features arising from the interplay between topology and gauge effects.

hep-th↗

Quantum Brownian motion induced by fluctuating boundaries and compactification

In this work, we investigate the quantum Brownian motion of a point charge arising as a consequence of two fluctuating point-like boundaries. The study considers Dirichlet, Neumann, and mixed boundary conditions imposed on a real massless scalar field. Additionally, we analyze the effects of a fluctuating compactification length on the random motion of the point charge, induced by the imposition of a quasi-periodic condition on the scalar field. By associating a wave function with the length scale of each system, we demonstrate that typical divergences, which commonly appear in scenarios with fixed boundaries and compactification size, are effectively smoothed out. This approach generalizes and extends previous results found in the literature, offering new insights into the regularization of divergences appearing in idealized systems.

hep-th↗

Boundary effects in classical liquid density fluctuations at finite temperature

We investigate thermal effects on density fluctuations in confined classical liquids using phonon quantization. The system is modeled via a massless scalar field between perfectly reflecting parallel planes with Dirichlet, Neumann, and mixed boundary conditions. Exact closed-form expressions are derived for the mean square mass density, total energy density, and thermodynamic quantities including Helmholtz free energy and entropy densities. Our analysis identifies distinct regimes, namely, a low-temperature quantum regime exhibiting characteristic power-law behavior for each boundary condition, and a high-temperature classical regime where $\hbar$-independent behavior emerges as expected. A particularly interesting finding shows that while most quantities transition naturally to classical behavior, the mean square density fluctuation requires explicit consideration of the $\hbar\to 0$ limit. The entropy density vanishes at zero temperature, in agreement with the Nernst heat theorem. Numerical analysis confirms our analytical results, particularly the asymptotic temperature behaviors and the intermediate crossover region, in which quantum and classical effects compete. This regime is governed by the energy scale $k_B T \sim \hbar u / a$, where $a$ is the distance between the planes and $u$ is the sound velocity.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Finite temperature Casimir effect for a spinor field in cosmic dispiration spacetime

This study explores the finite temperature Casimir effect for a massive spinor field in cosmic dispiration spacetime, formed by the combination of a cosmic string and a screw dislocation using the generalized zeta function regularization method. First, we examine the cosmic string spacetime with a quasi-antiperiodic boundary condition, where the Casimir energy and its corrections depend on two nonzero heat kernel coefficients, one associated with the Euclidean divergence and the other with the nontrivial topology, both vanishing when renormalized. Interestingly, for specific choice of parameters the quasi-antiperiodicity effect can entirely cancel out the topological contribution, leaving only the Euclidean divergence. We then extend this analysis to cosmic dispiration spacetime. This configuration alters the spacetime topology, modifying the structure of the heat kernel coefficient related to the new nontrivial topology. In this case, the renormalized Casimir energy density can take positive or negative values and decreases exponentially as the field mass increases. Additionally, we examine the asymptotic behavior of the renormalized temperature correction term in the massless regime, showing that the spinor vacuum free energy vanishes at very high temperatures. At very low temperatures, it is dominated by the zero-temperature Casimir energy density.

hep-th↗

Vacuum energy density from a self-interacting scalar field in a Lorentz-violating Horava-Lifshitz model

In this paper we consider a massive self-interacting scalar quantum field in a Lorentz-violation scenario based on a Horava-Lifshitz model. Specifically, we investigate the vacuum energy density and its loop correction, up to first order in the self-interaction coupling constant, and also the topological mass generation. These quantities are also analyzed in the case where the field is massless. The scalar vacuum state is perturbed by the presence of two large parallel plates, placed at a distance L from each other, due to the imposition of Dirichlet boundary condition on the two plates. To perform this study, the effective potential approach in quantum field theory is applied.

hep-th↗

Vacuum energy, temperature corrections and heat kernel coefficients in $(D + 1)$-dimensional spacetimes with nontrivial topology

In this work we make use of the generalized zeta function technique to investigate the vacuum energy, temperature corrections and heat kernel coefficients associated with a scalar field under a quasiperiodic condition in a $(D+1)$-dimensional conical spacetime. In this scenario we find that the renormalized vacuum energy, as well as the temperature corrections, are both zero. The nonzero heat kernel coefficients are the ones related to the usual Euclidean divergence, and also to the nontrivial aspects of the quaisperiodically identified conical spacetime topology. An interesting result that arises in this configuration is that for some values of the quasiperiodic parameter, the heat kernel coefficient associated with the nontrivial topology vanishes. In addition, we also consider the scalar field in a $(D+1)$-dimensional spacetime formed by the combination of a conical and screw dislocation topological defects. In this case, we obtain a nonzero renormalized vacuum energy density and its corresponding temperature corrections. Again, the nonzero heat kernel coefficients found are the ones related to the Euclidean and nontrivial topology divergences. For $D=3$ we explicitly show, in the massless scalar field case, the limits of low and high temperatures for the free energy. In the latter, we show that the free energy presents a classical contribution.

hep-th↗

Aether-Electromagnetic theory and the Casimir effect

In this study, we explore the impact of an additional dimension, as proposed in Kaluza-Klein's theory, on the Casimir effect within the context of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV), which is represented by the ``aether field''. We demonstrate that the Casimir energy is directly influenced by the presence of the fifth dimension, as well as by the aether parameter. Consequently, the force between the plates is also subject to variations of these parameters. Furthermore, we examine constraints on both the size of the extra dimension and the aether field parameter based on experimental data. The LIV parameter can provide insights into addressing the size-related challenges in Kaluza-Klein's theory and offers a mean to establish an upper limit on the size of the extra dimension. This helps to rationalize the difficulties associated with its detection in current experiments.

hep-th↗

Two-dimensional Lorentz-violating Casimir effect

In this study, we consider the four-dimensional Maxwell electrodynamics extended with CPT-even Myers-Pospelov Lorentz-violating dimension-six operators to investigate the associated two-dimensional properties in the context of quantum vacuum fluctuation effects, namely, the Casimir effect. Upon projecting out the 4D theory down to a 2D theory we obtain analogs of these operators leading to a modified dispersion relation in a Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) scalar model equivalent to the electromagnetic theory. By making use of the modified dispersion relation, we derive exact analytic expressions for the Casimir energy and force induced by imposing Dirichlet boundary conditions on the scalar field. In the regime where the LIV parameter becomes very small, we recover known results for the Casimir energy and force plus correction terms due to the LIV.

hep-th↗

Thermal Casimir effect for a Dirac field on flat space with a nontrivial circular boundary condition

This work investigates the thermal Casimir effect associated with a massive spinor field defined on a four-dimensional flat space with a circularly compactified spatial dimension whose periodicity is oriented along a vector in $xy$-plane. We employ the generalized zeta function method to establish a finite definition for the vacuum free energy density. This definition conveniently separates into the zero-temperature Casimir energy density and additional terms accounting for temperature corrections. The structure of existing divergences is analyzed from the asymptotic behavior of the spinor heat kernel function and removed in the renormalization by subtracting scheme. The only non-null heat coefficient is the one associated with the Euclidean divergence. We also address the need for a finite renormalization to treat the ambiguity in the zeta function regularization prescription \text{associated} with this Euclidean heat kernel coefficient and ensure that the renormalization procedure is unique. The high- and low-temperature asymptotic limits are also explored. In particular, we explicitly show that free energy density lacks a classical limit at high temperatures, and the entropy density agrees with the Nernst heat theorem at low temperatures.

hep-th↗

Lightcone fluctuations in a five dimensional Kaluza-Klein model and an estimation on the size of the extra dimension

In this work we consider lightcone fluctuation effects in a five-dimensional spacetime arising as a consequence of the compactification of the extra dimension via a quasiperiodic condition, characterized by a phase angle $2πα$. By considering light propagating in a non-compactified direction we are able to compute both the renormalized graviton two-point function and the flight time of a photon caused by the fluctuations. We show that the resulting expressions depend on the quasiperiodic parameter, the compactification length and also on the distance traveled by the photon. Based on the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) sensitivity built on the James Webb Space Telescope, we discuss the possibility of making estimations on the size of the extra dimension if one assumes that the mean deviation on the flight time of photons can be observed through the NIRSpec. We also analyze the differences between the estimations in the periodic $α=0$, antiperiodic $α=1/2$ and other condition cases for $α$.

hep-th↗

Thermal Casimir effect for the scalar field in flat spacetime under a helix boundary condition

In this work we consider the generalized zeta function method to obtain temperature corrections to the vacuum (Casimir) energy density, at zero temperature, associated with quantum vacuum fluctuations of a scalar field subjected to a helix boundary condition and whose modes propagate in (3+1)-dimensional Euclidean spacetime. We find closed and analytical expressions for both the two-point heat kernel function and free energy density in the massive and massless scalar field cases. In particular, for the massless scalar field case, we also calculate the thermodynamics quantities internal energy density and entropy density, with their corresponding high- and low-temperature limits. We show that the temperature correction term in the free energy density must suffer a finite renormalization, by subtracting the scalar thermal blackbody radiation contribution, in order to provide the correct classical limit at high temperatures. We check that, at low temperature, the entropy density vanishes as the temperature goes to zero, in accordance with the third law of thermodynamics. We also point out that, at low temperatures, the dominant term in the free energy and internal energy densities is the vacuum energy density at zero temperature. Finally, we also show that the pressure obeys an equation of state.

hep-th↗