Impulse Action on D-particles in Robertson-Walker Space Times, Higher-Order Logarithmic Conformal Algebras and Cosmological Horizons

We demonstrate that an impulse action (`recoil') on a D-particle embedded in a (four-dimensional) cosmological Robertson-Walker (RW) spacetime is described, in a $\sigma$-model framework, by a suitably extended higher-order logarithmic world-sheet algebra of relevant deformations. We study in some detail the algebra of the appropriate two-point correlators, and give a careful discussion as to how one can approach the world-sheet renormalization group infrared fixed point, in the neighborhood of which the logarithmic algebra is valid. It is found that, if the initial RW spacetime does not have cosmological horizons, then there is no problem in approaching the fixed point. However, in the presence of horizons, there are world-sheet divergences which imply the need for Liouville dressing in order to approach the fixed point in the correct way. A detailed analysis on the subtle subtraction of these divergences in the latter case is given. In both cases, at the fixed point, the recoil-induced spacetime is nothing other than a coordinate transformation of the initial spacetime into the rest frame of the recoiling D-particle. However, in the horizon case, if one identifies the Liouville mode with the target time, which expresses physically the back reaction of the recoiling D-particle onto the spacetime structure, it is found that the induced spacetime distortion results in the removal of the initial cosmological horizon and the eventual stopping of the acceleration of the Universe. In this latter sense, our model may be thought of as a conformal field theory description of a (toy) Universe characterized by a sort of `phase transition' at the moment of impulse, implying a time-varying speed of light.