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  • Open Access

Superluminal modes in a quantum field simulator for cosmology from analog trans-Planckian physics

Christian F. Schmidt* and Stefan Floerchinger†

  • *Contact author: christian.schmidt@uni-jena.de
  • †Contact author: stefan.floerchinger@uni-jena.de
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 105014 – Published 18 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hjfy-52jt

Abstract

The quantum-field-theoretic description for the U(1)-Goldstone boson of a scalar Bose-Einstein condensate with time-dependent contact interactions is developed beyond the acoustic approximation in accordance with Bogoliubov theory. The resulting effective action is mapped to a relativistic quantum field theory on a dispersive (or rainbow) cosmological spacetime which has a superluminal Corley-Jacobson dispersion relation. Time-dependent changes of the s-wave scattering length to quantum-simulate cosmological particle production are accompanied by a time-dependent healing length that can be interpreted as an analog Planck length in the comoving frame. Nonadiabatic transitions acquire a dispersive character, which is thoroughly discussed. The framework is applied to exponentially expanding or power-law contracting (2+1)-dimensional spacetimes which are known to produce scale-invariant cosmological power spectra. The sensitivity of these scenarios to the time dependence of the Bogoliubov dispersion is investigated: We find a violation of scale invariance via analytically trackable trans-Planckian damping effects if the cutoff scale is not well separated from the horizon-crossing scale. In case of the exponential expansion, these damping effects remarkably settle and converge to another scale-invariant plateau in the far ultraviolet regime where nonadiabatic transitions are suppressed by the high dispersion. The developed framework enables quantitative access to more drastic analog cosmological scenarios with improved predictability in the ultraviolet regime that ultimately may lead to the observation of a scale-invariant cosmological power spectrum in the laboratory.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 105014– Published 18 May, 2026
  • Received 16 January 2026
  • Accepted 20 March 2026
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