Gravitational and quantum bounds on the photon mass

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Constantes de Movimento para um Potencial Dependente da Velocidade

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Attitude stabilization of a rigid spacecraft in the geomagnetic field

An analytical method is proposed to study the attitude stability of a triaxial spacecraft moving in a circular Keplerian orbit in the geomagnetic field. The method is developed based on the electrodynamics effect of the influence of the Lorentz force acting on the charged spacecraft's surface. We assume that the rigid spacecraft is equipped with an electrostatic charged protective shield, having an intrinsic magnetic moment. The main elements of this shield are an electrostatic charged cylindrical screen surrounding the protected volume of the spacecraft. The rotational motion of the spacecraft about its centre of mass due to torques from gravitational force, as well Lorentz and magnetic forces is investigated. The equilibrium positions of the spacecraft in the orbital coordinate system are obtained. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability of the spacecraft's equilibrium positions are constructed using Lyapunov's direct method. The numerical results have shown that the Lorentz force has a significant influence on the stability of the equilibrium positions, which can affect the attitude stabilization of the spacecraft. (C) 2007 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

QED(3) RADIATIVE-CORRECTIONS IN THE HEISENBERG PICTURE

We evaluate the vacuum polarization tensor for three-dimensional quantum electrodynamics (QED3) via Heisenberg equations of motion in order to clarify the problem arising from the use of different regularization prescriptions in the interaction picture. We conclude that the photon does acquire physical mass of topological origin when such contribution is taken into account for the photon propagator.

GHOST POLES IN THE NUCLEON PROPAGATOR - VERTEX CORRECTIONS AND FORM-FACTORS

Vertex corrections are taken into account in the Schwinger-Dyson equation for the nucleon propagator in a relativistic field theory of fermions and mesons. The usual Hartree-Fock approximation for the nucleon propagator is known to produce the appearance of complex (ghost) poles which violate basic theorems of quantum field theory. In a theory with vector mesons there are vertex corrections that produce a strongly damped vertex function in the ultraviolet. One set of such corrections is known as the Sudakov form factor in quantum electrodynamics. When the Sudakov form factor generated by massive neutral vector mesons is included in the Hartree-Fock approximation to the Schwinger-Dyson equation for the nucleon propagator, the ghost poles disappear and consistency with basic requirements of quantum field theory is recovered.

What is wrong with Pauli-Villars regularization in QED(3)?

In this paper we argue that there is no ambiguity between the Pauli-Villars and other methods of regularization in (2+1)-dimensional quantum electrodynamics with respect to dynamical mass generation, provided we properly choose the couplings for the regulators.

Left-right asymmetry and minimal coupling

In this paper we deal with an alternative approach to the description of massless particles of arbitrary spin. Within this scheme chiral components of a spinor field are regarded as fundamental quantities and treated as independent field variables. The free field Lagrangian is built up from the requirement of chiral invariance; This formulation is parallel to the neutrino theory and allows for a formulation that generalizes, to particles of arbitrary spin, the two-component neutrino theory. We achieve a spinor formulation of electrodynamics. In the case of the photon, the nonzero helicity components satisfy Weyl's equations and are associated to observables (electromagnetic fields) whereas the zero helicity components are related to nonobservables (electromagnetic potentials). Within the spinor formulation of electrodynamics the minimal coupling substitution follows as a consequence of the linearity of the interaction and the preference of nature for chiral components, that is, of the left-right asymmetry of nature. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Podolsky's higher-order electromagnetism from first principles

Podolsky's higher-order field equations are obtained by generalizing the laws of Podolsky's electrostatics, which follow from Coulomb's generalized law and superposition, to be consistent with special relativity. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the independence of the observed charge of a particle on its speed. It is also shown that the gauge-independent term concerning the Feynman propagator for Podolsky's generalized electrodynamics has a good ultraviolet behaviour at the expense of a negative metric massive ghost which, contrary to what is currently assumed in the literature, is non-tachyonic. A brief discussion on Podolsky's characteristic length is presented as well.

A simple prescription for computing the stress-energy tensor

A non-variational technique for computing the stress-energy tensor is presented. The prescription is used, among other things, to obtain the correct field equations for Prasanna's highly nonlinear electrodynamics.

THE VACUUM ENERGY OF QED WITH 4-FERMION INTERACTION

We consider quantum electrodynamics in the quenched approximation including a four-fermion interaction with coupling constant g. The effective potential at stationary points is computed as a function of the coupling constants alpha and g and an ultraviolet cutoff LAMBDA, showing a minimum of energy in the (alpha, g) plane for alpha = alpha(c) = pi/3 and g = infinity. When we go to the continuum limit (LAMBDA --> infinity), keeping finite the dynamical mass, the minimum of energy moves to (alpha = 0, g = 1), which correspond to a point where the theory is trivial.

PATH INTEGRAL AND OPERATOR APPROACH FOR THE PODOLSKY-SCHWINGER MODEL

We study the role of the thachyonic excitation which emerges from the quantum electrodynamics in two dimensions with Podolsky term. The quantization is performed by using path integral framework and the operator approach.

Hamilton-Jacobi formulation for singular systems with second-order Lagrangians

Recently, the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation for first-order constrained systems has been developed. In such formalism the equations of motion are written as total differential equations in many variables. We generalize the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation for singular systems with second-order Lagrangians and apply this new formulation to Podolsky electrodynamics, comparing with the results obtained through Dirac's method.

ON THE INDEPENDENT-PARTICLE APPROXIMATION OF GAUGE-THEORIES - A SIMPLE EXAMPLE

In this work the independent particle model formulation is studied as a mean-field approximation of gauge theories using the path integral approach in the framework of quantum electrodynamics in 1 + 1 dimensions. It is shown how a mean-field approximation scheme can be applied to fit an effective potential to an independent particle model, building a straightforward relation between the model and the associated gauge field theory. An example is made considering the problem of massive Dirac fermions on a line, the so called massive Schwinger model. An interesting result is found, indicating a behaviour of screening of the charges in the relativistic limit of strong coupling. A forthcoming application of the method developed to confining potentials in independent quark models for QCD is in view and is briefly discussed.

CAUSAL APPROACH TO (2+1)-DIMENSIONAL QED

It is shown that the causal approach to (2 + 1)-dimensional quantum electrodynamics yields a well-defined perturbative theory. In particular, and in contrast to renormalized perturbative quantum field theory, it is free of any ambiguities and ascribes a nonzero value to the dynamically generated, nonperturbative photon mass. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.

Virial coefficients from (2+1)-dimensional QED effective actions at finite temperature and density

From spinor and scalar (2 + 1)-dimensional QED effective actions at finite temperature and density in a constant magnetic field background, we calculate the corresponding virial coefficients for particles in the lowest Landau level. These coefficients depend on a parameter theta related to the time-component of the gauge field, which plays an essential role for large gauge invariance. The variation of the parameter theta might lead to an interpolation between fermionic and bosonic virial coefficients, although these coefficients are singular for theta = pi/2.