arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T. Padmanabhan.
Several issues related to the gravitational clustering of collisionless dark matter in an expanding universe is discussed. The discussion is pedagogical but the emphasis is on semianalytic methods and open questions - rather than on well established results.
We outline a different method of describing scalar field particle production in a uniform electric field. In the standard approach, the (analytically continued) harmonic oscillator paradigm is important in describing particle production. However, there is another gauge in which the particle production process has striking similarities with the one used to describe Hawking radiation in black holes. The gauge we use to describe the electric field in is the lightcone gauge, so named because the mode functions for a scalar field are found to be singular on the lightcone. We use these modes in evaluating the effective Lagrangian using the proper time technique. The key feature of this analysis is that these modes can be explicitly "normalized" by using the criterion that they reduce to the usual flat space modes in the limit of the electric field tending to zero. We find that the proper time kernel is not the same as the analytically continued oscillator kernel though the effective Lagrangian is the standard result as it should be. We also consider an example of a confined electric field system using the lightcone gauge modes. Our analysis indicates that the Bogolubov coefficients, in taking the limit to the uniform electric field case, are multiplied by energy dependent boundary factors that have not been taken into account before.
We consider the problem of gravitational clustering in a D-dimensional expanding Universe and derive scaling relations connecting the exact mean two-point correlation function with the linear mean correlation function, in the quasi-linear and non-linear regimes, using the standard paradigms of scale-invariant radial collapse and stable clustering. We show that the existence of scaling laws is a generic feature of gravitational clustering in an expanding background, in all dimensions except D=2 and comment on the special nature of the 2-dimensional case. The D-dimensional scaling laws derived here reduce, in the 3-dimensional case, to scaling relations obtained earlier from N-body simulations. Finally, we consider the case of clustering of 2-dimensional particles in a 2-D expanding background, governed by a force -GM/R, and show that the correlation function does not grow (to first order) until much after the recollapse of any shell.
We show that the mathematics of Hawking process can be interpreted classically as the Fourier analysis of an exponentially redshifted wave mode which scatters off the black hole and travels to infinity at late times. We use this method to derive the Planckian power spectrum for Schwarzchild, Reissner-Nordstrom and Kerr black holes.
We construct analogues for the quantum phenomena of black hole radiation in the context of {\it classical field theory}. Hawking radiation from a (radially) collapsing star is mathematically equivalent to radiation from a mirror moving along a specific trajectory in Minkowski spacetime. We construct a classical analogue for this quantum phenomenon and use it to construct a classical analogue for black hole radiation. The radiation spectrum in quantum field theory has the power spectrum as its classical analogue. Monochromatic light is continually reflected off a moving mirror or the silvered surface of a collapsing star.The reflected light is fourier analysed by the observer and the power spectrum is constructed. For a mirror moving along the standard black hole trajectory,it is seen that the power spectrum has a ``thermal'' nature. Mirror-observer configurations like an inertial mirror observed in an accelerated observer's frame and an accelerated mirror observed in a Rindler frame are investigated and conditions for obtaining a ``thermal'' power spectrum are derived.The corresponding results in the black hole case are then elucidated.It is seen that a ``thermal'' spectrum can arise either due to the collapse of the star or due to the motion of the observer in the Schwarzchild spacetime. The ``temperature'' of the Planckian spectrum seen is therefore dependent on whether the star or the observer is in motion.In the latter case it is possible to obtain a ``temperature'' which is entirely independent of the mass of the star.
This paper discusses particle production in Schwarzchild-like spacetimes and in an uniform electric field. Both problems are approached using the method of complex path analysis. Particle production in Schwarzchild-like spacetimes with a horizon is obtained here by a new and simple semi-classical method based on the method of complex paths. Hawking radiation is obtained in the (t,r) co-ordinate system of the standard Schwarzchild metric {\it without} requiring the Kruskal extension. The co-ordinate singularity present at the horizon manifests itself as a singularity in the expression for the semi-classical propagator for a scalar field. We give a prescription whereby this singularity is regularised with Hawking's result being recovered. In the case of the electric field, standard quantum field theoretic methods can be used to obtain particle production in a purely time-dependent gauge. In a purely space-dependent gauge, however, the tunnelling interpretation has to be resorted to. We attempt, in this paper, to provide a tunnelling description for both the time and space dependent gauges. The usefulness of such a common description becomes evident when `mixed' gauges, which are functions of both space and time variables, are analysed. We report, in this paper, certain mixed gauges which have the interesting property that mode functions in these gauges are found to be a combination of {\it elementary} functions unlike the standard modes. Finally, we present an attempt to interpret particle production by the electric field as a tunnelling process between the two sectors of the Rindler spacetime.
Points of conflict between the principles of general relativity and quantum theory are highlighted. I argue that the current language of QFT is inadequete to deal with gravity and review attempts to identify some of the features which are likely to present in the correct theory of quantum gravity.
This paper presents a critical review of particle production in an uniform electric field and Schwarzchild-like spacetimes. Both problems can be reduced to solving an effective one-dimensional Schrodinger equation with a potential barrier. In the electric field case, the potential is that of an inverted oscillator -x^2 while in the case of Schwarchild-like spacetimes, the potential is of the form -1/x^2 near the horizon. The transmission and reflection coefficients can easily be obtained for both potentials. To describe particle production, these coefficients have to be suitably interpreted. In the case of the electric field, the standard Bogoliubov coefficients can be identified and the standard gauge invariant result is recovered. However, for Schwarzchild-like spacetimes, such a tunnelling interpretation appears to be invalid. The Bogoliubov coefficients cannot be determined by using an identification process similar to that invoked in the case of the electric field. The reason for such a discrepancy appears to be that, in the tunnelling method, the effective potential near the horizon is singular and symmetric. We also provide a new and simple semi-classical method of obtaining Hawking's result in the (t,r) co-ordinate system of the usual standard Schwarzchild metric. We give a prescription whereby the singularity at the horizon can be regularised with Hawking's result being recovered. This regularisation prescription contains a fundamental asymmetry that renders both sides of the horizon dissimilar. Finally, we attempt to interpret particle production by the electric field as a tunnelling process between the two sectors of the Rindler metric.
Cosmological perturbations with wavelengths smaller than Hubble radius can be handled in the context of Newtonian theory with very high accuracy. The application of this Newtonian approximation, however, is restricted to nonrelativistic matter and cannot be used for relativistic matter. Recently, by modifying the continuity equation, Lima, et. al., extended the domain of applicability of Newtonian cosmology to radiation dominated phase. We adopted this continuity equation to re-examine linear cosmological perturbation theory for a two fluid universe with uniform pressure. We study the evolution equations for density contrasts and their validity in different epochs and on scales larger than Hubble radius and compare the results with the full relativistic approach. The comparison shows the high accuracy of this approximation.
Several investigations in the study of cosmological structure formation use numerical simulations in both two and three dimensions. In this paper we address the subtle question of ambiguities in the nature of two dimensional gravity in an expanding background. We take a detailed and formal approach by deriving the equations describing gravity in (D+1) dimensions using the action principle of Einstein. We then consider the Newtonian limit of these equations and finally obtain the necessary fluid equations required to describe structure formation. These equations are solved for the density perturbation in both the linearised form and in the spherical top hat model of nonlinear growth. We find that, when the special case of D=2 is considered, no structures can grow. We therefore conclude that, within the frame work of Einstein's theory of gravity in (2+1) dimensions, formation of structures cannot take place. Finally, we indicate the different possible ways of getting around this difficulty so that growing structures can be obtained in two dimensional cosmological gravitational simulations and discuss their implications.
An attempt is made to describe the `thermodynamics' of semiclassical spacetime without specifying the detailed `molecular structure' of the quantum spacetime, using the known properties of blackholes. I give detailed arguments, essentially based on the behaviour of quantum systems near the event horizon, which suggest that event horizon acts as a magnifying glass to probe Planck length physics even in those contexts in which the spacetime curvature is arbitrarily low. The quantum state describing a blackhole, in any microscopic description of spacetime, has to possess certain universal form of density of states which can be ascertained from general considerations. Since a blackhole can be formed from the collapse of any physical system with a low energy Hamiltonian H, it is suggested that when such a system collapses to form a blackhole, it should be described by a modified Hamiltonian of the form $H^2_{\rm mod} =A^2 \ln (1+ H^2/A^2)$ where $A^2 \propto E_P^2$.I also show that it is possible to construct several physical systems which have the blackhole density of states and hence will be indistinguishable from a blackhole as far as thermodynamic interactions are concerned. In particular, blackholes can be thought of as one-particle excitations of a class of {\it nonlocal} field theories with the thermodynamics of blackholes arising essentially from the asymptotic form of the dispersion relation satisfied by these excitations. These field theoretic models have correlation functions with a universal short distance behaviour, which translates into the generic behaviour of semiclassical blackholes. Several implications of this paradigm are discussed.
The gap between a microscopic theory for quantum spacetime and the semiclassical physics of blackholes is bridged by treating the blackhole spacetimes as highly excited states of a class of nonlocal field theories. All the blackhole thermodynamics is shown to arise from asymptotic form of the dispersion relation satisfied by the elementary excitations of these field theories. These models involve, quite generically, fields which are: (i) smeared over regions of the order of Planck length and (ii) possess correlation functions which have universal short distance behaviour.
We study the electromagnetic fields of an arbitrarily moving charged particle and the radiation reaction on the charged particle using a novel approach. We first show that the fields of an arbitrarily moving charged particle in an inertial frame can be related in a simple manner to the fields of a uniformly accelerated charged particle in its rest frame. Since the latter field is static and easily obtainable, it is possible to derive the fields of an arbitrarily moving charged particle by a coordinate transformation. More importantly, this formalism allows us to calculate the self-force on a charged particle in a remarkably simple manner. We show that the original expression for this force, obtained by Dirac, can be rederived with much less computation and in an intuitively simple manner using our formalism.
In the path integral expression for a Feynman propagator of a spinless particle of mass $m$, the path integral amplitude for a path of proper length ${\cal R}(x,x'| g_{μν})$ connecting events $x$ and $x'$ in a spacetime described by the metric tensor $g_{μν}$ is $\exp-[m {\cal R}(x,x'| g_{μν})]$. In a recent paper, assuming the path integral amplitude to be invariant under the duality transformation ${\cal R} \to (L_P^2/{\cal R})$, Padmanabhan has evaluated the modified Feynman propagator in an arbitrary curved spacetime. He finds that the essential feature of this `principle of path integral duality' is that the Euclidean proper distance $(Δx)^2$ between two infinitesimally separated spacetime events is replaced by $[(Δx)^2 + 4L_P^2 ]$. In other words, under the duality principle the spacetime behaves as though it has a `zero-point length' $L_P$, a feature that is expected to arise in a quantum theory of gravity. In the Schwinger's proper time description of the Feynman propagator, the weightage factor for a path with a proper time $s$ is $\exp-(m^2s)$. Invoking Padmanabhan's `principle of path integral duality' corresponds to modifying the weightage factor $\exp-(m^2s)$ to $\exp-[m^2s + (L_P^2/s)]$. In this paper, we use this modified weightage factor in Schwinger's proper time formalism to evaluate the quantum gravitational corrections to some of the standard quantum field theoretic results in flat and curved spacetimes. We find that the extra factor $\exp-(L_P^2/s)$ acts as a regulator at the Planck scale thereby `removing' the divergences that otherwise appear in the theory. Finally, we discuss the wider implications of our analysis.
It is known that radial collapse around density peaks can explain the key features of evolution of correlation function in gravitational clustering in three dimensions. The same model also makes specific predictions for two dimensions. In this paper we test these predictions in two dimensions with the help of N-Body simulations. We find that there is no stable clustering in the extremely non-linear regime, but a nonlinear scaling relation does exist and can be used to relate the linear and the non-linear correlation function. In the intermediate regime, the simulations agree with the model.
Padmanabhan (1996) has suggested a model to relate the nonlinear two - point correlation function to the linear two - point correlation function. In this paper, we extend this model in two directions: (1) By averaging over the initial Gaussian distribution of density contrasts, we estimate the spectral dependence of the scaling between nonlinear and linear correlation functions. (2) By using a physically motivated ansatz, we generalise the model to N-point correlation functions and relate the nonlinear, volume averaged, N-point correlation function $\barξ_N(x,a)$ with linearly extrapolated volume averaged 2-point correlation function $\bar ξ_2(l,a)$ evaluated at a different scale. We compare the point of transition between different regimes obtained from our model with numerical simulations and show that the spectral dependence of the scaling relations seen in the simulations can be easily understood. Comparison of the calculated form of $\barξ_N$ with the simulations show reasonable agreement. We discuss several implications of the results.
We discuss the late time evolution of the gravitational clustering in an expanding universe, based on the nonlinear scaling relations (NSR) which connect the nonlinear and linear two point correlation functions. The existence of critical indices for the NSR suggests that the evolution may proceed towards a universal profile which does not change its shape at late times. We begin by clarifying the relation between the density profiles of the individual halo and the slope of the correlation function and discuss the conditions under which the slopes of the correlation function at the extreme nonlinear end can be independent of the initial power spectrum. If the evolution should lead to a profile which preserves the shape at late times, then the correlation function should grow as $a^2$ [in a $Ω=1$ universe] een at nonlinear scales. We prove that such exact solutions do not exist; however, ther e exists a class of solutions (``psuedo-linear profiles'', PLP's for short) which evolve as $a^2$ to a good approximation. It turns out that the PLP's are the correlation functions which arise if the individual halos are assumed to be isothermal spheres. They are also configurations of mass in which the nonlinear effects of gravitational clustering is a minimum and hence can act as building blocks of the nonlinear universe. We discuss the implicatios of this result.
Large inhomogeneities in neutral hydrogen in the universe can be detected at redshifts $z \leq 10$ using the redshifted 21 cm line emission. We use cosmological N-Body simulations for dark matter and a simple model for baryonic collapse to estimate the signal expected from structures like proto-clusters of galaxies at high redshifts. We study: (i) the standard CDM model, (ii) a modified CDM model with less power at small scales, and (iii) a $Λ+$CDM model in a universe with $Ω_0 + Ω_Λ= 1$. We show that it should be possible for the next generation radio telescopes to detect such structures at the redshift 3.34 with an integration of about 100 hours. We also discuss possible schemes for enhancing signal to noise ratio to detect proto-condensates at high redshifts.