Person:
Martín Benito, Mercedes

First Name

Mercedes

Last Name

Martín Benito

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/75130

Affiliation

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Faculty / Institute

Ciencias Físicas

Department

Física Teórica

Area

Física Teórica

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 21

Operational realization of quantum vacuum ambiguities
(Physical Review D, 2023) Álvarez Domínguez, Álvaro; Ruiz Cembranos, José Alberto; Garay Elizondo, Luis Javier; Martín Benito, Mercedes; Parra López, Álvaro; Sánchez Velázquez, José Manuel
We provide a reinterpretation of the quantum vacuum ambiguities that one encounters when studying particle creation phenomena due to an external and time-dependent agent. We propose a measurement-motivated understanding: Each way of measuring the number of created particles selects a particular vacuum. This point of view gives a clear and physical meaning to the time evolution of the number of particles produced by the agent as the counts in a specific detector and, at the same time, relates commonly used quantization prescriptions to particular measurement setups.
Quantum group spin nets: refinement limit and relation to spin foams
(Physical Review D, 2014) Dittrich, Bianca; Martín Benito, Mercedes; Steinhaus, Sebastian
So far spin foam models are hardly understood beyond a few of their basic building blocks. To make progress on this question, we define analogue spin foam models, so-called “spin nets,” for quantum groups SU(2)_k and examine their effective continuum dynamics via tensor network renormalization. In the refinement limit of this coarse-graining procedure, we find a vast nontrivial fixed-point structure beyond the degenerate and the BF phase. In comparison to previous work, we use fixed-point intertwiners, inspired by Reisenberger’s construction principle [M. P. Reisenberger, J. Math. Phys. (N.Y.) 40, 2046 (1999)] and the recent work [B. Dittrich and W. Kaminski, arXiv:1311.1798], as the initial parametrization. In this new parametrization fine-tuning is not required in order to flow to these new fixed points. Encouragingly, each fixed point has an associated extended phase, which allows for the study of phase transitions in the future. Finally we also present an interpretation of spin nets in terms of melonic spin foams. The coarse-graining flow of spin nets can thus be interpreted as describing the effective coupling between two spin foam vertices or space time atoms.
Unitary quantization of a scalar charged field and Schwinger effect
(Journal of High Energy Physics, 2020) Garay Elizondo, Luis Javier; Martín Caro, Alberto García; Martín Benito, Mercedes
Quantum field theory in curved spacetimes suffers in general from an infinite ambiguity in the choice of Fock representation and associated vacuum. In cosmological backgrounds, the requirement of a unitary implementation of the field dynamics in the physical Hilbert space of the theory is a good criterion to ameliorate such ambiguity. In- deed, this criterion, together with a unitary implementation of the symmetries of the equations of motion, leads to an equivalence class of unitarily equivalent quantizations that, even though it is still formed by an infinite number of Fock representations, is unique. In this work, we apply the procedure developed for fields in cosmological settings to analyze the quantization of a scalar field in the presence of an external electromagnetic classical field in a flat background. We find a natural Fock representation that admits a unitary implementation of the quantum field dynamics. It automatically allows to define a particle number density at all times in the evolution with the correct asymptotic behavior, when the electric field vanishes. Moreover we show the unitary equivalence of all the quantizations that fulfill our criteria, so that they form a unique equivalence class. Although we perform the field quantization in a specific gauge, we also show the equivalence between the procedures taken in different gauges.
Quantum unitary dynamics of a charged fermionic field and Schwinger effect
(Journal of High Energy Physics, 2021) Álvarez Domínguez, Álvaro; Garay Elizondo, Luis Javier; García Heredia, David; Martín Benito, Mercedes
In quantum field theory, particle creation occurs, in general, when an intense external field, such as an electromagnetic field, breaks time translational invariance. This leads to an ambiguity in the definition of the vacuum state. In cosmological backgrounds this ambiguity has been reduced by imposing that the quantization preserves the symmetries of the system and that the dynamics is unitarily implemented. In this work, we apply these requirements to the quantization of a massive charged fermionic field coupled to a classical time-dependent homogeneous electric field, extending previous studies done for a scalar field. We characterize the quantizations fulfilling the criteria above and we show that they form a unique equivalence class of unitarily related quantizations, which provide a well-defined number of created particles at all finite times.
Quantum corrections to the Mukhanov-Sasaki equations
(Physical Review D, 2016) Castelló Gomar, Laura; Mena Marugán, Guillermo A.; Martín Benito, Mercedes
Recently, a lot of attention has been paid to the modifications of the power spectrum of primordial fluctuations caused by quantum cosmology effects. The origin of these modifications is corrections to the Mukhanov-Sasaki equations that govern the propagation of the primeval cosmological perturbations. The specific form of these corrections depends on a series of details of the quantization approach and of the prescription followed to implement it. Generally, the complexity of the theoretical quantum formulation is simplified in practice appealing to a semiclassical or effective approximation in order to perform concrete numerical computations. In this work, we introduce technical tools and design a procedure to deal with these quantum corrections beyond the most direct approximations employed so far in the literature. In particular, by introducing an interaction picture, we extract the quantum dynamics of the homogeneous geometry in absence of scalar field potential and inhomogeneities, dynamics that has been intensively studied and that can be integrated. The rest of our analysis focuses on the interaction evolution, putting forward methods to cope with it. The ultimate aim is to develop treatments that increase our ability to discriminate between the predictions of different quantization proposals for cosmological perturbations.
Further improvements in the understanding of isotropic loop quantum cosmology
(Physical Review D, 2009) Martín Benito, Mercedes; Mena Marugán, Guillermo; Olmedo, Javier
The flat, homogeneous, and isotropic universe with a massless scalar field is a paradigmatic model in loop quantum cosmology. In spite of the prominent role that the model has played in the development of this branch of physics, there still remain some aspects of its quantization which deserve a more detailed discussion. These aspects include the kinematical resolution of the cosmological singularity, the precise relation between the solutions of the densitized and nondensitized versions of the quantum Hamiltonian constraint, the possibility of identifying superselection sectors which are as simple as possible, and a clear comprehension of the Wheeler-DeWitt (WDW) limit associated with the theory in those sectors. We propose an alternative operator to represent the Hamiltonian constraint which is specially suitable to deal with all these issues in a detailed and satisfactory way. In particular, with our constraint operator, the singularity decouples in the kinematical Hilbert space and can be removed already at this level. Thanks to this fact, we can densitize the quantum Hamiltonian constraint in a well-controlled manner. Additionally, together with the physical observables, this constraint superselects simple sectors for the universe volume, with a discrete support contained in a single semiaxis of the real line and for which the basic functions that encode the information about the geometry possess optimal physical properties. Namely, they provide a no-boundary description around the cosmological singularity and admit a well-defined WDW limit in terms of standing waves. Both properties explain the presence of a generic quantum bounce replacing the classical singularity at a fundamental level, in contrast with previous studies where the bounce was proved in concrete regimes—focusing on states with a marked semiclassical behavior—or for a simplified model.
Generalized quantum Vlasov equation for particle creation and unitary dynamics
(Physical review D, 2022) Álvarez Domínguez, Álvaro; Garay Elizondo, Luis Javier; Martín Benito, Mercedes
The loss of time-translational invariance caused by a time-dependent external agent leads to particle creation effects in quantum field theory. This phenomenon results in ambiguities when selecting the quantum vacuum of the canonical quantization. In this work we analyze how the time evolution of the number of created particles depends on these ambiguities when external agents are spatially homogeneous. In particular, we generalize the standard quantum Vlasov equation in order to accommodate in its formulation the possibility of having different choices of vacuum, including adiabatic vacua. This study leads us to propose a new physical criterion stronger than the unitary implementation of the dynamics in order to reduce the quantization ambiguities.
Gauge-invariant perturbations in hybrid quantum cosmology
(Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2015) Castelló Gomar, Laura; Martín Benito, Mercedes; Mena Marugán, Guillermo A.
We consider cosmological perturbations around homogeneous and isotropic spacetimes minimally coupled to a scalar field and present a formulation which is designed to preserve covariance. We truncate the action at quadratic perturbative order and particularize our analysis to flat compact spatial sections and a field potential given by a mass term, although the formalism can be extended to other topologies and potentials. The perturbations are described in terms of Mukhanov-Sasaki gauge invariants, linear perturbative constraints, and variables canonically conjugate to them. This set is completed into a canonical one for the entire system, including the homogeneous degrees of freedom. We find the global Hamiltonian constraint of the model, in which the contribution of the homogeneous sector is corrected with a term quadratic in the perturbations, that can be identified as the Mukhanov-Sasaki Hamiltonian in our formulation. We then adopt a hybrid approach to quantize the model, combining a quantum representation of the homogeneous sector with a more standard field quantization of the perturbations. Covariance is guaranteed in this approach inasmuch as no gauge fixing is adopted. Next, we adopt a Born-Oppenheimer ansatz for physical states and show how to obtain a Schrödinger-like equation for the quantum evolution of the perturbations. This evolution is governed by the Mukhanov-Sasaki Hamiltonian, with the dependence on the homogeneous geometry evaluated at quantum expectation values, and with a time parameter defined also in terms of suitable expectation values on that geometry. Finally, we derive effective equations for the dynamics of the Mukhanov-Sasaki gauge invariants, that include quantum contributions, but have the same ultraviolet limit as the classical equations. They provide the master equation to extract predictions about the power spectrum of primordial scalar perturbations.
Introduction to loop quantum cosmology
(Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications (SIGMA), 2012) Banerjee, Kinjal; Calcagni, Gianluca; Martín Benito, Mercedes
This is an introduction to loop quantum cosmology (LQC) reviewing mini- and midisuperspace models as well as homogeneous and inhomogeneous ef fective dynamics.
Coarse graining methods for spin net and spin foam models
(New Journal of Physics, 2012) Dittrich, Bianca; Eckert, Frank C.; Martín Benito, Mercedes
We undertake first steps in making a class of discrete models of quantum gravity, spin foams, accessible to a large-scale analysis by numerical and computational methods. In particular, we apply the Migdal–Kadanoff and tensor network renormalization (TNR) schemes to spin net and spin foam models based on finite Abelian groups and introduce 'cutoff models' to probe the fate of gauge symmetries under various such approximated renormalization group flows. For the TNR analysis, a new Gauß constraint preserving algorithm is introduced to improve numerical stability and aid physical interpretation. We also describe the fixed point structure and establish the equivalence of certain models.