arXiv subjects

Hugo A. Morales-Técotl

Publications and source records attributed to Hugo A. Morales-Técotl.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Quantum corrections to cosmic perturbations for a bouncing background

We compute second-order quantum dispersions and correlations corrections, within an effective framework describing a single scalar perturbation mode propagating on a bouncing Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC) background. Using an effective quantization approach in which quantum moments extend the classical phase space as new dynamical degrees of freedom, and incorporating the cosmic bounce through holonomy corrections in the $μ_0$ scheme, we derive a coupled set of effective equations of motion for the expectation values and second-order quantum moments of both the gravitational and scalar sectors evolving with respect to a clock scalar field. Within the test-field approximation and for a vanishing scalar potential, the quantum moment equations reduce to a third-order ordinary differential equation for the mean squared deviation $G^{vv}$ of the Mukhanov--Sasaki variable in a de~Sitter background with LQC bounce. Treating the effect of bounce as a perturbation of the solution, we construct the corresponding correction to the dimensionless curvature power spectrum. The leading correction is suppressed by the sixth power of the Planck length producing a scale-dependent enhancement $δP_R \propto (k\,\ell_\mathrm{Pl})^6$ that modifies the spectral index by $δn_s \sim 6(k\,\ell_\mathrm{Pl})^6\ll 1$ for all cosmologically observable modes, in full consistency with current observational constraints. Numerical evolution of the full coupled system reveals a conditional ultraviolet regularization of the bounce-induced spectrum: the gravitational quantum moments generate a damping mechanism that suppresses the scalar perturbation amplitude after the bounce. Including cross-sector quantum correlations amplifies perturbation modes and introduces numerical instabilities at high wavenumbers, signaling the limits of the second-order truncation in the ultraviolet.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Unitary evolution and cosmic acceleration in Loop Quantum Cosmology

Loop quantum cosmology was shown to interpolate between de Sitter and FLRW Universe phases through a bounce by including Euclidean and Lorentzian terms of the Hamiltonian constraint with weight one -that corresponding to classical General Relativity. Unitary evolution required self-adjoint extensions of the constraint and a Planckian cosmological constant was obtained. Independent work took a positive weight to get a cosmological constant with the observed value, without considering unitarity. In this work we address the unitary evolution of the model for arbitrary weight. For non positive weight parameter unitary holds but for positive values self-adjoint extensions are required. To encompass observations the extensions here provided are mandatory. These are implemented in a propagator. Finally, we discuss our results and perspectives.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Effective dynamics of the Schwarzschild black hole interior with inverse triad corrections

We reconsider the study of the interior of the Schwarzschild black hole now including inverse triad quantum corrections within loop quantization. We derive these corrections and show that they are are related to two parameters $δ_b, δ_c$ associated to the minimum length in the radial and angular directions, that enter Thiemann's trick for quantum inverse triads. Introduction of such corrections may lead to non-invariance of physical results under rescaling of the fiducial volume needed to compute the dynamics, due to noncompact topology of the model. So, we put forward two prescriptions to resolve this issue. These prescriptions amount to interchange $δ_b, δ_c$ in classical computations in Thiemann's trick. By implementing the inverse triad corrections we found, previous results such as singularity resolution and black-to-white hole bounce hold with different values for the minimum radius-at-bounce, and the mass of the white hole.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

On effective loop quantum geometry of Schwarzschild interior

The success of loop quantum cosmology to resolve classical singularities of homogeneous models has led to its application to the classical Schwarszchild black hole interior, which takes the form of a homogeneous Kantowski-Sachs model. The first steps of this were done in pure quantum mechanical terms, hinting at the traversable character of the would-be classical singularity, and then others were performed using effective heuristic models capturing quantum effects that allowed a geometrical description closer to the classical one but avoided its singularity. However, the problem of establishing the link between the quantum and effective descriptions was left open. In this work, we propose to fill in this gap by considering the path-integral approach to the loop quantization of the Kantowski-Sachs model corresponding to the Schwarzschild black hole interior. We show that the transition amplitude can be expressed as a path integration over the imaginary exponential of an effective action which just coincides, under some simplifying assumptions, with the heuristic one. Additionally, we further explore the consequences of the effective dynamics. We prove first that such dynamics imply some rather simple bounds for phase-space variables, and in turn, remarkably, in an analytical way, they imply that various phase-space functions that were singular in the classical model are now well behaved. In particular, the expansion rate, its time derivative, and the shear become bounded, and hence the Raychaudhuri equation is finite term by term, thus resolving the singularities of classical geodesic congruences. Moreover, all effective scalar polynomial invariants turn out to be bounded.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Path integral polymer propagator of relativistic and non-relativistic particles

A recent proposal to connect the loop quantization with the spin foam model for cosmology via the path integral is hereby adapted to the case of mechanical systems within the framework of the so called polymer quantum mechanics. The mechanical models we consider are deparametrized and thus the group averaging technique is used to deal with the corresponding constraints. The transition amplitudes are written in a vertex expansion form used in the spin foam models, where here a vertex is actually a jump in position. Polymer propagators previously obtained by spectral methods for a nonrelativistic polymer particle, both free and in a box, are regained with this method and as a new result we obtain the polymer propagator of the relativistic particle. All of them reduce to their standard form in the continuum limit for which the length scale parameter of the polymer quantization is taken to be small. Our results are robust thanks to their analytic and exact character which in turn come from the fact that presented models are solvable. They lend support to the vertex expansion scheme of the polymer path integral explored before in a formal way for cosmological models. Some possible future developments are commented upon in the discussion.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Polymerization, the Problem of Access to the Saddle Point Approximation, and Thermodynamics

The saddle point approximation to the partition functions is an important way of deriving the thermodynamical properties of black holes. However, there are certain black hole models and some mathematically analog mechanical models for which this method can not be applied directly. This is due to the fact that their action evaluated on a classical solution is not finite and its first variation does not vanish for all consistent boundary conditions. These problems can be dealt with by adding a counter-term to the classical action, which is a solution of the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi equation. In this work however, we seek an alternative solution to this problem via the polymer quantization which is motivated by the loop quantum gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Polymer quantization and the saddle point approximation of partition functions

The saddle point approximation of the path integral partition functions is an important way of deriving the thermodynamical properties of black holes. However, there are certain black hole models and some mathematically analog mechanical models for which this method cannot be applied directly. This is due to the fact that their action evaluated on a classical solution is not finite and its first variation does not vanish for all consistent boundary conditions. These problems can be dealt with by adding a counterterm to the classical action, which is a solution of the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi equation. In this work we study the effects of polymer quantization on a mechanical model presenting the aforementioned difficulties and contrast it with the above counterterm method. This type of quantization for mechanical models is motivated by the loop quantization of gravity which is known to play a role in the thermodynamics of black hole systems. The model we consider is a nonrelativistic particle in an inverse square potential, and analyze two polarizations of the polymer quantization in which either the position or the momentum is discrete. In the former case, Thiemann's regularization is applied to represent the inverse power potential but we still need to incorporate the Hamilton-Jacobi counterterm which is now modified by polymer corrections. In the latter, momentum discrete case however, such regularization could not be implemented. Yet, remarkably, owing to the fact that the position is bounded, we do not need a Hamilton-Jacobi counterterm in order to have a well-defined saddle point approximation. Further developments and extensions are commented upon in the discussion.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Gravitational potential of a point mass in a brane world

In brane world models, combining the extra dimensional field modes with the standard four dimensional ones yields interesting physical consequences that have been proved from high energy physics to cosmology. Even some low energy phenomena have been considered along these lines to set bounds on the brane model parameters. In this work we extend to the gravitational realm a previous result which gave finite electromagnetic and scalar potentials and self energies for a source looking pointlike to an observer sitting in a 4D Minkowski subspace of the single brane of a Randall-Sundrum spacetime including compact dimensions. We calculate here the gravitational field for the same type of source by solving the linearized Einstein equations. Remarkably, it turns out to be also non singular. Moreover, we use gravitational experimental results of the Cavendish type and the Parameterized Post Newtonian (PPN) coefficients, to look for admissible values of the brane model parameters. The anti de Sitter radius hereby obtained is concordant with previous results based on Lamb shift in hydrogen. However, the resulting PPN parameters lie outside the acceptable value domain.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Propagators in Polymer Quantum Mechanics

Polymer Quantum Mechanics is based on some of the techniques used in the loop quantization of gravity that are adapted to describe systems possessing a finite number of degrees of freedom. It has been used in two ways: on one hand it has been used to represent some aspects of the loop quantization in a simpler context, and, on the other, it has been applied to each of the infinite mechanical modes of other systems. Indeed, this polymer approach was recently implemented for the free scalar field propagator. In this work we compute the polymer propagators of the free particle and a particle in a box; amusingly, just as in the non polymeric case, the one of the particle in a box may be computed also from that of the free particle using the method of images. We verify the propagators hereby obtained satisfy standard properties such as: consistency with initial conditions, composition and Green's function character. Furthermore they are also shown to reduce to the usual Schrödinger propagators in the limit of small parameter $μ_0$, the length scale introduced in the polymer dynamics and which plays a role analog of that of Planck length in Quantum Gravity.

math-ph↗

arXiv2011

Statistical Thermodynamics of Polymer Quantum Systems

Polymer quantum systems are mechanical models quantized similarly as loop quantum gravity. It is actually in quantizing gravity that the polymer term holds proper as the quantum geometry excitations yield a reminiscent of a polymer material. In such an approach both non-singular cosmological models and a microscopic basis for the entropy of some black holes have arisen. Also important physical questions for these systems involve thermodynamics. With this motivation, in this work, we study the statistical thermodynamics of two one dimensional {\em polymer} quantum systems: an ensemble of oscillators that describe a solid and a bunch of non-interacting particles in a box, which thus form an ideal gas. We first study the spectra of these polymer systems. It turns out useful for the analysis to consider the length scale required by the quantization and which we shall refer to as polymer length. The dynamics of the polymer oscillator can be given the form of that for the standard quantum pendulum. Depending on the dominance of the polymer length we can distinguish two regimes: vibrational and rotational. The first occur for small polymer length and here the standard oscillator in Schrödinger quantization is recovered at leading order. The second one, for large polymer length, features dominant polymer effects. In the case of the polymer particles in the box, a bounded and oscillating spectrum that presents a band structure and a Brillouin zone is found. The thermodynamical quantities calculated with these spectra have corrections with respect to standard ones and they depend on the polymer length. For generic polymer length, thermodynamics of both systems present an anomalous peak in their heat capacity $C_V$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

Brane world regularization of point particle classical self-energy

Physical effects in brane worlds models emerge by the incorporation of field modes coming from extra dimensions with the usual four dimensional ones. Such effects can be tested with well established experiments to set bounds on the parameters of the brane models. In this work we extend a previous result which gave finite electromagnetic potentials and self energies for a source looking pointlike to an observer sitting in a 4D Minkowski subspace of a single brane of a Randall-Sundrum spacetime including compact dimensions, and along which the source stretches uniformly. We show that a scalar particle produces a nonsingular static potential, possess a finite self-energy and that technically its analysis is very similar to the electrostatic case. As for the latter, we use the deviations from the Coulomb potential to set bounds on the anti de Sitter radius of the brane model on the basis of two experiments, namely, one of the Cavendish type and other being the scattering of electrons by Helium atoms. We found these are less stringent than others previously obtained using the Lamb shift in Hydrogen.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Coping with the Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator's ghosts in a canonical approach

A {\em complex} canonical transformation is found that takes the fourth order derivative Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator into two independent harmonic oscillators thus showing that this model has energy bounded from below, unitary time-evolution and no negative norm states, or ghosts. Such transformation yields a positive definite inner product consistent with reality conditions in the Hilbert space. The method is illustrated by eliminating the negative norm states in a complex oscillator. Extensions to other higher order mechanical models and field theory are discussed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2006

Low-energy effects in brane worlds: Liennard-Wiechert potentials and Hydrogen Lamb shift

Testing extra dimensions at low-energies may lead to interesting effects. In this work a test point charge is taken to move uniformly in the 3-dimensional subspace of a (3+$n$)-brane embedded in a (3+$n$+1)-space with $n$ compact and one warped infinite spatial extra dimensions. We found that the electromagnetic potentials of the point charge match standard Liennard-Wiechert's at large distances but differ from them close to it. These are finite at the position of the charge and produce finite self-energies. We also studied a localized Hydrogen atom and take the deviation from the standard Coulomb potential as a perturbation. This produces a Lamb shift that is compared with known experimental data to set bounds for the parameter of the model. This work provides details and extends results reported in a previous Letter.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2002

Loop quantum gravity and light propagation

Within loop quantum gravity we construct a coarse-grained approximation for the Einstein-Maxwell theory that yields effective Maxwell equations in flat spacetime comprising Planck scale corrections. The corresponding Hamiltonian is defined as the expectation value of the electromagnetic term in the Einstein-Maxwell Hamiltonian constraint, regularized a la Thiemann, with respect to a would-be semiclassical state. The resulting energy dispersion relations entail Planck scale corrections to those in flat spacetime. Both the helicity dependent contribution of Gambini and Pullin [GP] and, for a value of a parameter of our approximation, that of Ellis et. al. [ELLISETAL] are recovered. The electric/magnetic asymmetry in the regularization procedure yields nonlinearities only in the magnetic sector which are briefly discussed. Observations of cosmological Gamma Ray Bursts might eventually lead to the needed accuracy to study some of these quantum gravity effects.

hep-th↗