Smooth and sharp creation of a spherical shell for a (3+1)-dimensional quantum field

Margaret E. Carrington, Gabor Kunstatter, Jorma Louko, and L. J. Zhou
Phys. Rev. D 98, 024035 – Published 19 July 2018

Abstract

We study the creation of a spherical, finite radius source for a quantized massless scalar field in 3+1 dimensions. The goal is to model the breakdown of correlations that has been proposed to occur at the horizon of an evaporating black hole. We do this by introducing at fixed radius r=a a one parameter family of self-adjoint extensions of the three dimensional Laplacian operator that interpolate between the condition that the values and the derivatives on the two sides of r=a coincide for t0 (no wall) and the two-sided Dirichlet boundary condition for t1/λ (fully-developed wall). Creation of the shell produces null, spherical pulses of energy on either side of the shell, one ingoing and the other outgoing. The renormalized energy density T00 diverges to positive infinity in the outgoing energy pulse, just outside the light cone of the fully-formed wall at t=1/λ. Unlike in the 3+1 point source creation, there is no persistent memory cloud of energy. As in the creation of a 1+1 dimensional wall, the response of an Unruh-DeWitt detector in the post-shell region is independent of the time scale for shell formation and is finite. The latter property casts doubt on the efficacy of this mechanism for firewall creation.

  • Figure
  • Received 23 May 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.98.024035

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsParticles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Margaret E. Carrington1,2,*, Gabor Kunstatter2,3,†, Jorma Louko4,‡, and L. J. Zhou1,2,3,5,§

  • 1Department of Physics, Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba, R7A 6A9 Canada
  • 2Winnipeg Institute for Theoretical Physics, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9 Canada
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9 Canada
  • 4School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom
  • 5Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2 Canada

  • *carrington@brandonu.ca
  • gkunstatter@uwinnipeg.ca
  • jorma.louko@nottingham.ac.uk
  • §zhoulingjunjeff@gmail.com

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 98, Iss. 2 — 15 July 2018

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review D

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×