Emergent geometries and nonlinear-wave dynamics in photon fluids

Marino, F., Maitland, C., Vocke, D., Ortolan, A. and Faccio, D. (2016) Emergent geometries and nonlinear-wave dynamics in photon fluids. Scientific Reports, 6, 23282. (doi: 10.1038/srep23282) (PMID:27001128) (PMCID:PMC4802342)

Abstract

Nonlinear waves in defocusing media are investigated in the framework of the hydrodynamic description of light as a photon fluid. The observations are interpreted in terms of an emergent curved spacetime generated by the waves themselves, which fully determines their dynamics. The spacetime geometry emerges naturally as a result of the nonlinear interaction between the waves and the self-induced background flow. In particular, as observed in real fluids, different points of the wave profile propagate at different velocities leading to the self-steepening of the wave front and to the formation of a shock. This phenomenon can be associated to a curvature singularity of the emergent metric. Our analysis offers an alternative insight into the problem of shock formation and provides a demonstration of an analogue gravity model that goes beyond the kinematic level.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Faccio, Professor Daniele
• Authors: Marino, F., Maitland, C., Vocke, D., Ortolan, A., and Faccio, D.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Published Online: 22 March 2016
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Scientific Reports 6:23282
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License