Abstract: We present a detailed analytical analysis of the propagation of Bogoliubov phonons on top of Bose-Einstein condensates with spatial and temporal steplike discontinuities in the speed of sound in the hydrodynamic limit. We focus on some features in the correlations patterns, in particular, of density-density correlations. The application to the study of the Hawking signal in the formation of acoustic black hole-like configurations is also discussed.

Abstract: Semiclassical gravity is investigated in a large class of asymptotically flat, static, spherically symmetric spacetimes including those containing static stars, black holes, and wormholes. Specifically the stress-energy tensors of massless free spin 0 and spin 1/2 fields are computed to leading order in the asymptotic regions of these spacetimes. This is done for spin 0 fields in Schwarzschild spacetime using a WKB approximation. It is done numerically for the spin 1/2 field in Schwarzschild, extreme Reissner-Nordstrom, and various wormhole spacetimes. And it is done by finding analytic solutions to the leading order mode equations in a large class of asymptotically flat static spherically symmetric spacetimes. Agreement is shown between these various computational methods. It is found that, for all of the spacetimes considered, the energy density and pressure in the asymptotic region are proportional to r(-5) to leading order. Furthermore, for the spin 1/2 field and the conformally coupled scalar field, the stress-energy tensor depends only on the leading order geometry in the far field limit. This is also true for the minimally coupled scalar field for spacetimes containing either a static star or a black hole, but not for spacetimes containing a wormhole.

Abstract: We compute the analogue Hawking radiation for modes which possess a small wave vector perpendicular to the horizon. For low frequencies, the resulting mass term induces a total reflection. This reflection is accompanied by an extra mode mixing which occurs in the supersonic region, and which cancels out the infrared divergence of the near horizon spectrum. As a result, the amplitude of the undulation (0-frequency wave with macroscopic amplitude) emitted in white hole flows now saturates at the linear level, unlike what is found in the massless case. In addition, we point out that the mass introduces a new type of undulation which is produced in black hole flows, and which is well described in the hydrodynamical regime.

Abstract: The density-density correlation function is computed for the Bogoliubov pseudoparticles created in a Bose-Einstein condensate undergoing a black hole flow. On the basis of the gravitational analogy, the method used relies only on quantum field theory in curved spacetime techniques. A comparison with the results obtained by ab initio full condensed matter calculations is given, confirming the validity of the approximation used, provided the profile of the flow varies smoothly on scales compared to the condensate healing length.

Abstract: We present a family of exact solutions, depending on two parameters alpha and b (related to the scalar field strength), to the three-dimensional Einstein-scalar field equations with negative cosmological constant Lambda. For b not equal 0 these solutions reduce to the static Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli (BTZ) family of vacuum solutions, with mass M = -alpha. For b not equal 0, the solutions become dynamical and develop a strong spacelike central singularity. The alpha < 0 solutions are black-hole like, with a global structure topologically similar to that of the BTZ black holes, and a finite effective mass. We show that the near-singularity behavior of the solutions with alpha > 0 agrees qualitatively with that observed in numerical simulations of sub-critical collapse, including the independence of the near-critical regime on the angle deficit of the spacetime. We analyze in the Lambda = 0 approximation the linear perturbations of the self-similar threshold solution, alpha = 0, and find that it has only one unstable growing mode, which qualifies it as a candidate critical solution for scalar field collapse.