Institute Fisica

Montevideo, Uruguay

Institute Fisica

Montevideo, Uruguay
SEARCH FILTERS
Time filter
Source Type

Fernandez A.,Institute Fisica
Optics InfoBase Conference Papers | Year: 2016

We present the optical implementation of the generalized Hough transform in an incoherent system and show how this transformation allows for real-time, parallel recognition of geometric features under noise or low contrast in the input. © OSA 2016.

Garat A.,Institute Fisica
International Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physics | Year: 2014

Euler observers are a fundamental tool for the study of spacetime evolution. Cauchy surfaces are evolved through the use of hypersurface orthogonal fields and their relationship to coordinate observers, that enable the use of already developed algorithms. In geometrodynamics, new tetrad vectors have been introduced with outstanding simplifying properties. We are going to use these already introduced tetrad vectors in the case where we consider a curved four-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime with the presence of electromagnetic fields. These Einstein-Maxwell geometries will provide the new tetrad that we are going to use in order to develop an algorithm to produce Cauchy evolution with additional simplifying properties. © 2014 World Scientific Publishing Company.

Fernandez-Mendez M.,CSIC - Institute for the Structure of Matter | Mena Marugan G.A.,CSIC - Institute for the Structure of Matter | Olmedo J.,Institute Fisica
Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology | Year: 2013

We present a complete quantization of an approximately homogeneous and isotropic universe with small scalar perturbations. We consider the case in which the matter content is a minimally coupled scalar field and the spatial sections are flat and compact, with the topology of a three-torus. The quantization is carried out along the lines that were put forward by the authors in a previous work for spherical topology. The action of the system is truncated at second order in perturbations. The local gauge freedom is fixed at the classical level, although different gauges are discussed and shown to lead to equivalent conclusions. Moreover, descriptions in terms of gauge-invariant quantities are considered. The reduced system is proven to admit a symplectic structure, and its dynamical evolution is dictated by a Hamiltonian constraint. Then, the background geometry is polymerically quantized, while a Fock representation is adopted for the inhomogeneities. The latter is selected by uniqueness criteria adapted from quantum field theory in curved spacetimes, which determine a specific scaling of the perturbations. In our hybrid quantization, we promote the Hamiltonian constraint to an operator on the kinematical Hilbert space. If the zero mode of the scalar field is interpreted as a relational time, a suitable ansatz for the dependence of the physical states on the polymeric degrees of freedom leads to a quantum wave equation for the evolution of the perturbations. Alternatively, the solutions to the quantum constraint can be characterized by their initial data on the minimum-volume section of each superselection sector. The physical implications of this model will be addressed in a future work, in order to check whether they are compatible with observations. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Gambini R.,Institute Fisica | Pullin J.,Louisiana State University
Physical Review Letters | Year: 2013

We quantize spherically symmetric vacuum gravity without gauge fixing the diffeomorphism constraint. Through a rescaling, we make the algebra of Hamiltonian constraints Abelian, and therefore the constraint algebra is a true Lie algebra. This allows the completion of the Dirac quantization procedure using loop quantum gravity techniques. We can construct explicitly the exact solutions of the physical Hilbert space annihilated by all constraints. New observables living in the bulk appear at the quantum level (analogous to spin in quantum mechanics) that are not present at the classical level and are associated with the discrete nature of the spin network states of loop quantum gravity. The resulting quantum space-times resolve the singularity present in the classical theory inside black holes. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Gambini R.,Institute Fisica | Pullin J.,Louisiana State University
Classical and Quantum Gravity | Year: 2015

We study the quantum motion of null shells in the quantum space-time of a black hole in loop quantum gravity. We treat the shells as test fields and use an effective dynamics for the propagation equations. The shells propagate through the region where the singularity was present in the classical black hole space-time, but is absent in the quantum space-time, eventually emerging through a white hole to a new asymptotic region of the quantum space-time. The profiles of the shells get distorted due to the quantum fluctuations in the Planckian region that replaces the singularity. The evolution of the shells is unitary throughout the whole process. © 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Campiglia M.,Institute Fisica | Laddha A.,Chennai Mathematical Institute
Journal of High Energy Physics | Year: 2015

Abstract: In [15] we proposed a generalization of the BMS group G$$\mathcal{G}$$ which is a semi-direct product of supertranslations and smooth diffeomorphisms of the conformal sphere. Although an extension of BMS, G$$\mathcal{G}$$ is a symmetry group of asymptotically flat space times. By taking G$$\mathcal{G}$$ as a candidate symmetry group of the quantum gravity S-matrix, we argued that the Ward identities associated to the generators of Diff(S2) were equivalent to the Cachazo-Strominger subleading soft graviton theorem. Our argument however was based on a proposed definition of the Diff(S2) charges which we could not derive from first principles as G$$\mathcal{G}$$ does not have a well defined action on the radiative phase space of gravity. Here we fill this gap and provide a first principles derivation of the Diff(S2) charges. The result of this paper, in conjunction with the results of [4, 15] prove that the leading and subleading soft theorems are equivalent to the Ward identities associated to G$$\mathcal{G}$$. © 2015, The Author(s).

Campiglia M.,Institute Fisica | Laddha A.,Chennai Mathematical Institute
Journal of High Energy Physics | Year: 2015

Various equivalences between so-called soft theorems which constrain scattering amplitudes and Ward identities related to asymptotic symmetries have recently been established in gauge theories and gravity. So far these equivalences have been restricted to the case of massless matter fields, the reason being that the asymptotic symmetries are defined at null infinity. The restriction is however unnatural from the perspective of soft theorems which are insensitive to the masses of the external particles. In this work we remove the aforementioned restriction in the context of scalar QED. Inspired by the radiative phase space description of massless fields at null infinity, we introduce a manifold description of time-like infinity on which the asymptotic phase space for massive fields can be defined. The “angle dependent” large gauge transformations are shown to have a well defined action on this phase space, and the resulting Ward identities are found to be equivalent to Weinberg’s soft photon theorem. © 2015, The Author(s).

Gambini R.,Institute Fisica | Pullin J.,Louisiana State University
Classical and Quantum Gravity | Year: 2014

We introduce quantum field theory on quantum space-times techniques to characterize the quantum vacua as a first step toward studying black hole evaporation in spherical symmetry in loop quantum gravity and compute the Hawking radiation. We use as quantum space-time the recently introduced exact solution of the quantum Einstein equations in vacuum with spherical symmetry and consider a spherically symmetric test scalar field propagating on it. The use of loop quantum gravity techniques in the background space-time naturally regularizes the matter content, solving one of the main obstacles to back-reaction calculations in more traditional treatments. The discreteness of area leads to modifications of the quantum vacua, eliminating the trans-Planckian modes close to the horizon, which in turn eliminates all singularities from physical quantities, like the expectation value of the stress-energy tensor. Apart from this, the Boulware, Hartle-Hawking and Unruh vacua differ little from the treatment on a classical space-time. The asymptotic modes near scri are reproduced very well. We show that the Hawking radiation can be computed, leading to an expression similar to the conventional one but with a high frequency cutoff. Since many of the conclusions concern asymptotic behavior, where the spherical mode of the field behaves in a similar way as higher multipole modes do, the results can be readily generalized to non spherically symmetric fields. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Fernandez-Mendez M.,CSIC - Institute for the Structure of Matter | Mena Marugan G.A.,CSIC - Institute for the Structure of Matter | Olmedo J.,Institute Fisica
Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology | Year: 2014

We study the evolution of a homogeneous and isotropic spacetime for which the spatial sections have three-torus topology, coupled to a massless scalar field with small scalar perturbations within loop quantum cosmology. We consider a proposal for the effective dynamics based on a previous hybrid quantization completed by us. Consequently, we introduce a convenient gauge fixing and adopt reduced canonical variables adapted to that hybrid quantum description. Besides, we keep backreaction contributions on the background coming from terms quadratic in the perturbations in the action of the system. We carry out a numerical analysis assuming that the inhomogeneities were in a massless vacuum state at distant past (where the initial data are set). At distant future, we observe a statistical amplification of the modes amplitude in the infrared region, as well as a phase synchronization arising from quantum gravity phenomena. A description of the perturbations in terms of the Mukhanov-Sasaki gauge invariants provides the same qualitative results. Finally, we analyze some consequences of the backreaction in our effective description. © 2014 American Physical Society.

Canto L.F.,Federal University of Rio de Janeiro | Canto L.F.,Federal University of Fluminense | Gomes P.R.S.,Federal University of Fluminense | Donangelo R.,Federal University of Rio de Janeiro | And 4 more authors.
Physics Reports | Year: 2015

In this Report we give a balanced account of the experimental and theoretical advances acquired over the last decade in the field of near-barrier fusion reactions induced by weakly bound stable and unstable nuclei. The elastic scattering and breakup reactions of these systems are also extensively reviewed as they play an important role in the fusion process. We review several theoretical tools used in the description of the data. The concepts of Complete Fusion (CF), Incomplete Fusion (ICF) and Total Fusion (TF), which is the sum of CF and ICF, are discussed and recent work on the calculation of these quantities is reviewed. The Continuum Discretized Coupled Channels (CDCC) method and its semiclassical version are described in detail and their limitations are pointed out. More importantly, we describe the salient features of the conclusions reached from the more than 40 measurements made, over a decade, of near-barrier fusion, elastic scattering and breakup reactions, and confront these data with the CDCC or other methods appropriate for these processes at the energy regime in question. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.