Strategies for Optimize Off-Lattice Aggregate Simulations

We review some computer algorithms for the simulation of off-lattice clusters grown from a seed, with emphasis on the diffusion-limited aggregation, ballistic aggregation and Eden models. Only those methods which can be immediately extended to distinct off-lattice aggregation processes are discussed. The computer efficiencies of the distinct algorithms are compared.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures and 3 tables; published at Brazilian Journal of Physics 38, march, 2008 (http://www.sbfisica.org.br/bjp/files/v38_81.pdf

On the relation between mass of pion, fundamental physical constants and cosmological parameters

In this article we reconsider the old mysterious relation, advocated by Dirac and Weinberg, between the mass of the pion, the fundamental physical constants, and the Hubble parameter. By introducing the cosmological density parameters, we show how the corresponding equation may be written in a form that is invariant with respect to the expansion of the Universe and without invoking a varying gravitational "constant", as was originaly proposed by Dirac. It is suggest that, through this relation, Nature gives a hint that virtual pions dominante the "content" of the quantum vacuum

Contact process on a Voronoi triangulation

We study the continuous absorbing-state phase transition in the contact process on the Voronoi-Delaunay lattice. The Voronoi construction is a natural way to introduce quenched coordination disorder in lattice models. We simulate the disordered system using the quasistationary simulation method and determine its critical exponents and moment ratios. Our results suggest that the critical behavior of the disordered system is unchanged with respect to that on a regular lattice, i.e., that of directed percolation

The Poker Face of Inelastic Dark Matter: Prospects at Upcoming Direct Detection Experiments

The XENON100 and CRESST experiments will directly test the inelastic dark matter explanation for DAMA's 8.9? sigma anomaly. This article discusses how predictions for direct detection experiments depend on uncertainties in quenching factor measurements, the dark matter interaction with the Standard Model and the halo velocity distribution. When these uncertainties are accounted for, an order of magnitude variation is found in the number of expected events at CRESST and XENON100.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

3D gravity and non-linear cosmology

By the inclusion of an additional term, non-linear in the scalar curvature $R$, it is tested if dark energy could rise as a geometrical effect in 3D gravitational formulations. We investigate a cosmological fluid obeying a non-polytropic equation of state (the van der Waals equation) that is used to construct the energy-momentum tensor of the sources, representing the hypothetical inflaton in gravitational interaction with a matter contribution. Following the evolution in time of the scale factor, its acceleration, and the energy densities of constituents it is possible to construct the description of an inflationary 3D universe, followed by a matter dominated era. For later times it is verified that, under certain conditions, the non-linear term in $R$ can generate the old 3D universe in accelerated expansion, where the ordinary matter is represented by the barotropic limit of the van der Waals constituent.Comment: 7 pages, to appear in Mod. Phys. Let

Hawking Radiation in the Dilaton Gravity with a Non-Minimally Coupled Scalar Field

We discuss the two-dimensional dilaton gravity with a scalar field as the source matter where the coupling with the gravity is given, besides the minimal one, through an external field. This coupling generalizes the conformal anomaly in the same way as those found in recent literature, but with a diferent motivation. The modification to the Hawking radiation is calculated explicity and shows an additional term that introduces a dependence on the (effective) mass of the black-hole.Comment: 13 pages, latex file, no figures, to be published in IJM