2018 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Quantum vacuum effects, symmetry breaking and gravity
| Project/Area Number |
18K03626
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| Research Institution | Keio University |
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Principal Investigator |
フラキ アントニノ 慶應義塾大学, 商学部(日吉), 准教授 (20444474)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | quantum field theory / curved space / black holes / topology |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Main topics and results investigated are as follows. The characterization of the quantum vacuum structure in a curved and topologically non-trivial hexagonal lattice with defects. This study led to understand that the order parameter associated with the staggered magnetization may increase near the defect suggesting a way to induce specific patterns of symmetry breaking in graphene. This work has been published in the Physical Review Letters and one more paper has been submitted to the Physical Review. We have also looked at the phenomena of symmetry restoration in the vicinity of charged black holes and analyzed the problem using semi-analytical techniques. We have showed that symmetry gets restored near the horizon, and for this we have refined and adapted a new technique to compute vacuum polarization effects in black hole spacetimes. These results have been published in the Journal of High Energy Physics.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The progress of the research is advancing approximately as expected. There has been no major impediment to developing the projects envisaged in the proposal. Since the submission of the proposal new questions regarding the vacuum instabilities in (1+1)-dimensional quantum field theories relevant to our proposal have been raised, motivating us to reformulate some of the ideas of the project to clarify those recent issues. All the obtained results have been presented at various international conferences.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
We have already completed a number of projects and we are currently continuing the work in various directions: quantum vacuum instabilities in one-dimensional models, Casimir effect in stationary systems, and on further questions related to quantum vacuum instabilities in quantum field theory. Work on the vacuum instabilities in (1+1)-dimensional quantum field theories is currently at the latest stages of preparation; while the work on the Casimir effect and other aspects of quantum vacuum effects are at the initial stages of preparation and we plan to develop them further during the current academic year.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Participation in international conference and collaboration visit.
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