Polymer Quantum Mechanics is based on some of the techniques used in the loop quantization of gravity that are adapted to describe systems possessing a finite number of degrees of freedom. It has been used in two ways: on one hand it has been used to
represent some aspects of the loop quantization in a simpler context, and, on the other, it has been applied to each of the infinite mechanical modes of other systems. Indeed, this polymer approach was recently implemented for the free scalar field propagator. In this work we compute the polymer propagators of the free particle and a particle in a box; amusingly, just as in the non polymeric case, the one of the particle in a box may be computed also from that of the free particle using the method of images. We verify the propagators hereby obtained satisfy standard properties such as: consistency with initial conditions, composition and Greens function character. Furthermore they are also shown to reduce to the usual Schrodinger propagators in the limit of small parameter $mu_0$, the length scale introduced in the polymer dynamics and which plays a role analog of that of Planck length in Quantum Gravity.
Casimir force encodes the structure of the field modes as vacuum fluctuations and so it is sensitive to the extra dimensions of brane worlds. Now, in flat spacetimes of arbitrary dimension the two standard approaches to the Casimir force, Greens func
tion and zeta function, yield the same result, but for brane world models this was only assumed. In this work we show both approaches yield the same Casimir force in the case of Universal Extra Dimensions and Randall-Sundrum scenarios with one and two branes added by p compact dimensions. Essentially, the details of the mode eigenfunctions that enter the Casimir force in the Greens function approach get removed due to their orthogonality relations with a measure involving the right hyper-volume of the plates and this leaves just the contribution coming from the Zeta function approach. The present analysis corrects previous results showing a difference between the two approaches for the single brane Randall-Sundrum; this was due to an erroneous hyper-volume of the plates introduced by the authors when using the Greens function. For all the models we discuss here, the resulting Casimir force can be neatly expressed in terms of two four dimensional Casimir force contributions: one for the massless mode and the other for a tower of massive modes associated with the extra dimensions.
The relativistic equilibrium velocity distribution plays a key role in describing several high-energy and astrophysical effects. Recently, computer simulations favored Juttners as the relativistic generalization of Maxwells distribution for d=1,2,3 s
patial dimensions and pointed to an invariant temperature. In this work we argue an invariant temperature naturally follows from manifest covariance. We present a new derivation of the manifestly covariant Juttners distribution and Equipartition Theorem. The standard procedure to get the equilibrium distribution as a solution of the relativistic Boltzmanns equation is here adopted. However, contrary to previous analysis, we use cartesian coordinates in d+1 momentum space, with d spatial components. The use of the multiplication theorem of Bessel functions turns crucial to regain the known invariant form of Juttners distribution. Since equilibrium kinetic theory results should agree with thermodynamics in the comoving frame to the gas the covariant pseudo-norm of a vector entering the distribution can be identified with the reciprocal of temperature in such comoving frame. Then by combining the covariant statistical moments of Juttners distribution a novel form of the Equipartition Theorem is advanced which also accommodates the invariant comoving temperature and it contains, as a particular case, a previous not manifestly covariant form.
Vacuum force is an interesting low energy test for brane worlds due to its dependence on fields modes and its role in submillimeter gravity experiments. In this work we generalize a previous model example: the scalar field vacuum force between two pa
rallel plates lying in the brane of a Randall-Sundrum scenario extended by $p$ compact dimensions (RSII-$p$). Upon use of Greens function technique, for the massless scalar field, the 4D force is obtained from a zero mode while corrections turn out attractive and depend on the separation between plates as $l^{-(6+p)}$. For the massive scalar field a quasilocalized mode yields the 4D force with attractive corrections behaving like $l^{-(10+p)}$. Corrections are negligible w.r.t. 4D force for $AdS_{(5+p)}$ radius less than $sim 10^{-6}$m. Although the $p=0$ case is not physically viable due to the different behavior in regard to localization for the massless scalar and electromagnetic fields it yields an useful comparison between the dimensional regularization and Greens function techniques as we describe in the discussion.
In looking for imprints of extra dimensions in brane world models one usually builts these so that they are compatible with known low energy physics and thus focuses on high energy effects. Nevertheless, just as submillimeter Newtons law tests probe
the mode structure of gravity other low energy tests might apply to matter. As a model example, in this work we determine the 4D Casimir force corresponding to a scalar field subject to Dirichlet boundary conditions on two parallel planes lying within the single brane of a Randall-Sundrum scenario extended by one compact extra dimension. Using the Greens function method such a force picks the contribution of each field mode as if it acted individually but with a weight given by the square of the mode wave functions on the brane. In the low energy regime one regains the standard 4D Casimir force that is associated to a zero mode in the massless case or to a quasilocalized or resonant mode in the massive one whilst the effect of the extra dimensions gets encoded as an additional term.
