The key event in the “modern” period (though largely unrecognised at the time) was the 1981 publication
of Unruh’s paper “Experimental black hole evaporation” [376], which implemented an analogue model
based on fluid flow, and then used the power of that analogy to probe fundamental issues regarding
Hawking radiation from “real” general relativity black holes.
We believe that Unruh’s 1981 article represents the first observation of the now widely established fact that
Hawking radiation has nothing to do with general relativity per se, but that Hawking radiation is instead a
fundamental curved-space quantum field theory phenomenon that occurs whenever a horizon is present in an effective
geometry.15
Though Unruh’s 1981 paper was seminal in this regard, it lay largely unnoticed for many years.
Some 10 years later Jacobson’s article “Black-hole evaporation and ultrashort distances” [185] used
Unruh’s analogy to build a physical model for the “trans-Planckian modes” believed to be relevant to the
Hawking radiation process. Progress then sped up with the relatively rapid appearance of [186
]
and [377
, 378
]. (This period also saw the independent rediscovery of the fluid analogue model
by one of the present authors [387], and the first explicit consideration of superfluids in this
regard [84].)
The later 1990’s then saw continued work by Jacobson and his group [187, 188, 88
, 90
, 198], with new
and rather different contributions coming in the form of the solid state models considered by
Reznik [319
, 318
].16
This period also saw the introduction of the more general class of superfluid models considered by Volovik
and his collaborators [402, 403, 213
, 110, 407, 405, 406, 199
, 409, 410], more precise formulations of the
notions of horizon, ergosphere, and surface gravity in analogue models [389
, 391
], and discussions of the
implications of analogue models regarding Bekenstein-Hawking entropy [390, 391]. Finally, analogue
spacetimes based on special relativistic acoustics were considered in [33].
By the year 2000, articles on one or another aspect of analogue gravity were appearing at the
rate of over 20 per year, and it becomes impractical to summarise more than a selection of
them.
Key developments in 2000 were the introduction, by Garay and collaborators, of the use of Bose-Einstein
condensates as a working fluid [136, 137
], and the extension of those ideas by the present authors [14].
Further afield, the trans-Planckian problem also reared its head in the context of cosmological
inflation, and analogue model ideas previously applied to Hawking radiation were reused in that
context [205, 273].
That year also marked the appearance of a review article on superfluid analogues [413], more work on
“near-horizon” physics [123], and the transference of the idea of analogue-inspired “multiple metric”
theories into cosmology where they can be used as the basis for a precise definition of what is meant by a
VSL (“variable speed of light”) cosmology [28]. Models based on nonlinear electrodynamics were
investigated in [11],
based models were reconsidered in [193, 411], and “slow light” models in
quantum dielectrics were considered in [235
, 236, 231].
The most radical proposal to appear in 2000 was that of Laughlin et al. [76]. Based on taking a
superfluid analogy rather literally they mooted an actual physical breakdown of general relativity at the
horizon of a black hole [76].
Additionally, the workshop on “Analogue models of general relativity”, held at CBPF (Rio de Janeiro)
gathered some 20 international participants and greatly stimulated the field, leading ultimately to the
publication of the book [284] in 2002.
This year saw more applications of analogue-inspired ideas to cosmological inflation [107, 263, 262
, 207
, 275
],
to neutron star cores [66], and to the cosmological constant [414, 416].
Closer to the heart of the analogue programme were the development of a “normal mode” analysis
in [15, 16, 398
], the development of dielectric analogues in [342], speculations regarding the possibly
emergent nature of Einstein gravity [20, 398
], and further developments regarding the use of
[106] as an analogue for electromagnetism. Experimental proposals were considered
in [19
, 398, 331].
Vorticity was discussed in [307], and the use of BECs as a model for the breakdown of Lorentz invariance in [397]. Analogue models based on nonlinear electrodynamics were discussed in [101]. Acoustics in an irrotational vortex were investigated in [120].
The excitation spectrum in superfluids, specifically the fermion zero modes, were investigated in [412, 182], while the relationship between rotational friction in superfluids and super-radiance in rotating spacetimes was discussed in [57]. More work on “slow light” appeared in [48]. The possible role of Lorentz violations at ultra-high energy was emphasised in [190].
“What did we learn from studying acoustic black holes?” was the title and theme of Parentani’s article in
2002 [300], while Schützhold and Unruh developed a rather different fluid-based analogy based on gravity
waves in shallow water [344, 345]. Super-radiance was investigated in [27
], while the propagation of
phonons and quasiparticles was discussed in [122, 121]. More work on “slow light” appeared
in [124
, 311].
The stability of an acoustic white hole was investigated in [234], while further developments regarding
analogue models based on nonlinear electrodynamics were presented by Novello and collaborators
in [102, 103, 282
, 278
, 126
]. Analogue spacetimes relevant to braneworld cosmologies were considered
in [12].
Though analogue models lead naturally to the idea of high-energy violations of Lorentz invariance, it
must be stressed that definite observational evidence for violations of Lorentz invariance is lacking - in fact
there are rather strong constraints on how strong any possible Lorentz violating effect might
be [195, 194
].
That year saw further discussion of analogue-inspired models for black hole entropy and the cosmological
constant [419, 421], and the development of analogue models for FRW geometries [115, 114
, 17
, 105, 242
].
There were several further developments regarding the foundations of BEC-based models in [18
, 116
], while
analogue spacetimes in superfluid neutron stars were further investigated in [67].
Effective geometry was the theme in [280], while applications of nonlinear electrodynamics (and its
effective metric) to cosmology were presented in [281
]. Super-radiance was further investigated in [26
, 24],
while the limitations of the “slow light” analogue were explained in [379
]. Vachaspati argued for an analogy
between phase boundaries and acoustic horizons in [381]. Emergent relativity was again addressed
in [227].
The review article by Burgess [53], emphasised the role of general relativity as an effective field theory - the sine qua non for any attempt at interpreting general relativity as an emergent theory. The lecture notes by Jacobson [191] give a nice introduction to Hawking radiation and its connection to analogue spacetimes.
The year 2004 saw the appearance of some 30 articles on (or closely related to) analogue models.
Effective geometries in astrophysics were discussed by Perez Bergliaffa [306], while the physical
realizability of acoustic Hawking radiation was addressed in [95, 382]. More cosmological issues were
raised in [382, 424
], while a specifically astrophysical use of the acoustic analogy was invoked
in [96, 97, 98].
BEC-based horizons were again considered in [149, 148], while backreaction effects were the focus of
attention in [10, 9
, 208]. More issues relating to the simulation of FRW cosmologies were raised
in [118, 119
].
Unruh and Schützhold discussed the universality of the Hawking effect [380], and a new proposal for
possibly detecting Hawking radiation in a electromagnetic wave guide [347]. The causal structure
of analogue spacetimes was considered in [13
], while quasinormal modes attracted attention
in [31
, 237
, 64
, 269]. Two dimensional analogue models were considered in [55].
There were attempts at modelling the Kerr geometry [401], and generic “rotating” spacetimes [77], a
proposal for using analogue models to generate massive phonon modes in BECs [400], and an extension of
the usual formalism for representing weak-field gravitational lensing in terms of an analogue refractive
index [38].
Finally we mention the development of yet more strong observational bounds on possible ultra high
energy Lorentz violation [196, 197
].
The first few months of 2005 have seen continued and vigourous activity on the analogue model front.
More studies of the super-resonance phenomenon have appeared [25, 113
, 209, 354], and a
mini-survey was presented in [63]. Quasinormal modes have again received attention in [78],
while the Magnus force is reanalysed in terms of the acoustic geometry in [432]. Singularities in
the acoustic geometry are considered in [56], while back-reaction has received more attention
in [343].
Interest in analogue models is intense and shows no signs of abating.
We shall in the next subsection focus more precisely on the early history of analogue models, and specifically those that seem to us to have had a direct historical connection with the sustained burst of work carried out in the last 15 years.
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