Discrete mathematical modelling seminar

Seminar information archive ~03/28Next seminarFuture seminars 03/29~

Organizer(s) Tetsuji Tokihiro, Ralph Willox

2018/01/17

17:00-18:45   Room #056 (Graduate School of Math. Sci. Bldg.)
Samuel Colin (CBPF, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) 17:00-17:50
Quantum matter bounce with a dark energy expanding phase (ENGLISH)
[ Abstract ]
The ``matter bounce'' is an alternative scenario to inflationary cosmology, according to which the universe undergoes a contraction, followed by an expansion, the bounce occurring when the quantum effects become important. In my talk, I will show that such a scenario can be unambiguously analyzed in the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave interpretation of quantum mechanics. More specifically, I will apply the pilot-wave theory to a Wheeler-DeWitt equation obtained from the quantization of a simple classical mini-superspace model, and show that there are numerical solutions describing bouncing universes with many desirable physical features. For example, one solution contains a dark energy phase during the expansion, without the need to postulate the existence of a cosmological constant in the classical action.
This work was done in collaboration with Nelson Pinto-Neto (CBPF, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil). Further details available at https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03037.
Thomas Durt (Aix Marseille Université, Centrale Marseille, Institut Fresnel) 17:50-18:40
Mass of the vacuum: a Newtonian perspective (ENGLISH)
[ Abstract ]
One could believe that special relativity forces us to totally renounce to the idea of an aether, but the aether reappears in general relativity which teaches us that space-time is structured by the local metrics. It also reappears in quantum field theory which teaches us that even at zero temperature space is filled by the quantum vacuum energy. Finally, aether reappears in modern astronomy where it was necessary to introduce ill-defined concepts such as dark matter and dark energy in order to explain apparent deviations from Newtonian dynamics (at the level of galactic rotation curves).
Newton dynamics being the unique limit of general relativistic dynamics in the classical regime, dark matter and dark energy can be seen as an ultimate, last chance strategy, aimed at reconciling the predictions of general relativity with astronomical data.
In our talk we shall describe a simple model, derived in the framework of Newtonian dynamics, aimed at explaining puzzling astronomical observations realized at the level of the solar system (Pioneer anomaly) and at the galactic scale (rotation curves), without adopting ad hoc hypotheses about the existence of dark matter and/or dark energy.
The basic idea is that Newtonian gravity is modified due to the presence of a (negative) density, everywhere in space, of mass-energy.