Analogues of gravity-induced instabilities in anisotropic metamaterials

Author(s)

Ribeiro, Caio C. Holanda ^[1] ; Vanzella, Daniel A. Turolla ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Fis Sao Carlos, Caixa Postal 369, BR-13560970 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PHYSICAL REVIEW RESEARCH; v. 2, n. 1 MAR 9 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

In the context of field theory in curved space-times, it is known that suitable background space-time geometries can trigger instabilities of fields, leading to exponential growth of their (quantum and classical) fluctuations, a phenomenon called vacuum awakening in the quantum context, which in some classical scenarios seeds spontaneous scalarization or vectorization. Despite its conceptual interest, an actual observation in nature of this effect is uncertain since it depends on the existence of fields with appropriate masses and couplings in strong-gravity regimes. Here, we propose analogues for this gravity-induced instability based on nonlinear optics of metamaterials which could, in principle, be observed in laboratory. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/26438-8 - Instability of fermionic, vectorial, and tensorial fields in curved spacetimes
• Grantee: Caio Cesar Holanda Ribeiro
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate