The Refractive Index of Curved Spacetime II: QED, Penrose Limits and Black Holes

Details The Refractive Index of Curved Spacetime II: QED, Penrose Limits and Black Holes The Refractive Index of Curved Spacetime II: QED, Penrose Limits and Black Holes

2009-05-06

arxiv.org/abs/0905.0771v2

JHEP 0908:089,2009

Physics

High Energy Physics

High Energy Physics - Theory

62 pages, 14 figures, some signs corrected in formulae and graphs

Scientific paper

10.1088/1126-6708/2009/08/089

This work considers the way that quantum loop effects modify the propagation of light in curved space. The calculation of the refractive index for scalar QED is reviewed and then extended for the first time to QED with spinor particles in the loop. It is shown how, in both cases, the low frequency phase velocity can be greater than c, as found originally by Drummond and Hathrell, but causality is respected in the sense that retarded Green functions vanish outside the lightcone. A "phenomenology" of the refractive index is then presented for black holes, FRW universes and gravitational waves. In some cases, some of the polarization states propagate with a refractive index having a negative imaginary part indicating a potential breakdown of the optical theorem in curved space and possible instabilities.

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