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Pablo Pisani

Publications and source records attributed to Pablo Pisani.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

Worldline Images for Yang-Mills Theory within Boundaries

In this article we develop a worldline technique based on the method of images to study the effective action associated to Yang-Mills theories on manifolds with boundaries. We consider the possibility of having either relative or absolute boundary conditions, which are particular types of mixed boundary conditions. Both vector fields and ghost fields are taken into account in this analysis. As a check of our construction, we compute the first three Seeley-DeWitt coefficients of the heat kernel asymptotics. Finally, we employ our technique to calculate the rate of gluon production due to a chromoelectric field background in the presence of a boundary.

hep-th

Photon Scattering by an Electric Field in Noncommutative Spacetime

As is known, the existence of a small noncommutativity between coordinates would generate nonlocal self-interactions in the electromagnetic theory. To explore some consequences of this effect on the propagation of photons we consider Moyal space half-filled with a static and homogeneous electric field and analyze electromagnetic fluctuations on top of this step-like background. Both the localization of photons and the possibility of photon production by strong electric fields are addressed. Several aspects of the Klein paradox in this setup are discussed as well.

hep-th

Superradiant black hole rocket

We calculate the total thrust resulting from the interaction between charged scalar modes and a superradiant Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole, when the modes are deflected by a hemispherical perfect mirror located at a finite distance from the black hole's horizon.

gr-qc

Algebraic Structure of Dirac Hamiltonians in Non-Commutative Phase Space

In this article we study two-dimensional Dirac Hamiltonians with non-commutativity both in coordinates and momenta from an algebraic perspective. In order to do so, we consider the graded Lie algebra $\mathfrak{sl}(2|1)$ generated by Hermitian bilinear forms in the non-commutative dynamical variables and the Dirac matrices in $2+1$ dimensions. By further defining a total angular momentum operator, we are able to express a class of Dirac Hamiltonians completely in terms of these operators. In this way, we analyze the energy spectrum of some simple models by constructing and studying the representation spaces of the unitary irreducible representations of the graded Lie algebra $\mathfrak{sl}(2|1)\oplus \mathfrak{so}(2)$. As application of our results, we consider the Landau model and a fermion in a finite cylindrical well.

hep-th

Scalar correlators and normal modes in holographic neutron stars

We study a scalar field in the background of a holographic neutron star at finite temperature and analyze its asymptotic behavior to compute the two-point correlator at the boundary. From the normal modes of the field we determine the resonances and decay constants of the boundary field theory. We show that the correlator is dominated by the normal modes in the stable regions of phase space of the neutron star, becoming a power law as we move into the unstable zones.

hep-th

A New Example of the Effects of a Singular Background on the Zeta Function

To motivate our discussion, we consider a 1+1 dimensional scalar field interacting with a static Coulomb-type background, so that the spectrum of quantum fluctuations is given by a second-order differential operator on a single coordinate r with a singular coefficient proportional to 1/r. We find that the spectral functions of this operator present an interesting behavior: the zeta function has multiple poles in the complex plane; accordingly, logarithms of the proper time appear in the heat-trace expansion. As a consequence, the zeta function does not provide a finite regularization of the effective action. This work extends similar results previously derived in the context of conical singularities.

math-ph

Symmetric affine surfaces with torsion

We study symmetric affine surfaces which have non-vanishing torsion tensor. We give a complete classification of the local geometries possible if the torsion is assumed parallel. This generalizes a previous result of Opozda in the torsion free setting; these geometries are all locally homogeneous. If the torsion is not parallel, we assume the underlying surface is locally homogeneous and provide a complete classification in this setting as well.

math.DG

Worldline formalism for a confined scalar field

The worldline formalism is a useful scheme in quantum field theory which has also become a powerful tool for numerical computations. The key ingredient in this formalism is the first quantization of an auxiliary point-particle whose transition amplitudes correspond to the heat-kernel of the operator of quantum fluctuations of the field theory. However, to study a quantum field which is confined within some boundaries one needs to restrict the path integration domain of the auxiliary point-particle to a specific subset of worldlines enclosed by those boundaries. We show how to implement this restriction for the case of a scalar field confined to the $D$-dimensional ball under Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, and compute the first few heat-kernel coefficients as a verification of our construction. We argue that this approach could admit different generalizations.

hep-th

Affine Killing vector fields on homogeneous surfaces with torsion

Many extensions of General Relativity are based on considering metric and affine structures as independent properties of spacetime. This leads to the possibility of introducing torsion as an independent degree of freedom. In this article we examine the effects of torsion on the affine Killing vectors of two-dimensional manifolds. We give a complete description of the Lie algebras of affine Killing vector fields on homogeneous surfaces. This can be used in the search of non-metrizable surfaces of interest.

math.DG

Dyson equations for correlators of Wilson loops

By considering a Gaussian truncation of ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills, we derive a set of Dyson equations that account for the ladder diagram contribution to connected correlators of circular Wilson loops. We consider different numbers of loops, with different relative orientations. We show that the Dyson equations admit a spectral representation in terms of eigenfunctions of a Schrödinger problem, whose classical limit describes the strong coupling limit of the ladder resummation. We also verify that in supersymmetric cases the exact solution to the Dyson equations reproduces known matrix model results.

hep-th

$U(N)$ Yang-Mills in non-commutative space time

We present an approach to $U_\star(N)$ Yang-Mills theory in non-commutative space based upon a novel phase-space analysis of the dynamical fields with additional auxiliary variables that generate Lorentz structure and colour degrees of freedom. To illustrate this formalism we compute the quadratic terms in the effective action focusing on the planar divergences so as to extract the $β$-function for the Yang-Mills coupling constant. Nonetheless the method presented is general and can be applied to calculate the effective action at arbitrary order of expansion in the coupling constant, including both planar and non-planar contributions, and is well suited to the computation of low energy one-loop scattering amplitudes.

hep-th

Ladder Limit for Correlators of Wilson Loops

We study the correlator of concentric circular Wilson loops for arbitrary radii, spatial and internal space separations. For real values of the parameters specifying the dual string configuration, a typical Gross-Ooguri phase transition is observed. In addition, we explore some analytic continuation of a parameter $γ$ that characterizes the internal space separation. This enables a ladder limit in which ladder resummation and string theory computations precisely agree in the strong coupling limit. Finally, we find a critical value of $γ$ for which the correlator is supersymmetric and ladder diagrams can be exactly resummed for any value of the coupling constant.

hep-th

Geodesic completeness for Type~A surfaces

Type A surfaces are the locally homogeneous affine surfaces which can be locally described by constant Christoffel symbols. We address the issue of the geodesic completeness of these surfaces: we show that some models for Type A surfaces are geodesically complete, that some others admit an incomplete geodesic but model geodesically complete surfaces, and that there are also others which do not model any complete surface. Our main result provides a way of determining whether a given set of constant Christoffel symbols can model a complete surface.

math.DG

Noncommutative U(1) gauge theory from a worldline perspective

We study pure noncommutative U(1) gauge theory representing its one-loop effective action in terms of a phase space worldline path integral. We write the quadratic action using the background field method to keep explicit gauge invariance, and then employ the worldline formalism to write the one-loop effective action, singling out UV-divergent parts and finite (planar and non-planar) parts, and study renormalization properties of the theory. This amounts to employ worldline Feynman rules for the phase space path integral, that nicely incorporate the Fadeev-Popov ghost contribution and efficiently separate planar and non-planar contributions. We also show that the effective action calculation is independent of the choice of the worldline Green's function, that corresponds to a particular way of factoring out a particle zero-mode. This allows to employ homogeneous string-inspired Feynman rules that greatly simplify the computation.

hep-th

Spectral Functions in QFT

We present a pedagogical exposition of some applications of functional methods in quantum field theory: we use heat-kernel and zeta-function techniques to study the Casimir effect, the pair production in strong electric fields, quantum fields at finite temperature and beta-functions for a self-interacting scalar field, QED and pure Yang-Mills theories. The more recent application to the UV/IR mixing phenomenon in noncommutative theories is also discussed in this framework.

hep-th

Worldline approach to the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model

We apply the worldline formalism to the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model and obtain an expression for the one-loop effective action which provides an efficient way for computing Schwinger functions in this theory. Using this expression we obtain the quantum corrections to the effective background and the $β$-functions, which are known to vanish at the self-dual point. The case of degenerate noncommutativity is also considered. Our main result can be straightforwardly applied to any polynomial self-interaction of the scalar field and we consider that the worldline approach could be useful for studying effective actions of noncommutative gauge fields as well as in other non-local models or in higher-derivative field theories.

hep-th

Spectral Functions of Singular Operators

The asymptotic expansion of the heat-kernel for small values of its argument has been studied in many different cases and has been applied to 1-loop calculations in Quantum Field Theory. In this thesis we consider this asymptotic behavior for certain singular differential operators which can be related to quantum fields on manifolds with conical singularities. Our main result is that, due to the existence of this singularity and of infinitely many boundary conditions of physical relevance related to the admissible behavior of the fields on the singular point, the heat-kernel has an "unusual" asymptotic expansion. We describe examples where the heat-kernel admits an asymptotic expansion in powers of its argument whose exponents depend on "external" parameters. As far as we know, this kind of asymptotics had not been found and therefore its physical consequences are still unexplored.

math-ph

Pumping current of a Luttinger liquid with finite length

We study transport properties in a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid in the presence of two time-dependent point like weak impurities, taking into account finite-length effects. By employing analytical methods and performing a perturbation theory, we compute the backscattering pumping current (I_bs) in different regimes which can be established in relation to the oscillatory frequency of the impurities and to the frequency related to the length and the renormalized velocity (by the electron-electron interactions) of the charge density modes. We investigate the role played by the spatial position of the impurity potentials. We also show how the previous infinite length results for I_bs are modified by the finite size of the system.

cond-mat.str-el