arXiv subjects

Ravisankar Rajagopal

Publications and source records attributed to Ravisankar Rajagopal.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Higher-Derivative Corrections to Reissner--Nordstr\"om Black Holes from Worldline QFT

In this paper we derived the corrections to the Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole when higher-derivative $RF^2$ terms (contractions of the Riemann tensor with the Maxwell field strength squared) are added to the Einstein-Maxwell action. Such terms arise naturally in the context of effective field theories. We used wordline QFT methods to obtain the leading order post-Minkowskian corrections. We verified these results by solving the modified Einstein-Maxwell field equations in closed form, to all orders in Newton's constant $G$. We discussed the first law and computed the entropy of the perturbed black holes. When fixing the mass to that of the extremal Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole, the entropy shift is positive if the weak gravity conjecture holds. In fact, this condition is nothing but the requirement that the spacetime with the extremal Reissner-Nordstr\"om mass possesses an outer horizon in higher-derivative gravity. This condition also rules out Drummond-Hathrell theory.

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arXiv2025

Worldline Proof of Eikonal Exponentiation

In this paper, working in the eikonal approximation, we present a proof for the exponentiation of the 2-body eikonal phase to {\it all orders in the eikonal expansion}, for scalar particles interacting electromagnetically or gravitationally. The proof is based on the worldline formalism, which is an alternative, first quantized method to the standard QFT calculation of the scattering amplitude. We show that in the worldline formalism the 2-body scattering amplitude written in impact parameter space naturally factorizes at each loop order. This factorization is responsible for the exponentiation of the eikonal phase, a result which was anticipated in the work of Mogull, Plefka, and Steinhoff [2010.02865 [hep-th]].

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Worldline Formalism, Eikonal Expansion and the Classical Limit of Scattering Amplitudes

We revisit the fundamentals of two different methods for calculating classical observables: the eikonal method, which is a scattering amplitude-based method, and the worldline quantum field theory (WQFT) method. The latter has been considered an extension of the worldline effective field theory. We show that the eikonal and WQFT methods are equivalent and that calculations can be translated freely between them. Concretely, we focus on 2-into-2 scattering processes mediated by massless force carriers. On the one hand, taking the classical limit of the QFT scattering amplitude leads to the eikonal method. On the other hand, since in the classical limit the scattering particles are almost on-shell throughout the scattering process, the worldline, a first quantized formalism, is the most efficient framework to study the scattering amplitude. This is an alternate but equivalent formalism to the quantum field theoretic (QFT) framework. By taking the classical limit of the scattering amplitude computed in the worldline, we can derive the WQFT rules of Mogull, Plefka and Steinhoff. In WQFT, the Feynman diagrams are reorganized into a new set of diagrams that facilitate the $\hbar$ expansion. Unlike the QFT eikonal method, which works recursively in identifying the eikonal phase, the worldline-based computation allows to target and systematically extract the classical contributions directly through a specific set of WQFT diagrams. In worldline formalism the perturbative expansion of the scattering amplitude is naturally organized in diagrams which factorize (reducible) and diagrams which are new to that order (irreducible), in a one-to-one map with the structure of the amplitude in the eikonal method. This opened up the possibility to investigate and prove the conjectured exponentiation of the eikonal phase in arXiv: 2409.12895.

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