No Arabic abstract
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.
A solution of the old problem raised by Tolman, Ehrenfest, Podolsky and Wheeler, concerning the lack of attraction of two light pencils moving parallel, is proposed, considering that the light can be source of nonlinear gravitational waves corresponding (in the would be quantum theory of gravity) to spin-1 massless particles.
We make a critical review of the semiclassical interpretation of quantum cosmology and emphasise that it is not necessary to consider that a concept of time emerges only when the gravitational field is (semi)classical. We show that the usual results of the semiclassical interpretation, and its generalisation known as the Born-Oppenheimer approach to quantum cosmology, can be obtained by gauge fixing, both at the classical and quantum levels. By `gauge fixing we mean a particular choice of the time coordinate, which determines the arbitrary Lagrange multiplier that appears in Hamiltons equations. In the quantum theory, we adopt a tentative definition of the (Klein-Gordon) inner product, which is positive definite for solutions of the quantum constraint equation found via an iterative procedure that corresponds to a weak coupling expansion in powers of the inverse Planck mass. We conclude that the wave function should be interpreted as a state vector for both gravitational and matter degrees of freedom, the dynamics of which is unitary with respect to the chosen inner product and time variable.
Light waves carry along their own gravitational field; for simple plain electromagnetic waves the gravitational field takes the form of a pp-wave. I present the corresponding exact solution of the Einstein-Maxwell equations and discuss the dynamics of classical particles and quantum fields in this gravitational and electromagnetic background.
In analog gravity the recent experiment of Drori {it et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. {bf 122}, 010404 (2019)] is impressive, as it shows how the emission of two Hawking quanta emitted in opposite directions lead to measurable consequences in the mediums rest system in a straightforward way. This result raises however the following problem: how can this experiment be explained in terms of classical electrodynamics? There must necessarily exist such an explanation (the experiment is after all classical); otherwise classical electrodynamics would be an incomplete theory. This is the main topic of the present paper. We propose that the measured effect is a demonstration of the spacelike character of the Minkowski four-momentum. Moreover, we extend the discussion by analyzing a Gedanken experiment (making use of the Kerr effect as a formal agency), to illustrate the transition from subluminal to superluminal phenomena in a straightforward way. Finally, we emphasize the close relationship that exists between the spacelike Minkowski momentum and the anomalous Doppler effect.
In this paper we consider a model for gravity in 4-dimensional space-time originally proposed by Chamseddine, which may be derived by dimensional reduction and truncation from a 5-dimensional Chern-Simons theory. Its topological origin makes it an interesting candidate for an easier quantization, e.g., in the Loop Quantization framework. The present paper is dedicated to a classical analysis of the models properties. Cosmological solutions as well as wave solutions are found and compared with the corresponding solutions of Einsteins General Relativity with cosmological constant.