2002/01/07 by Lior M. Burko
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Classical field theory #Classical mechanics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Geometry #Gravitation #Higgs boson #Instability #Magnetic monopole #Mathematical physics #Physics #Point particle #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Scalar (mathematics) #Scalar boson #Scalar field #Scalar potential #Scalar theories of gravitation #Spacetime #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0264-9381/19/14/313
published as Class.Quant.Grav. 19 (2002) 3745-3752 · 4 pages, RevTeX4
arxiv created 2002/01/07 · openalex publication_date 2002/06/26 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We study the phenomenon of mass loss by a scalar charge—a point particle which acts as a source for a (non-interacting) scalar field—in (1 + 1)-dimensional and (2 + 1)-dimensional flat spacetimes. We find that such particles are unstable against self interaction: they lose their mass through the emission of monopole radiation. This is in sharp contrast with scalar charges in (3 + 1)-dimensional flat spacetime, where no such phenomenon occurs.