Cosmological perturbations in extended electromagnetism. General gauge invariant approach

A certain vector-tensor (VT) theory is revisited. It was proposed and analyzed as a theory of electromagnetism without the standard gauge invariance. Our attention is first focused on a detailed variational formulation of the theory, which leads to both a modified Lorentz force and the true energy momentum tensor of the vector field. The theory is then applied to cosmology. A complete gauge invariant treatment of the scalar perturbations is presented. For appropriate gauge invariant variables describing the scalar modes of the vector field (A-modes), it is proved that the evolution equations of these modes do not involve the scalar modes appearing in General Relativity (GR-modes), which are associated to the metric and the energy momentum tensor of the cosmological fluids. However, the A-modes modify the standard gauge invariant equations describing the GR-modes. By using the new formalism, the evolution equations of the A-perturbations are derived and separately solved and, then, the correction terms --due to the A-perturbations-- appearing in the evolution equations of the GR-modes are estimated. The evolution of these correction terms is studied for an appropriate scale. The relevance of these terms depends on both the spectra and the values of the normalization constants involved in extended electromagnetism. Further applications of the new formalism will be presented elsewhere.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures, published in Physical Review

A Hamiltonian system for interacting Benjamin-Feir resonances

In this paper, we present a model describing the time evolution of two dimensional surface waves in gravity and infinite depth. The model of six interacting modes derives from the normal form of the system describing the dynamics of surface waves and is governed by a Hamiltonian system of equations of cubic order in the amplitudes of the waves. We derive a Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom from this Hamiltonian using conserved quantities. The interactions are those of two coupled Benjamin-Feir resonances. The temporal evolution of the amplitude of the different modes is described according to the parameters of the system. In particular, we study the energy exchange produced by the modulations of the amplitudes of the modes. The evolution of the modes reveals a chaotic dynamics

Exotic modes of excitation in atomic nuclei far from stability

We review recent studies of the evolution of collective excitations in atomic nuclei far from the valley of $\beta$-stability. Collective degrees of freedom govern essential aspects of nuclear structure, and for several decades the study of collective modes such as rotations and vibrations has played a vital role in our understanding of complex properties of nuclei. The multipole response of unstable nuclei and the possible occurrence of new exotic modes of excitation in weakly-bound nuclear systems, present a rapidly growing field of research, but only few experimental studies of these phenomena have been reported so far. Valuable data on the evolution of the low-energy dipole response in unstable neutron-rich nuclei have been gathered in recent experiments, but the available information is not sufficient to determine the nature of observed excitations. Even in stable nuclei various modes of giant collective oscillations had been predicted by theory years before they were observed, and for that reason it is very important to perform detailed theoretical studies of the evolution of collective modes of excitation in nuclei far from stability. We therefore discuss the modern theoretical tools that have been developed in recent years for the description of collective excitations in weakly-bound nuclei. The review focuses on the applications of these models to studies of the evolution of low-energy dipole modes from stable nuclei to systems near the particle emission threshold, to analyses of various isoscalar modes, those for which data are already available, as well as those that could be observed in future experiments, to a description of charge-exchange modes and their evolution in neutron-rich nuclei, and to studies of the role of exotic low-energy modes in astrophysical processes.Comment: 123 pages, 59 figures, submitted to Reports on Progress in Physic

Solitons and diffusive modes in the noiseless Burgers equation: Stability analysis

The noiseless Burgers equation in one spatial dimension is analyzed from the point of view of a diffusive evolution equation in terms of nonlinear soliton modes and linear diffusive modes. The transient evolution of the profile is interpreted as a gas of right hand solitons connected by ramp solutions with superposed linear diffusive modes. This picture is supported by a linear stability analysis of the soliton mode. The spectrum and phase shift of the diffusive modes are determined. In the presence of the soliton the diffusive modes develop a gap in the spectrum and are phase-shifted in accordance with Levinson's theorem. The spectrum also exhibits a zero-frequency translation or Goldstone mode associated with the broken translational symmetry.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex file, 5 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Towards an understanding of the stability properties of the 3+1 evolution equations in general relativity

We study the stability properties of the standard ADM formulation of the 3+1 evolution equations of general relativity through linear perturbations of flat spacetime. We focus attention on modes with zero speed of propagation and conjecture that they are responsible for instabilities encountered in numerical evolutions of the ADM formulation. These zero speed modes are of two kinds: pure gauge modes and constraint violating modes. We show how the decoupling of the gauge by a conformal rescaling can eliminate the problem with the gauge modes. The zero speed constraint violating modes can be dealt with by using the momentum constraints to give them a finite speed of propagation. This analysis sheds some light on the question of why some recent reformulations of the 3+1 evolution equations have better stability properties than the standard ADM formulation.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. Added a new section, plus incorporated many comments made by refere

The asexual genome of Drosophila

The rate of recombination affects the mode of molecular evolution. In high-recombining sequence, the targets of selection are individual genetic loci; under low recombination, selection collectively acts on large, genetically linked genomic segments. Selection under linkage can induce clonal interference, a specific mode of evolution by competition of genetic clades within a population. This mode is well known in asexually evolving microbes, but has not been traced systematically in an obligate sexual organism. Here we show that the Drosophila genome is partitioned into two modes of evolution: a local interference regime with limited effects of genetic linkage, and an interference condensate with clonal competition. We map these modes by differences in mutation frequency spectra, and we show that the transition between them occurs at a threshold recombination rate that is predictable from genomic summary statistics. We find the interference condensate in segments of low-recombining sequence that are located primarily in chromosomal regions flanking the centromeres and cover about 20% of the Drosophila genome. Condensate regions have characteristics of asexual evolution that impact gene function: the efficacy of selection and the speed of evolution are lower and the genetic load is higher than in regions of local interference. Our results suggest that multicellular eukaryotes can harbor heterogeneous modes and tempi of evolution within one genome. We argue that this variation generates selection on genome architecture

Theoretical power spectra of mixed modes in low mass red giant stars

CoRoT and Kepler observations of red giant stars revealed very rich spectra of non-radial solar-like oscillations. Of particular interest was the detection of mixed modes that exhibit significant amplitude, both in the core and at the surface of the stars. It opens the possibility of probing the internal structure from their inner-most layers up to their surface along their evolution on the red giant branch as well as on the red-clump. Our objective is primarily to provide physical insight into the physical mechanism responsible for mixed-modes amplitudes and lifetimes. Subsequently, we aim at understanding the evolution and structure of red giants spectra along with their evolution. The study of energetic aspects of these oscillations is also of great importance to predict the mode parameters in the power spectrum. Non-adiabatic computations, including a time-dependent treatment of convection, are performed and provide the lifetimes of radial and non-radial mixed modes. We then combine these mode lifetimes and inertias with a stochastic excitation model that gives us their heights in the power spectra. For stars representative of CoRoT and Kepler observations, we show under which circumstances mixed modes have heights comparable to radial ones. We stress the importance of the radiative damping in the determination of the height of mixed modes. Finally, we derive an estimate for the height ratio between a g-type and a p-type mode. This can thus be used as a first estimate of the detectability of mixed-modes