No Arabic abstract
We discuss the quantization of sound waves in a fluid with a linear dispersion relation and calculate the quantum density fluctuations of the fluid in several cases. These include a fluid in its ground state. In this case, we discuss the scattering cross section of light by the density fluctuations, and find that in many situations it is small compared to the thermal fluctuations, but not negligibly small and might be observable at room temperature. We also consider a fluid in a squeezed state of phonons and fluids containing boundaries. We suggest that the latter may be a useful analog model for better understanding boundary effects in quantum field theory. In all cases involving boundaries which we consider, the mean squared density fluctuations are reduced by the presence of the boundary. This implies a reduction in the light scattering cross section, which is potentially an observable effect.
The vacuum expectation value of the electromagnetic energy-momentum tensor between two parallel plates in spacetime dimensions D > 4 is calculated in the axial gauge. While the pressure between the plates agrees with the global Casimir force, the energy density is divergent at the plates and not compatible with the total energy which follows from the force. However, subtracting the divergent self-energies of the plates, the resulting energy is finite and consistent with the force. In analogy with the corresponding scalar case for spacetime dimensions D > 2, the divergent self-energy of a single plate can be related to the lack of conformal invariance of the electromagnetic Lagrangian for dimensions D > 4.
Recent experimental realizations of uniform confining potentials for ultracold atoms make it possible to create quantum acoustic resonators and explore nonequilibrium dynamics of quantum field theories. These systems offer a promising new platform for studying the dynamical Casimir effect, since they allow to achieve relativistic, i.e. near sonic, velocities of the boundaries. In comparison to previously studied optical and classical hydrodynamic systems ultracold atoms allow to realize a broader class of dynamical experiments combining both classical driving and vacuum squeezing. In this paper we discuss theoretically two types of experiments with interacting one dimensional condensates with moving boundaries. Our analysis is based on the Luttinger liquid model which utilizes the emergent conformal symmetry of the low energy sector of the Lieb-Liniger model. The first system we consider is a variable length interferometer with two Y-junctions connected back to back. We demonstrate that dynamics of the relative phase between the two arms of the interferometer can be analyzed using the formalism developed by Moore in the problem of electromagnetic vacuum squeezing in a cavity with moving mirrors. The second system we discuss is a single condensate in a box potential with periodically moving walls. This system exhibits classical excitation of the mode resonant with the drive as well as nonlinear generation of off-resonant modes. In addition we find strong parametric multimode squeezing between modes whose energy difference matches integer multiples of the drive frequency.
Quantum fluctuations in the density of a fluid with a linear phonon dispersion relation are studied. In particular, we treat the changes in these fluctuations due to non-classical states of phonons and to the presence of boundaries. These effects are analogous to similar effects in relativistic quantum field theory, and we argue that the case of the fluid is a useful analog model for effects in field theory. We further argue that the changes in the mean squared density are in principle observable by light scattering experiments.
We investigate the influence of a dark photon on the Casimir effect. For expected magnitudes of the photon - dark photon mixing parameter, the influence turns out to be negligible. The plasmon dispersion relation is also not noticeably modified by the presence of a dark photon.
We treat a model based upon nonlinear optics for the semiclassical gravitational effects of quantum fields upon light propagation. Our model uses a nonlinear material with a nonzero third order polarizability. Here a probe light pulse satisfies a wave equation containing the expectation value of the squared electric field. This expectation value depends upon the presence of lower frequency quanta, the background field, and modifies the effective index of refraction, and hence the speed of the probe pulse. If the mean squared electric field is positive, then the pulse is slowed, which is analogous to the gravitational effects of ordinary matter. Such matter satisfies the null energy condition and produce gravitational lensing and time delay. If the mean squared field is negative, then the pulse has a higher speed than in the absence of the background field. This is analogous to the gravitational effects of exotic matter, such as stress tensor expectation values with locally negative energy densities, which lead to repulsive gravitational effects, such as defocussing and time advance. We give some estimates of the magnitude of the effects in our model, and find that they may be large enough to be observable. We also briefly discuss the possibility that the mean squared electric field could be produced by the Casimir vacuum near a reflecting boundary.