Massive particles in acoustic space-times emergent inertia and passive gravity
(Januar 2006)Zusammenfassung
I show that massive-particle dynamics can be simulated by a weak, spherical,
external perturbation on a potential flow in an ideal fluid. The effective
Lagrangian is of the form mc^2L(U^2/c^2), where U is the velocity of the
particle relative to the fluid and c the speed of sound. This can serve as a
model for emergent relativistic inertia a la Mach's principle with m playing
the role of inertial mass, and also of analog gravity where it is also the
passive gravitational mass. m depends on the particle type and intrinsic
structure, while L is universal: For D dimensional particles L is proportional
to the hypergeometric function F(1,1/2;D/2;U^2/c^2). Particles fall in the same
way in the analog gravitational field independent of their internal structure,
thus satisfying the weak equivalence principle. For D less or equal 5 they all
have a relativistic limit with the acquired energy and momentum diverging as U
approaches c. For D less or equal 7 the null geodesics of the standard acoustic
metric solve our equation of motion. Interestingly, for D=4 the dynamics is
very nearly Lorentzian. The particles can be said to follow the geodesics of a
generalized acoustic metric of a Finslerian type that shares the null geodesics
with the standard acoustic metric. In vortex geometries, the ergosphere is
automatically the static limit. As in the real world, in ``black hole''
geometries circular orbits do not exist below a certain radius that occurs
outside the horizon. There is a natural definition of antiparticles; and I
describe a mock particle vacuum in whose context one can discuss, e.g.,
particle Hawking radiation near event horizons.
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