Analogue Gravity: History, Models and Prospects

[wolram]

http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0505065

Analogue Gravity
Authors: Carlos Barcelo (IAA, Granada), Stefano Liberati (SISSA/ISAS, Trieste), Matt Visser (Victoria University of Wellington)
Comments: 151 pages; 12 figures; 427 references. This is a draft of a "Living Review" that will shortly be submitted to the Journal "Living Reviews in General Relativity". Constructive comments are welcome

Analogue models of (and for) gravity have a long and distinguished history dating back to the earliest years of general relativity. In this review article we will discuss the history, aims, results, and future prospects for the various analogue models. We start the discussion by presenting a particularly simple example of an analogue model, before exploring the rich history and complex tapestry of models discussed in the literature. The last decade in particular has seen a remarkable and sustained development of analogue gravity ideas, leading to some hundreds of published articles, a workshop, two books, and this review article. Future prospects for the analogue gravity programme also look promising, both on the experimental front (where technology is rapidly advancing) and on the theoretical front (where variants of analogue models can be used as a springboard for radical attacks on the problem of quantum gravity).

 

[lippyka]

We then move on to discuss the basic principles of analogue gravity. We explain how the underlying physical ideas can be applied to a wide variety of physical systems. We also consider the general mathematical techniques needed in order to develop an analogue model, and explain how they can be used to construct the equations of motion for such models. Finally, we discuss some of the most promising applications of analogue models, including the so-called “quantum acoustic” effects, the “fluid analogue” of general relativity, and the various “analogue black holes”. This review article is intended as a comprehensive introduction to the field of analogue gravity. It should be of interest to both theorists and experimentalists, as well as those with a more general interest in the interface between general relativity and quantum theory.