Four-dimensional space | EPFL Graph Search

Four-dimensional space (4D) is the mathematical extension of the concept of three-dimensional space (3D). Three-dimensional space is the simplest possible abstraction of the observation that one needs only three numbers, called dimensions, to describe the sizes or locations of objects in the everyday world. For example, the volume of a rectangular box is found by measuring and multiplying its length, width, and height (often labeled x, y, and z). This concept of ordinary space is called Euclidean space because it corresponds to Euclid's geometry, which was originally abstracted from the spatial experiences of everyday life. The idea of adding a fourth dimension appears in Jean le Rond d'Alembert's "Dimensions". published in 1754, but the mathematics of more than three dimensions only emerged in the 19th century. The general concept of Euclidean space with any number of dimensions was fully developed by the Swiss mathematician Ludwig Schläfli b

Topological defects and gravity in theories with extra dimensions

Ewald Rössl

Recent proposals of large and infinite extra dimensions triggered a strong research activity in theories in which our universe is considered as a sub-manifold of some higher-dimensional space-time, a so-called 3-brane. In this context, it is generally assumed that some mechanism is at work which binds Standard Model particles to the 3-brane, an effect often referred to as the localization of matter on the brane. Gravity, however, is allowed to propagate in general also in the extra dimensions. As demonstrated by Randall and Sundrum in 1999, it is also possible to localize gravity itself on a 3-brane. In the setup they proposed. the 3-brane is realized as a singular domain wall separating two patches of 3-dimensional anti-de-Sitter (AdS5) space-time. The potential between two test masses on the brane at distances larger than the AdS5-radius was shown to be the usual 4-dimensional Newtonian 1/r potential with strongly suppressed corrections. The model of Randall and Sundrum, usually referred to as the Randall-Sundrum II setup, constitutes the center of interest for this thesis. The main goal of this work is to find possible generalizations to higher dimensions of the simple setup considered by Randall and Sundrum. One of the motivations for such a generalization is that a realistic theory should possibly be able to explain the chiral nature of 4-dimensional fermions on the brane. One way to explain chiral fermions from higher dimensions is to consider 3-braves identified with the cores of topological defects located in a higher-dimensional transverse space. Naturally a richer topological structure of the field configuration in transverse space provides the possibility of a more realistic spectrum of chiral fermions localized on the 3-brane. After two introductory chapters on extra dimensions and non-factorizable geometries which are relevant for the Randall-Sundrum II model, we briefly discuss basics of topological defects in the following third chapter. In the rest of the third chapter we consider various solutions to higher-dimensional Einstein equations coupled to a series of physically different sources and discuss their properties of localization of gravity. Due to their asymptotic nature, these solutions are only valid far from the cores of the defects in transverse space. Therefore, it seems reasonable to complement the consideration by presenting a particular numerical example of a solution to the Einstein equations coupled to a set of scalar and gauge fields: this solution describes a 3-brave realized as a 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole residing in the 3-dimensional transverse space of a 7-dimensional space-time. The last chapter of this work is dedicated to the study of a modification of the original Randall-Sundrum II model of another kind. The motivation is given by the geodesic incompleteness of the latter scenario with respect to time-like and light-like geodesics. We will describe a model which resembles the Randall-Sundrurn II model with respect to its properties of gravity localization but with the advantage that the underlying space-time manifold is geodesically complete. Parts of the calculations related to the properties of gravity at low energies in this model are rather technical in nature and we therefore preferred to assemble them in several appendices. We finally add some concluding remarks and discuss possible further developments.

EPFL2004

Localization errors of the stochastic heat equation

David Jean-Michel Candil

In this thesis, we study the stochastic heat equation (SHE) on bounded domains and on the whole Euclidean space

\R^d.

We confirm the intuition that as the bounded domain increases to the whole space, both solutions become arbitrarily close to one another. Both vanishing Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions are considered.We first study the nonlinear SHE in any space dimension with multiplicative correlated noise and bounded initial data. We prove that the solutions to SHE on an increasing sequence of domains converge exponentially fast to the solution to SHE on

\R^d.

Uniform convergence on compact set is obtained for all

p

-moments. The conditions that need to be imposed on the noise are the same as those required to ensure existence of a random field solution. A Gronwall-type iteration argument is used together with uniform bounds on the solutions, which are surprisingly valid for the entire sequence of increasing domains.We then study SHE in space dimension

d\ge 2

with additive white noise and bounded initial data. Even though both solutions need to be considered as distributions, their difference is proved to be smooth. If fact, the order of smoothness depends only on the regularity of the boundary of the increasing sequence of domains. We prove that the Fourier transform, in the sense of distributions, of the solution to SHE on

\R^d

do not have any locally mean-square integrable representative. Therefore, convergence is studied in local versions of Sobolev spaces. Again, exponential rate is obtained.Finally, we study the Anderson model for SHE with correlated noise and initial data given by a measure. We obtain a special expression for the second moment of the difference of the solution on

\R^d

with that on a bounded domain. The contribution of the initial condition is made explicit. For example, exponentially fast convergence on compact sets is obtained for any initial condition with polynomial growth. More interestingly, from a given convergence rate, we can decide whether some initial data is admissible.

EPFL2022

Gravitating field-theoretical branes and their excitations

Katarzyna Zuleta Estrugo

This thesis is devoted to studying field-theoretical branes in warped geometries, with emphasis on brane excitations and properties of background solutions. Firstly, we examine the features of a model in which our universe is represented by a local string-like defect embedded in a six-dimensional space-time with warped geometry. We demonstrate that in order to satisfy the dominant energy condition, the metric exterior to the defect's core must depend on its thickness. As a result of this dependence, in the limit of the string's thickness going to zero, either the solution no longer localizes the gravity on the defect, or the ratio of the six-dimensional Planck mass to the four-dimensional one diverges. Next, we propose and study a toy model allowing to investigate the phenomenon of quasilocalization. When applied to gravity, our setup can be seen as a (toy) model of a warped geometry in which the graviton is not fully localized on the brane. Studying the tensor sector of metric perturbations around this background, we find that its contribution to the effective gravitational potential is of four-dimensional type 1/r at intermediate scales and that at large scales it becomes 1/rα, 1

EPFL2005

Localization errors of the stochastic heat equation

David Jean-Michel Candil

In this thesis, we study the stochastic heat equation (SHE) on bounded domains and on the whole Euclidean space

\R^d.

\R^d.

Uniform convergence on compact set is obtained for all

p

d\ge 2

\R^d

\R^d

EPFL2022