Fermionic vacuum polarization in higher-dimensional global monopole spacetime

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the vacuum polarization effects associated with a massless fermionic field in a higher-dimensional global monopole spacetime in the "braneworld" scenario. In this context we admit that the our Universe, the bulk, is represented by a flat $(n-1)-$dimensional brane having a global monopole in a extra transverse three dimensional submanifold. We explicitly calculate the renormalized vacuum average of the energy-momentum tensor, $<T_A^B(x)>_{Ren.}$, admitting the global monopole as being a point-like object. We observe that this quantity depends crucially on the value of $n$, and we provide explicit expressions to it for specific values attributed to $n$.