Renormalized scalar propagator around a dispiration

TL;DR

This paper derives the renormalized scalar propagator around a cosmic dispiration, revealing vacuum polarization effects and off-diagonal energy-momentum tensor components, with potential physical implications similar to the Aharonov-Bohm effect.

Contribution

It provides the first explicit derivation of the scalar propagator in a dispiration background, enabling analysis of vacuum effects in such topological defects.

Findings

Dispiration polarizes the vacuum, producing a non-zero off-diagonal energy-momentum tensor.

Vacuum fluctuations are computed explicitly in the dispiration background.

The effects resemble the Aharonov-Bohm phenomenon, indicating possible observable consequences.

Abstract

The renormalized Feynman propagator for a scalar field in the background of a cosmic dispiration (a disclination plus a screw dislocation) is derived, opening a window to investigate vacuum polarization effects around a cosmic string with dislocation, as well as in the bulk of an elastic solid carrying a dispiration. The use of the propagator is illustrated by computing vacuum fluctuations. In particular it is shown that the dispiration polarizes the vacuum giving rise to an energy momentum tensor which, as seen from a local inertial frame, presents non vanishing off-diagonal components. Such a new effect resembles that where an induced vacuum current arises around a needle solenoid carrying a magnetic flux (the Aharonov-Bohm effect), and may have physical consequences. Connections with a closely related background, namely the spacetime of a spinning cosmic string, are briefly addressed.