Gravitational causality and the self-stress of photons
Abstract We study causality in gravitational systems beyond the classical limit. Using on-shell methods, we consider the 1-loop corrections from charged particles to the photon energy-momentum tensor — the self-stress — that controls the quantum interaction between two on-shell photons and one off-s...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2022-05-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2022)154 |
| _version_ | 1811253579029151744 |
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| author | Brando Bellazzini Giulia Isabella Matthew Lewandowski Francesco Sgarlata |
| author_facet | Brando Bellazzini Giulia Isabella Matthew Lewandowski Francesco Sgarlata |
| author_sort | Brando Bellazzini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We study causality in gravitational systems beyond the classical limit. Using on-shell methods, we consider the 1-loop corrections from charged particles to the photon energy-momentum tensor — the self-stress — that controls the quantum interaction between two on-shell photons and one off-shell graviton. The self-stress determines in turn the phase shift and time delay in the scattering of photons against a spectator particle of any spin in the eikonal regime. We show that the sign of the β-function associated to the running gauge coupling is related to the sign of time delay at small impact parameter. Our results show that, at first post-Minkowskian order, asymptotic causality, where the time delay experienced by any particle must be positive, is respected quantum mechanically. Contrasted with asymptotic causality, we explore a local notion of causality, where the time delay is longer than the one of gravitons, which is seemingly violated by quantum effects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:53:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c6a4de2d791b480faeee2a2f45af0b31 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:53:07Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-c6a4de2d791b480faeee2a2f45af0b312022-12-22T03:24:20ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792022-05-012022513610.1007/JHEP05(2022)154Gravitational causality and the self-stress of photonsBrando Bellazzini0Giulia Isabella1Matthew Lewandowski2Francesco Sgarlata3Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, CEA, Institut de Physique ThéoriqueUniversité Paris-Saclay, CNRS, CEA, Institut de Physique ThéoriqueDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern UniversityDepartment of Physics, LEPP, Cornell UniversityAbstract We study causality in gravitational systems beyond the classical limit. Using on-shell methods, we consider the 1-loop corrections from charged particles to the photon energy-momentum tensor — the self-stress — that controls the quantum interaction between two on-shell photons and one off-shell graviton. The self-stress determines in turn the phase shift and time delay in the scattering of photons against a spectator particle of any spin in the eikonal regime. We show that the sign of the β-function associated to the running gauge coupling is related to the sign of time delay at small impact parameter. Our results show that, at first post-Minkowskian order, asymptotic causality, where the time delay experienced by any particle must be positive, is respected quantum mechanically. Contrasted with asymptotic causality, we explore a local notion of causality, where the time delay is longer than the one of gravitons, which is seemingly violated by quantum effects.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2022)154Effective Field TheoriesScattering Amplitudes |
| spellingShingle | Brando Bellazzini Giulia Isabella Matthew Lewandowski Francesco Sgarlata Gravitational causality and the self-stress of photons Journal of High Energy Physics Effective Field Theories Scattering Amplitudes |
| title | Gravitational causality and the self-stress of photons |
| title_full | Gravitational causality and the self-stress of photons |
| title_fullStr | Gravitational causality and the self-stress of photons |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gravitational causality and the self-stress of photons |
| title_short | Gravitational causality and the self-stress of photons |
| title_sort | gravitational causality and the self stress of photons |
| topic | Effective Field Theories Scattering Amplitudes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2022)154 |
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