arXiv subjects

Nicolò Drago

Publications and source records attributed to Nicolò Drago.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Fundamental solutions for the wave operator on static Lorentzian manifolds with timelike boundary

We consider the wave operator on static, Lorentzian manifolds with timelike boundary and we discuss the existence of advanced and retarded fundamental solutions in terms of boundary conditions. By means of spectral calculus we prove that answering this question is equivalent to studying the self-adjoint extensions of an associated elliptic operator on a Riemannian manifold with boundary $(M,g)$. The latter is diffeomorphic to any, constant time hypersurface of the underlying background. In turn, assuming that $(M,g)$ is of bounded geometry, this problem can be tackled within the framework of boundary triples. These consist of the assignment of two surjective, trace operators from the domain of the adjoint of the elliptic operator into an auxiliary Hilbert space $\mathsf{h}$, which is the third datum of the triple. Self-adjoint extensions of the underlying elliptic operator are in one-to-one correspondence with self-adjoint operators $Θ$ on $\mathsf{h}$. On the one hand, we show that, for a natural choice of boundary triple, each $Θ$ can be interpreted as the assignment of a boundary condition for the original wave operator. On the other hand, we prove that, for each such $Θ$, there exists a unique advanced and retarded fundamental solution. In addition, we prove that these share the same structural property of the counterparts associated to the wave operator on a globally hyperbolic spacetime.

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arXiv2018

Relative entropy and entropy production for equilibrium states in pAQFT

We analyze the relative entropy of certain KMS states for scalar self-interacting quantum field theories over Minkowski backgrounds that have been recently constructed by Fredenhagen and Lindner in [FL14] in the framework of perturbative algebraic quantum field theory. The definition we are using is a generalization of the Araki relative entropy to the case of field theories. In particular, we shall see that the analyzed relative entropy is positive in the sense of perturbation theory, hence, even if the relative modular operator is not at disposal in this context, the proposed extension is compatible with perturbation theory. In the second part of the paper we analyze the adiabatic limits of these states showing that also the density of relative entropy obtained dividing the relative entropy by the spatial volume of the region where interaction takes place is positive and finite. In the last part of the paper we discuss the entropy production for states obtained by an ergodic mean (time average) of perturbed KMS states evolved with the free evolution recently constructed by the authors of the present paper. We show that their entropy production vanishes even if return to equilibrium [Ro73, HKT74] does not hold. This means that states constructed in this way are thermodynamically simple, namely they are not so far from equilibrium states.

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arXiv2018

Thermal state with quadratic interaction

We consider the perturbative construction, proposed in [37], for a thermal state $Ω_{β,λV\{f\}}$ for the theory of a real scalar Klein-Gordon field $ϕ$ with interacting potential $V\{f\}$. Here $f$ is a spacetime cut-off of the interaction $V$ and $λ$ is a perturbative parameter. We assume that $V$ is quadratic in the field $ϕ$ and we compute the adiabatic limit $f\to 1$ of the state $Ω_{β,λV\{f\}}$. The limit is shown to exist, moreover, the perturbative series in $λ$ sums up to the thermal state for the corresponding (free) theory with potential $V$. In addition, we exploit the same methods to address a similar computation for the non-equilibrium steady state (NESS) [59] recently constructed in [25].

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arXiv2017

A new class of Fermionic Projectors: Møller operators and mass oscillation properties

Recently, a new functional analytic construction of quasi-free states for a self-dual CAR algebra has been presented in \cite{Felix2}. This method relies on the so-called strong mass oscillation property. We provide an example where this requirement is not satisfied, due to the nonvanishing trace of the solutions of the Dirac equation on the horizon of Rindler space, and we propose a modification of the construction in order to weaken this condition. Finally, a connection between the two approaches is built.

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arXiv2016

Constructing Hadamard states via an extended Møller operator

We consider real scalar field theories whose dynamics is ruled by normally hyperbolic operators differing only by a smooth potential $V$. By means of an extension of the standard definition of Møller operator, we construct an isomorphism between the associated spaces of smooth solutions and between the associated algebras of observables. On the one hand such isomorphism is non-canonical since it depends on the choice of a smooth time-dependant cut-off function. On the other hand, given any quasi-free Hadamard state for a theory with a given $V$, such isomorphism allows for the construction of another quasi-free Hadamard state for a different potential. The resulting state preserves also the invariance under the action of any isometry, whose associated Killing field commutes with the vector field built out of the normal vectors to a family of Cauchy surfaces, foliating the underlying manifold. Eventually we discuss a sufficient condition to remove on static spacetimes the dependence on the cut-off via a suitable adiabatic limit.

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arXiv2015

The generalised principle of perturbative agreement and the thermal mass

The Principle of Perturbative Agreement, as introduced by Hollands & Wald, is a renormalisation condition in quantum field theory on curved spacetimes. This principle states that the perturbative and exact constructions of a field theoretic model given by the sum of a free and an exactly tractable interaction Lagrangean should agree. We develop a proof of the validity of this principle in the case of scalar fields and quadratic interactions without derivatives which differs in strategy from the one given by Hollands & Wald for the case of quadratic interactions encoding a change of metric. Thereby we profit from the observation that, in the case of quadratic interactions, the composition of the inverse classical Møller map and the quantum Møller map is a contraction exponential of a particular type. Afterwards, we prove a generalisation of the Principle of Perturbative Agreement and show that considering an arbitrary quadratic contribution of a general interaction either as part of the free theory or as part of the perturbation gives equivalent results. Motivated by the thermal mass idea, we use our findings in order to extend the construction of massive interacting thermal equilibrium states in Minkowski spacetime developed by Fredenhagen & Lindner to the massless case. In passing, we also prove a property of the construction of Fredenhagen & Lindner which was conjectured by these authors.

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arXiv2014

Influence of quantum matter fluctuations on geodesic deviation

We study the passive influence of quantum matter fluctuations on the expansion parameter of a congruence of timelike geodesics in a semiclassical regime. In particular, we show that, the perturbations of this parameter can be considered to be elements of the algebra of matter fields at all perturbative order. Hence, once a quantum state for matter is chosen, it is possible to explicitly evaluate the behavior of geometric fluctuations. After introducing the formalism necessary to treat similar problems, in the last part of the paper, we estimate the approximated probability of having a geodesic collapse in a flat spacetime due to those fluctuations.

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