2021•Physical review. D/Physical review. D.Open access

Particle scattering in a sonic analogue of special relativity

Scott L. Todd, Giacomo Pantaleoni, Valentina Baccetti, Nicolas C. Menicucci

Open full text 7 citations

Abstract

We investigate a simple toy model of particle scattering in the flat spacetime limit of an analogue-gravity model. The analogue-gravity medium is treated as a scalar field of phonons that obeys the Klein--Gordon equation and thus admits a Lorentz symmetry with respect to ${c}_{\mathrm{s}}$, the speed of sound in the medium. The particle from which the phonons are scattered is external to the system and does not obey the sonic Lorentz symmetry that the phonon field obeys. In-universe observers who use the exchange of sound to operationally measure distance and duration find that the external particle appears to be a sonically Lorentz-violating particle. By performing a sonic analogue to Compton scattering, in-universe observers can determine if they are in motion with respect to their medium. If in-universe observers were then to correctly postulate the dispersion relation of the external particle, their velocity with respect to the medium could be found.

Open-access reader

About this research paper

What this paper is about

We investigate a simple toy model of particle scattering in the flat spacetime limit of an analogue-gravity model. The analogue-gravity medium is treated as a scalar field of phonons that obeys the Klein--Gordon equation and thus admits a Lorentz symmetry with respect to ${c}_{\mathrm{s}}$, the speed of sound in the medium. The particle from which the phonons are scattered is external to the system and does not obey the sonic Lorentz symmetry that the phonon field obeys. In-universe observers who use the exchange of sound to operationally measure distance and duration find that the external particle appears to be a sonically Lorentz-violating particle. By performing a sonic analogue to Compton scattering, in-universe observers can determine if they are in motion with respect to their medium. If in-universe observers were then to correctly postulate the dispersion relation of the external particle, their velocity with respect to the medium could be found.

Why it matters

OpenAlex reports 7 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.

Key contribution

A contribution statement is not available in the OpenAlex record.

Method / approach

Method details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Main findings

Findings are not separately available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Limitations

Limitations are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Applications

Application details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Available abstract

We investigate a simple toy model of particle scattering in the flat spacetime limit of an analogue-gravity model. The analogue-gravity medium is treated as a scalar field of phonons that obeys the Klein--Gordon equation and thus admits a Lorentz symmetry with respect to ${c}_{\mathrm{s}}$, the speed of sound in the medium. The particle from which the phonons are scattered is external to the system and does not obey the sonic Lorentz symmetry that the phonon field obeys. In-universe observers who use the exchange of sound to operationally measure distance and duration find that the external particle appears to be a sonically Lorentz-violating particle. By performing a sonic analogue to Compton scattering, in-universe observers can determine if they are in motion with respect to their medium. If in-universe observers were then to correctly postulate the dispersion relation of the external particle, their velocity with respect to the medium could be found.

Key concepts: Physics, Classical mechanics, Lorentz transformation, Dispersion relation, Speed of sound, Quantum electrodynamics, Universe, Spacetime

Related papers

Back to paper searchBrowse research topicsOriginal source
Particle scattering in a sonic analogue of special relativity — Research Paper | ScholarLens