arXiv subjects

Matt Visser

Publications and source records attributed to Matt Visser.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Quantum Blockchain using entanglement in time

We propose a conceptual design for a quantum blockchain. Our method involves encoding the blockchain into a temporal GHZ (Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger) state of photons that do not simultaneously coexist. It is shown that the entanglement in time, as opposed to an entanglement in space, provides the crucial quantum advantage. All the subcomponents of this system have already been shown to be experimentally realized. Furthermore, our encoding procedure can be interpreted as nonclassically influencing the past.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Kochen-Specker theorem revisited

The Kochen-Specker theorem is a basic and fundamental 50 year old non-existence result affecting the foundations of quantum mechanix, strongly implying the lack of any meaningful notion of "quantum realism", and typically leading to discussions of "contextuality" in quantum physics. Original proofs of the Kochen-Specker theorem proceeded via brute force counter-examples; often quite complicated and subtle (albeit mathematically "elementary") counter-examples. Only more recently have somewhat more "geometrical" proofs been developed. We present herein yet another simplified geometrical proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem, one that is valid for any number of dimensions, that minimizes the technical machinery involved, and makes the seriousness of the issues raised manifest.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Verifying the Firoozbakht, Nicholson, and Farhadian conjectures up to the 81st maximal prime gap

The Firoozbakht, Nicholoson, and Farhadian conjectures can be phrased in terms of increasingly powerful conjectured bounds on the prime gaps $g_n := p_{n+1}-p_n$. \[ g_n \leq p_n \left(p_n^{1/n} -1 \right)\qquad\qquad\qquad (n \geq 1; \; Firoozbakht). \] \[ g_n \leq p_n \left((n\ln n)^{1/n} -1 \right)\qquad\qquad (n>4; \; Nicholson). \] \[ g_n \leq p_n \left( \left(p_n {\ln n\over\ln p_n}\right)^{1/n} -1 \right)\qquad (n>4; \; Farhadian). \] While a general proof of any of these conjectures is far out of reach I shall show that all three of these conjectures are unconditionally and explicitly verified for all primes below the location of the 81$^{st}$ maximal prime gap, certainly for all primes $p <2^{64}$. For the Firoozbakht conjecture this is a very minor improvement on currently known results, for the Nicholson and Farhadian conjectures this may be more interesting.

math.NT↗

arXiv2019

Explicit construction of the density matrix in Gleason's theorem

Gleason's theorem is a fundamental 60 year old result in the foundations of quantum mechanix, setting up and laying out the surprisingly minimal assumptions required to deduce the existence of quantum density matrices and the Born rule. Now Gleason's theorem and its proof have been continuously analyzed, simplified, and revised over the last 60 years, and we will have very little to say about the theorem and proof themselves. Instead, we find it useful, (and hopefully interesting), to make some clarifying comments concerning the explicit construction of the quantum density matrix that Gleason's theorem proves exists, but that Gleason's theorem otherwise says relatively little about.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Black-bounce to traversable wormhole

So-called "regular black holes" are a topic currently of considerable interest in the general relativity and astrophysics communities. Herein we investigate a particularly interesting regular black hole spacetime described by the line element \[ ds^{2}=-\left(1-\frac{2m}{\sqrt{r^{2}+a^{2}}}\right)dt^{2}+\frac{dr^{2}}{1-\frac{2m}{\sqrt{r^{2}+a^{2}}}} +\left(r^{2}+a^{2}\right)\left(dθ^{2}+\sin^{2}θ\;dϕ^{2}\right). \] This spacetime neatly interpolates between the standard Schwarzschild black hole and the Morris-Thorne traversable wormhole; at intermediate stages passing through a black-bounce (into a future incarnation of the universe), an extremal null-bounce (into a future incarnation of the universe), and a traversable wormhole. As long as the parameter $a$ is non-zero the geometry is everywhere regular, so one has a somewhat unusual form of "regular black hole", where the "origin" $r=0$ can be either spacelike, null, or timelike. Thus this spacetime generalizes and broadens the class of "regular black holes" beyond those usually considered.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Regularization versus renormalization: Why are Casimir energy differences so often finite?

One of the very first applications of the quantum field theoretic vacuum state was in the development of the notion of Casimir energy. Now field theoretic Casimir energies, considered individually, are always infinite. But differences in Casimir energies (at worst regularized, not renormalized) are quite often finite --- a fortunate circumstance which luckily made some of the early calculations, (for instance, for parallel plates and hollow spheres), tolerably tractable. We shall explore the extent to which this observation can be made systematic. For instance: What are necessary and sufficient conditions for Casimir energy differences to be finite (with regularization but without renormalization)? And, when the Casimir energy differences are not formally finite, can anything useful nevertheless be said by invoking renormalization? We shall see that it is the difference in the first few Seeley--DeWitt coefficients that is central to answering these questions. In particular, for any collection of conductors (be they perfect or imperfect) and/or dielectrics, as long as one merely moves them around without changing their shape or volume, then physically the Casimir energy difference (and so also the physically interesting Casimir forces) are guaranteed to be finite without invoking any renormalization.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Phenomenological aspects of black holes beyond general relativity

While singularities are inevitable in the classical theory of general relativity, it is commonly believed that they will not be present when quantum gravity effects are taken into account in a consistent framework. In particular, the structure of black holes should be modified in frameworks beyond general relativity that aim at regularizing singularities. Being agnostic on the nature of such theory, in this paper we classify the possible alternatives to classical black holes and provide a minimal set of phenomenological parameters that describe their characteristic features. The introduction of these parameters allows us to study, in a largely model-independent manner and taking into account all the relevant physics, the phenomenology associated with these quantum-modified black holes. We perform an extensive analysis of different observational channels and obtain the most accurate characterization of the viable constraints that can be placed using current data. Aside from facilitating a critical revision of previous work, this analysis also allows us to highlight how different channels are capable of probing certain features but are oblivious to others, and pinpoint the theoretical aspects that should be addressed in order to strengthen these tests.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Variants on Andrica's conjecture with and without the Riemann hypothesis

The gap between what we can explicitly prove regarding the distribution of primes and what we suspect regarding the distribution of primes is enormous. It is (reasonably) well-known that the Riemann hypothesis is not sufficient to prove Andrica's conjecture: $\forall n\geq 1$, is $\sqrt{p_{n+1}}-\sqrt{p_n} \leq 1$? But can one at least get tolerably close? I shall first show that with a logarithmic modification, provided one assumes the Riemann hypothesis, one has \[ {\sqrt{p_{n+1}}\over\ln p_{n+1}} -{\sqrt{p_n}\over\ln p_n} < {11\over25}; \qquad (n\geq1). \] Then, by considering more general $m^{th}$ roots, again assuming the Riemann hypothesis, I shall show that \[ {\sqrt[m]{p_{n+1}}} -{\sqrt[m]{p_n}} < {44\over25 \,e\, (m-2)}; \qquad (n\geq 3;\; m >2). \] In counterpoint, if we limit ourselves to what we can currently prove unconditionally, then the only explicit Andrica-like results seem to be variants on the results below: \[ \ln^2 p_{n+1} - \ln^2 p_n < 9; \qquad (n\geq1). \] \[ \ln^3 p_{n+1} - \ln^3 p_n < 52; \qquad (n\geq1). \] \[ \ln^4 p_{n+1} - \ln^4 p_n < 991; \qquad (n\geq1). \] I shall also slightly update the region on which Andrica's conjecture is unconditionally verified.

math.NT↗

arXiv2018

Evading the Trans-Planckian problem with Vaidya spacetimes

Hawking radiation, when treated in the ray optics limit, exhibits the unfortunate trans-Planckian problem --- a Hawking photon near spatial infinity, if back-tracked to the immediate vicinity of the horizon is hugely blue-shifted and found to have had trans-Planckian energy. (And if back-tracked all the way to the horizon, the photon is formally infinitely blue-shifted, and formally acquires infinite energy.) Unruh has forcefully argued that this implies that the Hawking flux represents a vacuum instability in the presence of a horizon, and that the Hawking photons are actually emitted from some region exterior to the horizon. We seek to make this idea more precise and somewhat explicit by building a purely kinematical model for Hawking evaporation based on two Vaidya spacetimes (outer and inner) joined across a thin time-like boundary layer. The kinematics of this model is already quite rich, and we shall defer consideration of the dynamics for subsequent work. In particular we shall present an explicit calculation of the the 4-acceleration of the shell (including the effects of gravity, motion, and the outgoing null flux) and relate this 4-acceleration to the Unruh temperature.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Perturbative treatment of the luminosity distance

We derive a generalized luminosity distance versus redshift relation for a linearly perturbed FLRW (Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker) metric with two scalar mode excitations. We use two equivalent approaches, based on the Jacobi map and the van Vleck determinant respectively. We apply the resultant formula to two simple models - an exact FLRW universe and an approximate FLRW universe perturbed by a single scalar mode sinusoidally varying with time. For both models we derive a cosmographic expansion for d_L in terms of z. We comment on the interpretation of our results and their possible application to more realistic cosmological models.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

The Pauli sum rules imply BSM physics

Some 67 years ago (1951) Wolfgang Pauli mooted the three sum rules: \[ \sum_n (-1)^{2S_n} g_n = 0; \qquad \sum_n (-1)^{2S_n} g_n \; m_n^2 =0; \qquad \sum_n (-1)^{2S_n} g_n \; m_n^4=0. \] These three sum rules are intimately related to both the Lorentz invariance and the finiteness of the zero-point stress-energy tensor. Further afield, these three constraints are also intimately related to the existence of finite QFTs ultimately based on fermi--bose cancellations. (Supersymmetry is neither necessary nor sufficient for the existence of these finite QFTs; though softly but explicitly broken supersymmetry or mis-aligned supersymmetry can be used as a book-keeping device to keep the calculations manageable.) In the current article I shall instead take these three Pauli sum rules as given, assume their exact non-perturbative validity, contrast them with the observed standard model particle physics spectrum, and use them to extract as much model-independent information as possible regarding beyond standard model (BSM) physics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Tolman-like temperature gradients in stationary spacetimes

It is (or should be) well known that specification of a heat bath requires both a temperature and a 4-velocity, the rest frame of the heat bath. In static spacetimes there is a very natural and unique candidate for the 4-velocity of the heat bath, the normalized timelike Killing vector. However in stationary non-static spacetimes the situation is considerably more subtle, and several different "natural" 4-velocity fields suitable for characterizing the rest frame of a heat bath can be defined - thus Buchdahl's 1949 analysis for the Tolman temperature gradient in a stationary spacetime is only part of the story. In particular, the heat bath most suitable for describing the Hawking radiation from a rotating black hole is best described in terms of a gradient flow normal to the spacelike hypersurfaces, not in terms of Killing vectors.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Non-perturbative results for the luminosity and area distances

The notion of luminosity distance is most often defined in purely FLRW (Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker) cosmological spacetimes, or small perturbations thereof. However, the abstract notion of luminosity distance is actually much more robust than this, and can be defined non-perturbatively in almost arbitrary spacetimes. Some quite general results are already known, in terms of $dA_\mathrm{observer}/dΩ_\mathrm{source}$, the cross-sectional area per unit solid angle of a null geodesic spray emitted from some source and subsequently detected by some observer. We shall reformulate these results in terms of a suitably normalized null geodesic affine parameter and the van Vleck determinant, $Δ_{vV}$. The contribution due to the null geodesic affine parameter is effectively the inverse square law for luminosity, and the van Vleck determinant can be viewed as providing a measure of deviations from the inverse square law. This formulation is closely related to the so-called Jacobi determinant, but the van Vleck determinant has somewhat nicer analytic properties and wider and deeper theoretical base in the general relativity, quantum physics, and quantum field theory communities. In the current article we shall concentrate on non-perturbative results, leaving near-FLRW perturbative investigation for future work.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Hawking-Ellis type III spacetime geometry

The type III (and the "essential core" type III$_0$) stress-energy tensors in the Hawking-Ellis (Segre-Plebanski) classification stand out in that there is to date no known source (either classical or semi-classical) leading to type III stress-energy. (In contrast the Hawking-Ells types I and II occur classically, and type IV is known to occur semi-classically). We instead start by asking the obverse question: What sort of spacetime (assuming the Einstein equations) needs a type III stress-energy to support it? One key observation is that type III is incompatible with either planar or spherical symmetry, so one should be looking at spacetimes of low symmetry (or no symmetry). Finding such a type III spacetime is a matter of somehow finding an appropriate ansatz for the metric, calculating the Einstein tensor, and analyzing the pattern of (Lorentz invariant) eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Herein we report some (partial) success along these lines - we explicitly exhibit several (somewhat unnatural) spacetime geometries with a type III Einstein tensor. We then build an explicit but somewhat odd Lagrangian model leading (in Minkowski space) to type III stress-energy. While we still have no fully acceptable general physical model for type III stress-energy, we can at least say something about what such a stress-energy tensor would entail.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Rastall gravity is equivalent to Einstein gravity

Rastall gravity, originally developed in 1972, is currently undergoing a significant surge in popularity. Rastall gravity purports to be a modified theory of gravity, with a non-conserved stress-energy tensor, and an unusual non-minimal coupling between matter and geometry, the Rastall stress-energy satisfying nabla_b [T_R]^{ab} = {λ/4} g^{ab} nabla_b R. Unfortunately, a deeper look shows that Rastall gravity is completely equivalent to Einstein gravity --- usual general relativity. The gravity sector is completely standard, based as usual on the Einstein tensor, while in the matter sector Rastall's stress-energy tensor corresponds to an artificially isolated part of the physical conserved stress-energy.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Near-horizon geodesics for astrophysical and idealised black holes: Coordinate velocity and coordinate acceleration

Geodesics (by definition) have an intrinsic 4-acceleration zero. However, when expressed in terms of coordinates, the coordinate acceleration $d^2 x^i/d t^2$ can very easily be non-zero, and the coordinate velocity $d x^i/d t$ can behave unexpectedly. The situation becomes extremely delicate in the near-horizon limit---for both astrophysical and idealised black holes---where an inappropriate choice of coordinates can quite easily lead to significant confusion. We shall carefully explore the relative merits of horizon-penetrating versus horizon-non-penetrating coordinates, arguing that in the near-horizon limit the coordinate acceleration $d^2 x^i/d t^2$ is best interpreted in terms of horizon-penetrating coordinates.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Lorentz invariance and the zero-point stress-energy tensor

Some 65 years ago (1951) Wolfgang Pauli noted that the net zero-point energy density could be set to zero by a carefully fine-tuned cancellation between bosons and fermions. In the current article I will argue in a slightly different direction: The zero-point energy density is only one component of the zero-point stress energy tensor, and it is this tensor quantity that is in many ways the more fundamental object of interest. I shall demonstrate that Lorentz invariance of the zero-point stress energy tensor implies finiteness of the zero-point stress energy tensor, and vice versa. Under certain circumstances, (in particular, but not limited to, the finite QFTs), Pauli's cancellation mechanism will survive the introduction of particle interactions. I shall then relate the discussion to BSM physics, to the cosmological constant, and to Sakharov-style induced gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

The exponential metric represents a traversable wormhole

For various reasons a number of authors have mooted an "exponential form" for the spacetime metric: \[ ds^2 = - e^{-2m/r} dt^2 + e^{+2m/r}\{dr^2 + r^2(dθ^2+\sin^2θ\, dϕ^2)\}. \] While the weak-field behaviour matches nicely with weak-field general relativity, and so also automatically matches nicely with the Newtonian gravity limit, the strong-field behaviour is markedly different. Proponents of these exponential metrics have very much focussed on the absence of horizons --- it is certainly clear that this geometry does not represent a black hole. However, the proponents of these exponential metrics have failed to note that instead one is dealing with a traversable wormhole --- with all of the interesting and potentially problematic features that such an observation raises. If one wishes to replace all the black hole candidates astronomers have identified with traversable wormholes, then certainly a careful phenomenological analysis of this quite radical proposal should be carried out.

gr-qc↗