Quantum Field Theoretic Research Articles

Observability of the superkick effect within a quantum-field-theoretical approach

An atom placed in an optical vortex close to the axis may, upon absorbing a photon, acquire a transverse momentum much larger than the transverse momentum of any plane-wave component of the vortex lightfield. This surprising phenomenon dubbed superkick has been clarified previously in terms of the atom wave packet evolution in the field of an optical vortex treated classically. Here, we study this effect within the quantum field theoretical (QFT) framework. We consider collision of a Bessel twisted wave with a compact Gaussian beam focused to a small focal spot $\sigma$ located at distance $b$ from the twisted beam axis. Through a qualitative discussion supported by exact analytical and numerical calculations, we recover the superkick phenomenon for $\sigma \ll b$ and explore its limits when $\sigma$ becomes comparable to $b$. On the way to the final result within the QFT treatment, we encountered and resolved apparent paradoxes related to subtle issues of the formalism. These results open a way to a detailed QFT exploration of other superkick-related effects recently suggested to exist in high-energy collisions.

Quantum Information in Relativity: The Challenge of QFT Measurements.

Proposed quantum experiments in deep space will be able to explore quantum information issues in regimes where relativistic effects are important. In this essay, we argue that a proper extension of quantum information theory into the relativistic domain requires the expression of all informational notions in terms of quantum field theoretic (QFT) concepts. This task requires a working and practicable theory of QFT measurements. We present the foundational problems in constructing such a theory, especially in relation to longstanding causality and locality issues in the foundations of QFT. Finally, we present the ongoing Quantum Temporal Probabilities program for constructing a measurement theory that (i) works, in principle, for any QFT, (ii) allows for a first- principles investigation of all relevant issues of causality and locality, and (iii) it can be directly applied to experiments of current interest.

Casimir and Casimir-Polder Forces in Graphene Systems: Quantum Field Theoretical Description and Thermodynamics

We review recent results on the low-temperature behaviors of the Casimir-Polder and Casimir free energy an entropy for a polarizable atom interacting with a graphene sheet and for two graphene sheets, respectively. These results are discussed in the wide context of problems arising in the Lifshitz theory of van der Waals and Casimir forces when it is applied to metallic and dielectric bodies. After a brief treatment of different approaches to theoretical description of the electromagnetic response of graphene, we concentrate on the derivation of response function in the framework of thermal quantum field theory in the Matsubara formulation using the polarization tensor in (2 + 1)-dimensional space—time. The asymptotic expressions for the Casimir-Polder and Casimir free energy and entropy at low temperature, obtained with the polarization tensor, are presented for a pristine graphene as well as for graphene sheets possessing some nonzero energy gap Δ and chemical potential μ under different relationships between the values of Δ and μ. Along with reviewing the results obtained in the literature, we present some new findings concerning the case μ≠0, Δ=0. The conclusion is made that the Lifshitz theory of the Casimir and Casimir-Polder forces in graphene systems using the quantum field theoretical description of a pristine graphene, as well as real graphene sheets with Δ>2μ or Δ<2μ, is consistent with the requirements of thermodynamics. The case of graphene with Δ=2μ≠0 leads to an entropic anomaly, but is argued to be physically unrealistic. The way to a resolution of thermodynamic problems in the Lifshitz theory based on the results obtained for graphene is discussed.

Neutrino Oscillation Processes with a Change of Lepton Flavor in Quantum Field-Theoretical Approach

The oscillating probabilities of lepton flavor changing neutrino oscillation processes, where neutrinos are detected by weak charged-current and neutral-current interactions, are calculated in a quantum field-theoretical approach to neutrino oscillations based on a modification of the Feynman propagator in the momentum representation. The approach is most similar to the standard Feynman diagram technique in the momentum representation. It is found that the oscillating distance-dependent probabilities of detecting an electron in experiments with neutrino production in the muonic decay of π+-meson and the detection of the produced neutrino by charged-current and neutral-current interactions exactly coincide with the corresponding probabilities calculated in the standard approach.

Starobinsky-Like Inflation and Running Vacuum in the Context of Supergravity

We describe the primeval inflationary phase of the early Universe within a quantum field theoretical (QFT) framework that can be viewed as the effective action of vacuum decay in the early times. Interestingly enough, the model accounts for the “graceful exit” of the inflationary phase into the standard radiation regime. The underlying QFT framework considered here is supergravity (SUGRA), more specifically an existing formulation in which the Starobinsky-type inflation (de Sitter background) emerges from the quantum corrections to the effective action after integrating out the gravitino fields in their (dynamically induced) massive phase. We also demonstrate that the structure of the effective action in this model is consistent with the generic idea of re-normalization group (RG) running of the cosmological parameters; specifically, it follows from the corresponding RG equation for the vacuum energy density as a function of the Hubble rate, ρ Λ ( H ) . Overall, our combined approach amounts to a concrete-model realization of inflation triggered by vacuum decay in a fundamental physics context, which, as it turns out, can also be extended for the remaining epochs of the cosmological evolution until the current dark energy era.

Duffin–Kemmer–Petiau Particles are Bosons

The parametrized Duffin–Kemmer–Petiau wave equation is formulated for many relativistic particles of spin-0 or spin-1. The first-quantized formulation lacks the fields of creation and annihilation operators which satisfy commutation relations subject to causality conditions, and which are essential to the Quantum Field Theoretic proof of the spin-statistics connection. It is instead proved that the wavefunctions for identical particles must be symmetric by extension of the nonrelativistic argument of Jabs (Found Phys 40:776–792, 2010). The causal commutators of Quantum Field Theory restrict entanglement to separations of the order of the Compton wavelength \(\hbar /mc\) . The entanglement manifest in the symmetric Duffin–Kemmer–Petiau wavefunctions is unrestricted.

A combinatorial non-commutative Hopf algebra of graphs

Combinatorics A non-commutative, planar, Hopf algebra of planar rooted trees was defined independently by one of the authors in Foissy (2002) and by R. Holtkamp in Holtkamp (2003). In this paper we propose such a non-commutative Hopf algebra for graphs. In order to define a non-commutative product we use a quantum field theoretical (QFT) idea, namely the one of introducing discrete scales on each edge of the graph (which, within the QFT framework, corresponds to energy scales of the associated propagators). Finally, we analyze the associated quadri-coalgebra and codendrifrom structures.

Quantum field theoretic approach to neutrino oscillations in matter

We consider neutrino oscillations in non-uniform matter in a quantum field theoretic (QFT) approach, in which neutrino production, propagation and detection are considered as a single process. We find the conditions under which the oscillation probability can be sensibly defined and demonstrate how the properly normalized oscillation probability can be obtained in the QFT framework. We derive the evolution equation for the oscillation amplitude and discuss the conditions under which it reduces to the standard Schr\"odinger-like evolution equation. It is shown that, contrary to the common usage, the Schr\"odinger-like evolution equation is not applicable in certain cases, such as oscillations of neutrinos produced in decays of free pions provided that sterile neutrinos with $\Delta m^2\gtrsim 1$ eV$^2$ exist.

Neutrino oscillations: quantum mechanics vs. quantum field theory

A consistent description of neutrino oscillations requires either the quantum-mechanical (QM) wave packet approach or a quantum field theoretic (QFT) treatment. We compare these two approaches to neutrino oscillations and discuss the correspondence between them. In particular, we derive expressions for the QM neutrino wave packets from QFT and relate the free parameters of the QM framework, in particular the effective momentum uncertainty of the neutrino state, to the more fundamental parameters of the QFT approach. We include in our discussion the possibilities that some of the neutrino's interaction partners are not detected, that the neutrino is produced in the decay of an unstable parent particle, and that the overlap of the wave packets of the particles involved in the neutrino production (or detection) process is not maximal. Finally, we demonstrate how the properly normalized oscillation probabilities can be obtained in the QFT framework without an ad hoc normalization procedure employed in the QM approach.

A Quantum Field Theoretical Approach to the TCLE Method

In the context of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, the TCLE method (a method in which the admittance of a system is directly calculated from time-convolutionless equations with external driving terms) for the linear response, is formulated in terms of thermo-field dynamics and in this way, thermo-field dynamics is generalized to the case of a quantal system interacting with its surroundings and with an external driving field. It is applied to interacting boson systems, and an admittance formula for such systems is derived using the TCLE method.

Quantum-field-theoretical approach to phase-space techniques: Generalizing the positive-Prepresentation

We present an introduction to phase-space techniques (PST) based on a quantum-field-theoretical (QFT) approach. In addition to bridging the gap between PST and QFT, our approach results in a number of generalizations of the PST. First, for problems where the usual PST do not result in a genuine Fokker-Planck equation (even after phase-space doubling) and hence fail to produce a stochastic differential equation (SDE), we show how the system in question may be approximated via stochastic difference equations (SDeltaE). Second, we show that introducing sources into the SDE's (or SDeltaE's) generalizes them to a full quantum nonlinear stochastic response problem (thus generalizing Kubo's linear reaction theory to a quantum nonlinear stochastic response theory). Third, we establish general relations linking quantum response properties of the system in question to averages of operator products ordered in a way different from time normal. This extends PST to a much wider assemblage of operator products than are usually considered in phase-space approaches. In all cases, our approach yields a very simple and straightforward way of deriving stochastic equations in phase space.

Vacuum Concepts, Potentia, and the Quantum Field Theoretic Vacuum Explained for All

L'A. vise a montrer que l'on peut affirmer sans contradiction l'existence de proprietes observables dans le champ theorique du vide quantique. Suit un historique de la notion philosophique et physique de vide

ExtendedU(1) Conformal Field Theories and Zk-Parafermions

A constructive approach is developed for studying local chiral algebras generated by a pair of oppositely charged fields Ψ (z, ±g) such that the operator product expansion (OPE) of Ψ(z1, g) Ψ(z2, −g) involves a U(1) current. The main tool in the study is the factorization property of the charged fields (exhibited in [PT 2, 3]) for Virasoro central charge c < 1 into U(1)-vertex operators tensored with ZAMOLODCHIKOV-FATEEV [ZF1] (generalized) Zk-parafermions. The case Δ2 = 4 (Δ1 − 1), where Δv = Δk−v(Δ0 = 0) are the conformaldimensions of the parafermionic currents, is studied in detail. For Δv = 2v(1 − v/k) the theory is related to GEPNER'S [Ge] Z2 [so (k)] parafermions and the corresponding quantum field theoretic (QFT) representations of the chiral algebra are displayed. The Coulomb gas method of [CR] is further developed to include an explicit construction of the basic parafermionic current Ψ of weight Δ = Δ1. The characters of the positive energy representations of the local chiral algebra are written as sums of products of Kac's string functions and classical θ-functions.

Normalization and Probability Densities for Wavefunctions of Quantum Fieldtheoretic Energy Equations

Abstract Quantum fields can be characterized by the set of transition amplitudes {〈0|π(A)|a〉V̶|a,〉∈V} where π(A) is a representation of the field operator algebra in V. This set has to satisfy renormalized energy equations and the elements of this set are called wavefunctions. However, these wavefunctions are not identical with wavefunctions of conventional quantum theory in Fockspace. Thus a theoret­ical interpretation is needed. In the present paper, by means of some theorems a method of normalization and construction of probability densities for these wavefunctions is given, which differs from the method of derivation of the normalization condition for Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes. The method can be applied both to nonrelativistic and relativistic fields with positive definite or indefinite state spaces, provided the renormalized energy equations possess finite solutions.