Lessons of spin and torsion: Reply to ``Consistent coupling to Dirac fields in teleparallelism"

In reply to the criticism made by Mielke in the pereceding Comment [Phys. Rev. D69 (2004) 128501] on our recent paper, we once again explicitly demonstrate the inconsistency of the coupling of a Dirac field to gravitation in the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity. Moreover, we stress that the mentioned inconsistency is generic for {\it all} sources with spin and is by no means restricted to the Dirac field. In this sense the $SL(4,R)$-covariant generalization of the spinor fields in the teleparallel gravity theory is irrelevant to the inconsistency problem.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, no figure

Development of a molecular method for the identification of clone varieties of Coffea canephora via PCR.

Conilon coffee belongs to the Coffea canephora species, which is a diploid (2n = 2 × = 22), perennial, allogamous plant with a high genetic variability. Consequently, a plantation established from seeds will likely have plants with highly diversified characteristics. Accordingly, the production of cuttings is of great value for the success of crop implementation. Using clones produced from superior genotypes instead of seeds has some advantages such as lower implementation costs, higher productivity, higher uniformity of maturation, better grain quality, differentiated cycle of maturation and staggered harvest scheduling. Brazil is an important coffee producer, and the development of new varieties is important to maintain or even increase its production

Gravitation and Duality Symmetry

By generalizing the Hodge dual operator to the case of soldered bundles, and working in the context of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, an analysis of the duality symmetry in gravitation is performed. Although the basic conclusion is that, at least in the general case, gravitation is not dual symmetric, there is a particular theory in which this symmetry shows up. It is a self dual (or anti-self dual) teleparallel gravity in which, due to the fact that it does not contribute to the interaction of fermions with gravitation, the purely tensor part of torsion is assumed to vanish. The ensuing fermionic gravitational interaction is found to be chiral. Since duality is intimately related to renormalizability, this theory may eventually be more amenable to renormalization than teleparallel gravity or general relativity.Comment: 7 pages, no figures. Version 2: minor presentation changes, references added. Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Teleparallel origin of the Fierz picture for spin-2 particle

A new approach to the description of spin-2 particle in flat and curved spacetime is developed on the basis of the teleparallel gravity theory. We show that such an approach is in fact a true and natural framework for the Fierz representation proposed recently by Novello and Neves. More specifically, we demonstrate how the teleparallel theory fixes uniquely the structure of the Fierz tensor, discover the transparent origin of the gauge symmetry of the spin 2 model, and derive the linearized Einstein operator from the fundamental identity of the teleparallel gravity. In order to cope with the consistency problem on the curved spacetime, similarly to the usual Riemannian approach, one needs to include the non-minimal (torsion dependent) coupling terms.Comment: 5 pages, Revtex4, no figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Model for erosion-deposition patterns

We investigate through computational simulations with a pore network model the formation of patterns caused by erosion-deposition mechanisms. In this model, the geometry of the pore space changes dynamically as a consequence of the coupling between the fluid flow and the movement of particles due to local drag forces. Our results for this irreversible process show that the model is capable to reproduce typical natural patterns caused by well known erosion processes. Moreover, we observe that, within a certain range of porosity values, the grains form clusters that are tilted with respect to the horizontal with a characteristic angle. We compare our results to recent experiments for granular material in flowing water and show that they present a satisfactory agreement.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Estimativa dos valores de saldo de radiação e fluxo de calor no solo em diferentes condições antrópicas na bacia do rio Ji-Paraná, Rondônia.

Use change and land cover has significant influence on energy flows. Thus, this study aimed to compare the net radiation and soil heat flux on two dates, 19/07/1984 and 25/06/2010 from a locality of river basin Ji-Paraná, Rondônia. To develop the study, an algorithm Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) allowing the estimation of energy flows according to the cover. The model was applied in the study area in a sequence of steps, where the outcome of interest was the net radiation at the surface and the flow of heat in the soil. The results show that on average the net radiation was greater in the scene where the predominant areas of forest, 19/07/1984, since the albedo of the vegetation is lower than in surface of bare ground or with less dense vegetation as observed in the scene 25/06/2010. The values of soil heat flux are larger at the scene of 25/06/2010 and occupy a larger surface due to human action. This shows that the replacement of forest for agriculture, grazing and urbanization are causing decrease the net radiation and increase the flow of heat in the soil, thereby increasing the emission of long wave radiation that affect the surface temperature, air temperature and the hydrological cycle