Superluminal travel, UV/IR mixing, and turbulence in a (1+1)-dimensional world

Sergei Dubovsky, Victor Gorbenko

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    We study renormalizable Lorentz invariant stable quantum field theories in two space-time dimensions with instantaneous causal structure (causal ordering induced by the light "cone" time ordering). These models provide a candidate UV completion of the two-dimensional ghost condensate. They exhibit a peculiar UV/IR mixing-energies of all excitations become arbitrarily small at high spatial momenta. We discuss several phenomena associated with this mixing. These include the impossibility to reach a thermal equilibrium and metastability of all excitations towards decay into short-wavelength modes resulting in an indefinite turbulent cascade. In spite of the UV/IR mixing in many cases the UV physics can still be decoupled from low-energy phenomena. However, a patient observer in the Lineland is able to produce arbitrarily heavy particles simply by waiting for a long enough time.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Article number105039
    JournalPhysical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
    Volume84
    Issue number10
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Nov 29 2011

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
    • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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