Zeta-function Method Research Articles

Thermal Casimir effect for a Dirac field on flat space with a nontrivial circular boundary condition

This work investigates the thermal Casimir effect associated with a massive spinor field defined on a four-dimensional flat space with a circularly compactified spatial dimension whose periodicity is oriented along a vector in the xy plane. We employ the generalized zeta function method to establish a finite definition for the vacuum free energy density. This definition conveniently separates into the zero-temperature Casimir energy density and additional terms accounting for temperature corrections. The structure of existing divergences is analyzed from the asymptotic behavior of the spinor heat kernel function and removed in the renormalization by subtracting scheme. The only non-null heat coefficient is the one associated with the Euclidean divergence. We also address the need for a finite renormalization to treat the ambiguity in the zeta function regularization prescription associated with this Euclidean heat kernel coefficient and ensure that the renormalization procedure is unique. The high- and low-temperature asymptotic limits are also explored. In particular, we explicitly show that free energy density lacks a classical limit at high temperatures, and the entropy density agrees with the Nernst heat theorem at low temperatures. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Critical Casimir effect in a disordered O(2)-symmetric model.

The critical Casimir effect appears when critical fluctuations of an order parameter interact with classical boundaries. We investigate this effect in the setting of a Landau-Ginzburg model with continuous symmetry in the presence of quenched disorder. The quenched free energy is written as an asymptotic series of moments of the model's partition function. Our main result is that, in the presence of a strong disorder, Goldstone modes of the system contribute either with either an attractive or a repulsive force. This result was obtained using the distributional zeta-function method without relying on any particular ansatz in the functional space of the moments of the partition function.

Surface Casimir Densities on Branes Orthogonal to the Boundary of Anti-De Sitter Spacetime

The paper investigates the vacuum expectation value of the surface energy–momentum tensor (SEMT) for a scalar field with general curvature coupling in the geometry of two branes orthogonal to the boundary of anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime. For Robin boundary conditions on the branes, the SEMT is decomposed into the contributions corresponding to the self-energies of the branes and the parts induced by the presence of the second brane. The renormalization is required for the first parts only, and for the corresponding regularization the generalized zeta function method is employed. The induced SEMT is finite and is free from renormalization ambiguities. For an observer living on the brane, the corresponding equation of state is of the cosmological constant type. Depending on the boundary conditions and on the separation between the branes, the surface energy densities can be either positive or negative. The energy density induced on the brane vanishes in special cases of Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions on that brane. The effect of gravity on the induced SEMT is essential at separations between the branes of the order or larger than the curvature radius for AdS spacetime. In the considerably large separation limit, the decay of the SEMT, as a function of the proper separation, follows a power law for both massless and massive fields. For parallel plates in Minkowski bulk and for massive fields the fall-off of the corresponding expectation value is exponential.

Quantum flux operators for Carrollian diffeomorphism in general dimensions

We construct Carrollian scalar field theories in general dimensions, mainly focusing on the boundaries of Minkowski and Rindler spacetime, whose quantum flux operators form a faithful representation of Carrollian diffeomorphism up to a central charge, respectively. At future/past null infinity, the fluxes are physically observable and encode rich information of the radiation. The central charge may be regularized to be finite by the spectral zeta function or heat kernel method on the unit sphere. For the theory at the Rindler horizon, the effective central charge is proportional to the area of the bifurcation surface after regularization. Moreover, the zero mode of supertranslation is identified as the modular Hamiltonian, linking Carrollian diffeomorphism to quantum information theory. Our results may hold for general null hypersurfaces and provide new insight in the study of the Carrollian field theory, asymptotic symmetry group and entanglement entropy.

Thermal Casimir Effect in the Einstein Universe with a Spherical Boundary

In the present paper, we investigate thermal fluctuation corrections to the vacuum energy at zero temperature of a conformally coupled massless scalar field, whose modes propagate in the Einstein universe with a spherical boundary, characterized by both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. Thus, we generalize the results found in the literature in this scenario, which has considered only the vacuum energy at zero temperature. To do this, we use the generalized zeta function method plus Abel-Plana formula and calculate the renormalized Casimir free energy as well as other thermodynamics quantities, namely, internal energy and entropy. For each one of them, we also investigate the limits of high and low temperatures. At high temperatures, we found that the renormalized Casimir free energy presents classical contributions, along with a logarithmic term. Also in this limit, the internal energy presents a classical contribution and the entropy a logarithmic term, in addition to a classical contribution as well. Conversely, at low temperatures, it is demonstrated that both the renormalized Casimir free energy and internal energy are dominated by the vacuum energy at zero temperature. It is also demonstrated that the entropy obeys the third law of thermodynamics.

Repulsive to attractive fluctuation-induced forces in disordered Landau-Ginzburg model

Critical fluctuations of some order parameter describing a fluid generates long-range forces between boundaries. Here, we discuss fluctuation-induced forces associated to a disordered Landau-Ginzburg model defined in a $d$-dimensional slab geometry $\mathbb R^{d-1}\times[0,L]$. In the model the strength of the disordered field is defined by a non-thermal control parameter. We study a nearly critical scenario, using the distributional zeta-function method, where the quenched free energy is written as a series of the moments of the partition function. In the Gaussian approximation, we show that, for each moment of the partition function, and for some specific strength of the disorder, the non-thermal fluctuations, associated to an order parameter-like quantity, becomes long-ranged. We demonstrate that the sign of the fluctuation induced force between boundaries, depend in a non-trivial way on the strength of the aforementioned non-thermal control parameter.

Casimir free energy for massive fermions: a comparative study of various approaches

We compute the Casimir thermodynamic quantities for a massive fermion field between two parallel plates with the MIT boundary conditions, using three different general approaches and present explicit solutions for each. The Casimir thermodynamic quantities include the Casimir Helmholtz free energy, pressure, energy and entropy. The three general approaches that we use are based on the fundamental definition of Casimir thermodynamic quantities, the analytic continuation method represented by the zeta function method, and the zero temperature subtraction method. We include the renormalized versions of the latter two approaches as well, whereas the first approach does not require one. Within each general approach, we obtain the same results in a few different ways to ascertain the selected cancellations of infinities have been done correctly. We then do a comparative study of the three different general approaches and their results, and show that they are in principle not equivalent to each other and they yield, in general, different results. In particular, we show that the Casimir thermodynamic quantities calculated only by the first approach have all three properties of going to zero as the temperature, the mass of the field, or the distance between the plates increases.

Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model for spin glasses: Solution via the distributional zeta function method.

We discuss the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick mean-field version of a spin glass within the distributional zeta function method (DZFM). In the DZFM, since the dominant contribution to the average free energy is written as a series of moments of the partition function of the model, the spin-glass multivalley structure is obtained. Also, an exact expression for the saddle points corresponding to each valley and a global critical temperature showing the existence of many stables or at least metastable equilibrium states is presented. Near the critical point, we obtain analytical expressions of the order parameters that are in agreement with phenomenological results. We evaluate the linear and nonlinear susceptibility and we find the expected singular behavior at the spin-glass critical temperature. Furthermore, we obtain a positive definite expression for the entropy and we show that ground-state entropy tends to zero as the temperature goes to zero. We show that our solution is stable for each term in the expansion. Finally, we analyze the behavior of the overlap distribution, where we find a general expression for each moment of the partition function.

Thermal Casimir effect for the scalar field in flat spacetime under a helix boundary condition

In this work we consider the generalized zeta function method to obtain temperature corrections to the vacuum (Casimir) energy density, at zero temperature, associated with quantum vacuum fluctuations of a scalar field subjected to a helix boundary condition and whose modes propagate in ($3+1$)-dimensional Euclidean spacetime. We find closed and analytical expressions for both the two-point heat kernel function and free energy density in the massive and massless scalar field cases. In particular, for the massless scalar field case, we also calculate the thermodynamics quantities internal energy density and entropy density, with their corresponding high- and low-temperature limits. We show that the temperature correction term in the free energy density must suffer a finite renormalization, by subtracting the scalar thermal blackbody radiation contribution, in order to provide the correct classical limit at high temperatures. We check that, at low temperature, the entropy density vanishes as the temperature goes to zero, in accordance with the third law of thermodynamics. We also point out that, at low temperatures, the dominant term in the free energy and internal energy densities is the vacuum energy density at zero temperature. Finally, we also show that the pressure obeys an equation of state.

Induced Cosmological Constant in Brane Models with a Compact Dimension

The vacuum expectation value of the surface energy-momentum tensor of a charged scalar field on a flat brane in an anti-de Sitter space-time with a compact spatial dimension is studied. The existence of a constant gauge field is also assumed. Because of the nontrivial topology of the space, the latter leads to an Aharonov-Bohm type effect. A generalized zeta-function method is used for renormalizing the vacuum expectation value. The cosmological constant induced on the brane is a periodic function of the magnetic flux through the compact dimension and, depending on the parameters of the problem, can be either positive or negative.

Exploring Free Matrix CFT Holographies at One-Loop

We extend our recent study on the duality between stringy higher spin theories and free conformal field theories (CFTs) in the S U ( N ) adjoint representation to other matrix models, namely the free S O ( N ) and S p ( N ) adjoint models as well as the free U ( N ) × U ( M ) bi-fundamental and O ( N ) × O ( M ) bi-vector models. After determining the spectrum of the theories in the planar limit by Polya counting, we compute the one loop vacuum energy and Casimir energy for their respective bulk duals by means of the Character Integral Representation of the Zeta Function (CIRZ) method, which we recently introduced. We also elaborate on possible ambiguities in the application of this method.

One-loop tests of the supersymmetric higher spin AdS4/CFT3 correspondence

We compute one loop free energy for D=4 Vasiliev higher spin gravities based on Konstein-Vasiliev algebras hu(m;n|4), ho(m;n|4) or husp(m;n|4) and subject to higher spin preserving boundary conditions, which are conjectured to be dual to the U(N), O(N) or USp(N) singlet sectors, respectively, of free CFTs on the boundary of $AdS_4$. Ordinary supersymmetric higher spin theories appear as special cases of Konstein-Vasiliev theories, when the corresponding higher spin algebra contains $OSp({\cal N}|4)$ as subalgebra. In $AdS_4$ with $S^3$ boundary, we use a modified spectral zeta function method, which avoids the ambiguity arising from summing over infinite number of spins. We find that the contribution of the infinite tower of bulk fermions vanishes. As a result, the free energy is the sum of those which arise in type A and type B models with internal symmetries, the known mismatch between the bulk and boundary free energies for type B model persists, and ordinary supersymmetric higher spin theories exhibit the mismatch as well. The only models that have a match are type A models with internal symmetries, corresponding to $n=0$. The matching requires identification of the inverse Newton's constant $G_N^{-1}$ with $N$ plus a proper integer as was found previously for special cases. In $AdS_4$ with $S^1\times S^2$ boundary, the bulk one loop free energies match those of the dual free CFTs for arbitrary $m$ and $n$. We also show that a supersymmetric double-trace deformation of free CFT based on OSp(1|4) does not contribute to the ${\cal O}(N^0)$ free energy, as expected from the bulk.

Exact solution of the Dirac–Weyl equation in graphene under electric and magnetic fields

In this paper, we have obtained exact analytical solutions for the bound states of a graphene Dirac electron in magnetic fields with various q -parameters under an electrostatic potential. In order to solve the time-independent Dirac–Weyl equation, the Nikoforov–Uvarov (NU) and Frobenius methods have been used. We have also investigated the thermodynamic properties by using the Hurwitz zeta function method for one of the states. Finally, some of the numerical results are also shown.

Thermal Properties of the One-Dimensional Duffin–Kemmer–Petiau Oscillator Using Hurwitz Zeta Function

Abstract In this paper, we investigated the thermodynamics properties of the one-dimensional Duffin–Kemmer–Petiau oscillator by using the Hurwitz zeta function method. In particular, we calculated the following main thermal quantities: the free energy, the total energy, the entropy, and the specific heat. The Hurwitz zeta function allowed us to compute the vacuum expectation value of the energy of our oscillator.

Equivalence of zeta function technique and Abel–Plana formula in regularizing the Casimir energy of hyper-rectangular cavities

Zeta function regularization is an effective method to extract physical significant quantities from infinite ones. It is regarded as mathematically simple and elegant but the isolation of the physical divergency is hidden in its analytic continuation. By contrast, Abel–Plana formula method permits explicit separation of divergent terms. In regularizing the Casimir energy for a massless scalar field in a D-dimensional rectangular box, we give the rigorous proof of the equivalence of the two methods by deriving the reflection formula of Epstein zeta function from repeatedly application of Abel–Plana formula and giving the physical interpretation of the infinite integrals. Our study may help with the confidence of choosing any regularization method at convenience among the frequently used ones, especially the zeta function method, without the doubts of physical meanings or mathematical consistency.

Multi-loop zeta function regularization and spectral cutoff in curved spacetime

We emphasize the close relationship between zeta function methods and arbitrary spectral cutoff regularizations in curved spacetime. This yields, on the one hand, a physically sound and mathematically rigorous justification of the standard zeta function regularization at one loop and, on the other hand, a natural generalization of this method to higher loops. In particular, to any Feynman diagram is associated a generalized meromorphic zeta function. For the one-loop vacuum diagram, it is directly related to the usual spectral zeta function. To any loop order, the renormalized amplitudes can be read off from the pole structure of the generalized zeta functions. We focus on scalar field theories and illustrate the general formalism by explicit calculations at one-loop and two-loop orders, including a two-loop evaluation of the conformal anomaly.

Stress–energy tensor correlators in N-dimensional hot flat spaces via the generalized zeta-function method

We calculate the expectation values of the stress–energy bitensor defined at two different spacetime points x, x′ of a massless, minimally coupled scalar field with respect to a quantum state at finite temperature T in a flat N-dimensional spacetime by means of the generalized zeta-function method. These correlators, also known as the noise kernels, give the fluctuations of energy and momentum density of a quantum field which are essential for the investigation of the physical effects of negative energy density in certain spacetimes or quantum states. They also act as the sources of the Einstein–Langevin equations in stochastic gravity which one can solve for the dynamics of metric fluctuations as in spacetime foams. In terms of constitutions these correlators are one rung above (in the sense of the correlation—BBGKY or Schwinger-Dyson—hierarchies) the mean (vacuum and thermal expectation) values of the stress–energy tensor which drive the semiclassical Einstein equation in semiclassical gravity. The low- and the high-temperature expansions of these correlators are also given here: at low temperatures, the leading order temperature dependence goes like TN while at high temperatures they have a T2 dependence with the subleading terms exponentially suppressed by e−T. We also discuss the singular behavior of the correlators in the x′ → x coincident limit as was done before for massless conformal quantum fields.This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical in honour of Stuart Dowker’s 75th birthday devoted to ‘Applications of zeta functions and other spectral functions in mathematics and physics’.

Casimir effect in spheroidal geometries

We study the zero-point energy of massless scalar and vector fields subject to spheroidal boundary conditions. For massless scalar fields and small ellipticity the zero-point energy can be found using both zeta function and Green's function methods. The result agrees with the conjecture that the zero-point energy for a boundary remains constant under small deformations of the boundary that preserve volume (the boundary deformation conjecture), formulated in the case of an elliptic-cylindrical boundary. In the case of massless vector fields, an exact solution is not possible. We show that a zonal approximation disagrees with the result of the boundary deformation conjecture. Applying our results to the MIT bag model, we find that the zero-point energy of the bag should stabilize the bag against deformations from a spherical shape.

Correlations of the stress-energy tensor in AdS spaces via the generalized zeta-function method

We calculate the vacuum expectation values of the stress-energy bitensor of a minimally coupled massless scalar field in anti-de Sitter (AdS) spaces. These correlators, also known as the noise kernel, act as sources in the Einstein-Langevin equations of stochastic gravity [1, 2] which govern the induced metric fluctuations beyond the mean-field dynamics described by the semiclassical Einstein equations of semiclassical gravity. Because the AdS spaces are maximally symmetric the eigenmodes have analytic expressions which facilitate the computation of the zeta-function [3, 4]. Upon taking the second functional variation of the generalized zeta function introduced in [5] we obtain the correlators of the stress tensor. Both the short and the long geodesic distance limits of the correlators are presented.

Stress-energy tensor correlators of a quantum field in EuclideanRNandAdSNspaces via the generalized zeta-function method

In this paper we calculate the vacuum expectation values of the stress-energy bitensor of a massive quantum scalar field with general coupling to N-dimensional Euclidean spaces and hyperbolic spaces which are Euclidean sections of the anti-de Sitter (AdS) spaces. These correlators, also known as the noise kernel, act as sources in the Einstein-Langevin equations of stochastic gravity [1,2] which govern the induced metric fluctuations beyond the mean-field dynamics described by the semiclassical Einstein equations of semiclassical gravity. Because these spaces are maximally symmetric the eigenmodes have analytic expressions which facilitate the computation of the zeta-function [3,4]. Upon taking the second functional variation of the generalized zeta function introduced in [5] we obtain the correlators of the stress tensor for these two classes of spacetimes. Both the short and the large geodesic distance limits of the correlators are presented for dimensions up to 11. We mention current research problems in early universe cosmology, black hole physics and gravity-fluid duality where these results can be usefully applied to.