De Sitter Geometry Research Articles

Dynamics of false vacuum bubbles with nonminimal coupling

We study the dynamics of false vacuum bubbles. A nonminimally coupled scalar field gives rise to the effect of negative tension. The mass of a false vacuum bubble from an outside observer's point of view can be positive, zero, or negative. The interior false vacuum has de Sitter geometry, while the exterior true vacuum background can have geometry depending on the vacuum energy. We show that there exist expanding false vacuum bubbles without the initial singularity in the past.

Numerical solution of the Dirac equation in Schwarzschild–de Sitter spacetime

The radial parts of the Dirac equation between the inner and the outer horizon in Schwarzschild–de Sitter geometry are solved. Two limiting cases are concerned. The first case is when the two horizons are far apart and the second case is when the horizons are close to each other. In each case, a ‘tangent’ approximation is used to replace the modified ‘tortoise’ coordinate r*, which leads to a simple analytically invertible relation between r* and the radius r. The potential V(r*) is replaced by a collection of step functions in sequence. Then the solutions of the wave equation as well as the reflection and transmission coefficients are computed by a quantum mechanical method.

Non-commutative geometry inspired charged black holes

We find a new, non-commutative geometry inspired, solution of the coupled Einstein–Maxwell field equations describing a variety of charged, self-gravitating objects, including extremal and non-extremal black holes. The metric smoothly interpolates between de Sitter geometry, at short distance, and Reissner–Nordstrom geometry far away from the origin. Contrary to the ordinary Reissner–Nordstrom spacetime there is no curvature singularity in the origin neither “naked” nor shielded by horizons. We investigate both Hawking process and pair creation in this new scenario.

Toy model of a fake inflation

Discontinuities in non linear field theories propagate through null geodesics in an effective metric that depends on its dynamics and on the background geometry. Once information of the geometry of the universe comes mostly from photons, one should carefully analyze the effects of possible nonlinearities on Electrodynamics in the cosmic geometry. Such phenomenon of induced metric is rather general and may occurs for any nonlinear theory independently of its spin properties. We limit our analysis here to the simplest case of non linear scalar field. We show that a class of theories that have been analyzed in the literature, having regular configuration in the Minkowski space-time background is such that the field propagates like free waves in an effective deSitter geometry. The observation of these waves would led us to infer, erroneously, that we live in a deSitter universe.

Bulk singularities and the effective cosmological constant for higher co-dimension branes

We study a general configuration of parallel branes having co-dimension >2 situated inside a compact d-dimensional bulk space within the framework of a scalar and flux field coupled to gravity in D dimensions, such as arises in the bosonic part of some D-dimensional supergravities. A general relation is derived which relates the induced curvature of the observable noncompact n dimensions to the asymptotic behaviour of the bulk fields near the brane positions. For compactifications down to n = D-d dimensions we explicitly solve the bulk field equations to obtain the near-brane asymptotics, and by so doing relate the n-dimensional induced curvature to physical near-brane properties. In the special case where the bulk geometry remains nonsingular (or only conically singular) at the brane positions our analysis shows that the resulting n dimensions must be flat. As an application of these results we specialize to n=4 and D=6 and derive a new class of solutions to chiral 6D supergravity for which the noncompact 4 dimensions have de Sitter or anti-de Sitter geometry.

Mass neutrino oscillations in Robertson–Walker space–time

We try to understand flavor oscillations and to develop the formulae for describing neutrino oscillations in de Sitter space-time. First, the covariant Dirac equation is investigated under the conformally flat coordinates of de Sitter geometry. Then, we obtain the exact solutions of the Dirac equation and indicate the explicit form of the phase of wave function. Next, the concise formulae for calculating the neutrino oscillation probabilities in de Sitter space-time are given. Finally, The difference between our formulae and the standard result in Minkowski space-time is pointed out.

HEURISTIC APPROACH TO THE SCHWARZSCHILD GEOMETRY

In this article I present a simple Newtonian heuristic for motivating a weak-field approximation for the spacetime geometry of a point particle. The heuristic is based on Newtonian gravity, the notion of local inertial frames (the Einstein equivalence principle), plus the use of Galilean coordinate transformations to connect the freely falling local inertial frames back to the "fixed stars." Because of the heuristic and quasi-Newtonian manner in which the specific choice of spacetime geometry is motivated, we are at best justified in expecting it to be a weak-field approximation to the true spacetime geometry. However, in the case of a spherically symmetric point mass the result is coincidentally an exact solution of the full vacuum Einstein field equations — it is the Schwarzschild geometry in Painlevé–Gullstrand coordinates. This result is much stronger than the well-known result of Michell and Laplace whereby a Newtonian argument correctly estimates the value of the Schwarzschild radius — using the heuristic presented in this article one obtains the entire Schwarzschild geometry. The heuristic also gives sensible results — a Riemann flat geometry — when applied to a constant gravitational field. Furthermore, a subtle extension of the heuristic correctly reproduces the Reissner–Nordström geometry and even the de Sitter geometry. Unfortunately the heuristic construction is not truly generic. For instance, it is incapable of generating the Kerr geometry or anti-de Sitter space. Despite this limitation, the heuristic does have useful pedagogical value in that it provides a simple and direct plausibility argument (not a derivation) for the Schwarzschild geometry — suitable for classroom use in situations where the full power and technical machinery of general relativity might be inappropriate. The extended heuristic provides more challenging problems — suitable for use at the graduate level.

Dynamical instability of fluid spheres in the presence of a cosmological constant

The equations describing the adiabatic, small radial oscillations of general relativistic stars are generalized to include the effects of a cosmological constant. The generalized eigenvalue equation for the normal modes is used to study the changes in the stability of the homogeneous sphere induced by the presence of the cosmological constant. The variation of the critical adiabatic index as a function of the central pressure is studied numerically for different trial functions. The presence of a large cosmological constant significantly increases the value of the critical adiabatic index. The dynamical stability condition of the homogeneous star in the Schwarzschild –de Sitter geometry is obtained and several bounds on the maximum allowable value for a cosmological constant are derived from stability considerations.

Orbifold physics and de Sitter spacetime

It is generally believed the way to resolve the black hole information paradox in string theory is to embed the black hole in anti-de Sitter spacetime— without of course claiming that Schwarzschild-AdS is a realistic spacetime. Here we propose that, similarly, the best way to study topologically non-trivial versions of de Sitter spacetime from a stringy point of view is to embed them in an anti-de Sitter orbifold bulk, again without claiming that this is literally how de Sitter arises in string theory. Our results indicate that string theory may rule out the more complex spacetime topologies which are compatible with local de Sitter geometry, while still allowing the simplest versions.

Origami World

We paste together patches of $AdS_6$ to find solutions which describe two 4-branes intersecting on a 3-brane with non-zero tension. We construct explicitly brane arrays with Minkowski, de Sitter and Anti-de Sitter geometries intrinsic to the 3-brane, and describe how to generalize these solutions to the case of $AdS_{4+n}$, $n>2$, where $n$ $n+2$-branes intersect on a 3-brane. The Minkowski and de Sitter solutions localize gravity to the intersection, leading to 4D Newtonian gravity at large distances. We show this explicitly in the case of Minkowski origami by finding the zero-mode graviton, and computing the couplings of the bulk gravitons to the matter on the intersection. In de Sitter case, this follows from the finiteness of the bulk volume. The effective 4D Planck scale depends on the square of the fundamental 6D Planck scale, the $AdS_6$ radius and the angles between the 4-branes and the radial $AdS$ direction, and for the Minkowski origami it is $M_4{}^2 = {2/3} \Bigl(\tan \alpha_1 + \tan \alpha_2 \Bigr) M_*{}^4 L^2$. If $M_* \sim {\rm few} \times TeV$ this may account for the Planck-electroweak hierarchy even if $L \sim 10^{-4} {\rm m}$, with a possibility for sub-millimeter corrections to the Newton's law. We comment on the early universe cosmology of such models.

Dirac Equation and Its Solution Around Schwarzschild–de Sitter Black Hole

This paper aims to solve the radial parts of Dirac equation between the inner and the outer horizon in Schwarzschild–de Sitter geometry numerically. A “logarithm” approximation which almost has the same nature with the modified “tortoise” coordinate r* even close to the two horizons is found. It is used to replace the modified “tortoise” coordinate r*, this leads to a simple analytically invertible relation between r* and the radius r. Then, the potential V (r*) is replaced by a collection of step functions. By a quantum mechanical method, the solution of the wave equation as well as the reflection and transmission coefficients are computed. The resulting wave turns out to be not close to that of a harmonic wave globally.

S-brane thermodynamics

The description of string-theoretic s-branes at g_s=0 as exact worldsheet CFTs with a (lambda cosh X^0) or (lambda e^(X^0)) boundary interaction is considered. Due to the imaginary-time periodicity of the interaction under X^0 -> X^0 + 2 pi i, these configurations have intriguing similarities to black hole or de Sitter geometries. For example, the open string pair production as seen by an Unruh detector is thermal at temperature T = 1/4 pi. It is shown that, despite the rapid time dependence of the s-brane, there exists an exactly thermal mixed state of open strings. The corresponding boundary state is constructed for both the bosonic and superstring cases. This state defines a long-distance Euclidean effective field theory whose light modes are confined to the s-brane. At the critical value of the coupling lambda=1/2, the boundary interaction simply generates an SU(2) rotation by pi from Neumman to Dirichlet boundary conditions. The lambda=1/2 s-brane reduces to an array of sD-branes (D-branes with a transverse time dimension) on the imaginary time axis. The long range force between a (bosonic) sD-brane and an ordinary D-brane is shown from the annulus diagram to be 11/12 times the force between two D-branes. The linearized time-dependent RR field F=dC produced by an sD-brane in superstring theory is explicitly computed and found to carry a half unit of s-charge Q_s=\int_S *F=1/2, where S is any transverse spacelike slice.

THE SCALAR FIELD IN EXTREME REISSNER–NORDSTRÖM–DE SITTER SPACE

By generalizing the method of I. Brevik et al. the scalar field equation between the outer black hole horizon and the cosmological horizon in the extreme Reissner–Nordström–de Sitter (RNdS) geometry is solved. The field amplitude, as well as the potential, is shown graphically by introducing the "tangent" approximation, which is more exact than that used by I. Brevik et al., of the tortoise coordinate. There are two limiting cases of our special interest. The first one is when the cosmological horizon is very close to the outer horizon of the "black hole." The second one is when they are far apart. And the reflection and transmission coefficients are worked out in the two cases respectively.

When black holes meet Kaluza-Klein bubbles

We explore the physical consequences of a recently discovered class of exact solutions to five dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory. We find a number of surprising features including: (1) In the presence of a Kaluza-Klein bubble, there are arbitrarily large black holes with topology S^3. (2) In the presence of a black hole or a black string, there are expanding bubbles (with de Sitter geometry) which never reach null infinity. (3) A bubble can hold two black holes of arbitrary size in static equilibrium. In particular, two large black holes can be close together without merging to form a single black hole.

Duality of boundary value problems and braneworld action in curved brane models

Braneworld effective action is constructed by two different methods based respectively on the Dirichlet and Neumann boundary value problems. The equivalence of these methods is shown due to non-trivial duality relations between special boundary operators of these two problems. Previously known braneworld action algorithms in two-brane Randall–Sundrum model are generalized to d-dimensional curved branes with de Sitter and anti-de Sitter geometries. Implications of the obtained algorithms in braneworld scenarios and in the cosmological constant and cosmological acceleration problems are briefly discussed.

Comments on quantum aspects of three-dimensional de Sitter gravity

We investigate the quantum aspects of three-dimensional gravity with a positive cosmological constant. The reduced phase space of the three-dimensional de Sitter gravity is obtained as the space which consists of the Kerr–de Sitter spacetimes and their Virasoro deformations. A quantization of the phase space is carried out by the geometric quantization of the coadjoint orbits of the asymptotic Virasoro symmetries. The Virasoro algebras with real central charges are obtained as the quantum asymptotic symmetries. The states of globally de Sitter and point particle solutions become the primary states of the unitary irreducible representations of the Virasoro algebras. It is shown that those states are perturbatively stable at the quantum level. The Virasoro deformations of these solutions correspond to the excited states in the unitary irreducible representations. In view of the dS/CFT correspondence, we also study the relationship between the Liouville field theory obtained by a reduction of the SL(2; C) Chern–Simons theory and the three-dimensional gravity both classically and quantum mechanically. In the analyses of the both theories, the Kerr–de Sitter geometries with non-zero angular momenta do not give the unitary representations of the Virasoro algebras.

Classical boundary-value problem in Riemannian quantum gravity and self-dual Taub-NUT–(anti)de Sitter geometries

The classical boundary-value problem of the Einstein field equations is studied with an arbitrary cosmological constant, in the case of a compact ( S 3) boundary given a biaxial Bianchi-IX positive-definite three-metric, specified by two radii ( a, b). For the simplest, four-ball, topology of the manifold with this boundary, the regular classical solutions are found within the family of Taub-NUT–(anti)de Sitter metrics with self-dual Weyl curvature. For arbitrary choice of positive radii ( a, b), we find that there are three solutions for the infilling geometry of this type. We obtain exact solutions for them and for their Euclidean actions. The case of negative cosmological constant is investigated further. For reasonable squashing of the three-sphere, all three infilling solutions have real-valued actions which possess a “cusp catastrophe” structure with a non-self-intersecting “catastrophe manifold” implying that the dominant contribution comes from the unique real positive-definite solution on the ball. The positive-definite solution exists even for larger deformations of the three-sphere, as long as a certain inequality between a and b holds. The action of this solution is proportional to − a 3 for large a (∼ b) and hence larger radii are favoured. The same boundary-value problem with more complicated interior topology containing a “bolt” is investigated in a forthcoming paper.

Holographic Renormalization Group Structure in Higher-Derivative Gravity

Classical higher-derivative gravity is investigated in the context of the holographic renormalization group (RG). We parametrize the Euclidean time such that one step of time evolution in (d+1)-dimensional bulk gravity can be directly interpreted as that of block spin transformation of the d-dimensional boundary field theory. This parametrization simplifies the analysis of the holographic RG structure in gravity systems, and conformal fixed points are always described by AdS geometry. We find that higher-derivative gravity generically induces extra degrees of freedom which acquire huge mass around stable fixed points and thus are coupled to highly irrelevant operators at the boundary. In the particular case of pure R^2-gravity, we show that some region of the coefficients of curvature-squared terms allows us to have two fixed points (one is multicritical) which are connected by a kink solution. We further extend our analysis to Minkowski time to investigate a model of expanding universe described by the action with curvature-squared terms and positive cosmological constant, and show that, in any dimensionality but four, one can have a classical solution which describes time evolution from a de Sitter geometry to another de Sitter geometry, along which the Hubble parameter changes drastically.

The Scalar Field Equation in Schwarzschild–de Sitter Space

The scalar wave equation between the inner and the outer horizon in the Schwarzschild–de Sitter geometry is solved numerically, and the spatial variations of the field amplitude, as well as of the potential, are shown graphically. By generalizing the "tortoise" coordinate x known from Schwarzschild theory to the SdS system we first transfer the wave equation to a convenient form in which the potential V is written as a function of x. We then show how a useful "tangent" approximation can be introduced which leads to a simple, analytically invertible, relation between x and the radius r. We concentrate on two limiting cases. The first case is when the two horizons are close to each other, the so-called Nariai black hole, and the second case is when the horizons are far apart. Reflection and transmission coefficients are worked out on the basis of a replacement of the real barrier V(x) by a square barrier.

6-dimensional brane world model

We consider a 6-dimensional spacetime which is periodic in one of the extra dimensions and compact in the other. The periodic direction is defined by two 4-brane boundaries. Both static and nonstatic exact solutions, in which the internal spacetime has a constant radius of curvature, are derived. In the case of static solutions, the brane tensions must be tuned as in the 5-dimensional Randall-Sundrum model; however, no additional fine-tuning is necessary between the brane tensions and the bulk cosmological constant. By further relaxing the sole fine-tuning of the model, we derive nonstatic solutions, describing de Sitter or anti--de Sitter 4-dimensional spacetimes, that allow for the fixing of the interbrane distance and the accommodation of pairs of positive--negative and positive--positive tension branes. Finally, we consider the stability of the radion field in these configurations by employing small, time-dependent perturbations around the background solutions. In analogy with results drawn in five dimensions, the solutions describing a de Sitter 4-dimensional spacetime turn out to be unstable while those describing an anti--de Sitter geometry are shown to be stable.