arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Suddhasattwa Brahma.
Recent results in the construction of anomaly-free models of loop quantum gravity have shown obstacles when local physical degrees of freedom are present. Here, a set of no-go properties is derived in polarized Gowdy models, raising the question whether these systems can be covariant beyond a background treatment. As a side product, it is shown that normal deformations in classical polarized Gowdy models can be Abelianized.
Spherically symmetric models of loop quantum gravity have been studied recently by different methods that aim to deal with structure functions in the usual constraint algebra of gravitational systems. As noticed by Gambini and Pullin, a linear redefinition of the constraints (with phase-space dependent coefficients) can be used to eliminate structure functions, even Abelianizing the more-difficult part of the constraint algebra. The Abelianized constraints can then easily be quantized or modified by putative quantum effects. As pointed out here, however, the method does not automatically provide a covariant quantization, defined as an anomaly-free quantum theory with a classical limit in which the usual (off-shell) gauge structure of hypersurface deformations in space-time appears. The holonomy-modified vacuum theory based on Abelianization is covariant in this sense, but matter theories with local degrees of freedom are not. Detailed demonstrations of these statements show complete agreement with results of canonical effective methods applied earlier to the same systems (including signature change).
Canonical quantization of spherically symmetric space-times is carried out, using real-valued densitized triads and extrinsic curvature components, with specific factor ordering choices ensuring in an anomaly free quantum constraint algebra. Comparison with previous work [1] reveals that the resulting physical Hilbert space has the same form, although the basic canonical variables are different in the two approaches. As an extension, holonomy modifications from Loop Quantum Gravity are shown to deform the Dirac space-time algebra, while going beyond `effective' calculations.
A canonical formulation of effective equations describes quantum corrections by the back-reaction of moments on the dynamics of expectation values of a state. As a first step toward an extension to quantum-field theory, these methods are applied here to the derivation of effective potentials around a homogeneous vacuum expectation value of scalar fields. A comparison with the standard Coleman-Weinberg potential shows that the new methods correctly include all relevant quantum corrections. At the same time, the effective potential is shown to be correct also for non-Fock and mixed states. Several explicit results are derived in models of interacting scalars and fermions.
A non-associative algebra of observables cannot be represented as operators on a Hilbert space, but it may appear in certain physical situations. This article employs algebraic methods in order to derive uncertainty relations and semiclassical equations, based on general properties of quantum moments.
This article presents the result that fluctuations and higher moments of a state do not imply quantum corrections in structure functions of constrained systems. Consequences for canonical quantum gravity, whose structure functions encode space-time structure, are discussed. In particular, deformed algebras found in models of loop quantum gravity provide reliable information even in the Planck regime.
If long wavelength primordial tensor modes are coupled to short wavelength scalar modes, the scalar curvature two-point function will have an off-diagonal component. This `fossil' remnant is a signature of a mode coupling that cannot be achieved in single clock inflation. Any constraint on its presence allows a cross check of the relationship between the dynamical generation of the fluctuations and the evolution of the inflationary background. We use the example of non-Bunch Davies initial states for the tensor and scalar modes to demonstrate that physically reasonable fossils, consistent with current data, can be observable in the near future. We illustrate how the fossil off-diagonal power spectrum is a complementary probe to the squeezed limit bispectra of the scalar and tensor sectors individually. We also quantify the relation between the observable signal and the squeezed limit bispectrum for a general scalar-scalar-fossil coupling, and note the effect of superhorizon tensor modes on the anisotropy in scalar modes.
Quantum-corrected equations of motion generically contain higher time derivatives, computed here in the setting of canonically quantized systems. The main example in which detailed derivations are presented is a general anharmonic oscillator, but conclusions can be drawn also for systems in quantum gravity and cosmology.