Induced Brownian motion by the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker spacetime in the presence of a cosmic string

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the quantum Brownian motion of a massive scalar point particle induced by the FRW spacetime in the presence of a linear topological defect named cosmic string. In addition, we also consider a flat boundary orthogonal to the defect to analyze its effect on the particle’s motion. For both cases, we found exact expressions for the renormalized mean square deviation of the particle velocity, the quantity that measures the induced Brownian motion, and obtain asymptotic expressions when the point particle is near and far away from the cosmic string and the boundary. Furthermore, in both cases, there appear divergencies in the mean square deviation of the particle velocity coming from a time interval that correspond to a round trip of the massive point particle between its position and the cosmic string/flat boundary. The number of divergencies depends upon the radial position of the particle and the parameter associated with the cosmic string in the case without boundary, and upon this parameter and the radial and z positions of the particle in the case with boundary.