Three-dimensional quantum electrodynamics as an effective interaction

We obtain a Quantum Electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions by applying a Kaluza--Klein type method of dimensional reduction to Quantum Electrodynamics in 3+1 dimensions rendering the model more realistic to application in solid-state systems, invariant under translations in one direction. We show that the model obtained leads to an effective action exhibiting an interesting phase structure and that the generated Chern--Simons term survives only in the broken phase.Comment: 10 pages in Plain Te

Solution for a local straight cosmic string in the braneworld gravity

In this work we deal with the spacetime shaped by a straight cosmic string, emerging from local gauge theories, in the braneworld gravity context. We search for physical consequences of string features due to the modified gravitational scenario encoded in the projected gravitational equations. It is shown that cosmic strings in braneworld gravity may present significant differences when compared to the general relativity predictions since its linear density is modified and the deficit angle produced by the cosmic string is attenuated. Furthermore, the existence of cosmic strings in that scenario requires a strong restriction to the braneworld tension: $\lambda \geq 3 \times 10^{-17}$, in Planck units.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Static Domain Wall in the Braneworld gravity

In this paper we consider a static domain wall inside a 3-brane. Differently of the standard achievement obtained in General Relativity, the analysis performed here gives a consistency condition for the existence of static domain walls in a braneworld gravitational scenario. It is also shown the behavior of the domain wall gravitational field in the newtonian limit.Comment: 11 pages, no figures, accepted for publication in EPJ

A solution to the zero-hamiltonian problem in 2-D gravity

The zero-hamiltonian problem, present in reparametrization invariant systems, is solved for the 2-D induced gravity model. Working with methods developed by Henneaux et al. we find systematically the reduced phase-space physics, generated by an {\it effective} hamiltonian obtained after complete gauge fixing.Comment: 5 pages, revte

Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of a Sudanese Herbal Plant (Piliostigma reticulatum)

Background: Piliostigma reticulatum is a plant that is found in a wide area of SaheloSudanian region of Africa. It is widely used in Africa as a traditional medicine for the treatment of a wide range of diseases including epilepsy, anxiety, and agitation. The leaf extract was found to have antimicrobial activity. In Sudan (Nuba mountains in particular), it is widely used to dress new wounds and as well puerperal sepsis.Moreover it’s fruit is eaten and used to prepare juice. Reported studies concerning antimicrobial activity of the plant in Sudan could not be found. This study therefore aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial action of Ethanolic and Aqueous extract of leaves and barks of the plant. Methods: Barks and leaves of P. reticulatum were obtained from North Kordofan State. They were then air dried in the shade and milled into powder using Mortar. Methanolic and water extract of each part of the plant was prepared using a Soxhlet apparatus. The following concentrations of extracts of each part (bark and leaves)of the plant were prepared using Distilled water (50 mg/ml, 25 mg/ml, 12.5 mg/ml, 6.25 mg/ml, 3.125 mg/ml, and 1.56 mg/ml). Antimicrobial action of the different concentrations of the extracts of the two parts of the plant on selected bacterial and fungal species was performed using well diffusion technique. Antimicrobialsusceptibility of the tested organisms to serial concentrations (40 µg, 20 µg, 10 µg, and 5 µg) of three antibacterial (Gentamicin, Ampicillin, and Tetracycline) and 2 antifungal (Nystatin and clotrimazole) was evaluated using well diffusion method. Results: The methanolic extract of P. reticulatum leaves showed high antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis (inhibition zone 22 mm), S. aureus (25 mm), P.aeruginosa (23 mm), and E.coli (20 mm). The extract also showed antifungal activity against A. niger (23 mm) and C. albicans (23 mm). The aqueous extract revealed low activity against P. aeruginosa (10 mm) and no action on the rest of the microorganisms

Positive tension 3-branes in an AdS5AdS_{5} bulk

In this work, we review and extend the so-called consistency conditions for the existence of a braneworld scenario in arbitrary dimensions in the Brans-Dicke (BD) gravitational theory. After that, we consider the particular case of a five-dimensional scenario which seems to have phenomenological interesting implications. We show that, in the BD framework, it is possible to achieve necessary conditions pointing to the possibility of accommodating branes with positive tensions in an AdS bulk by the presence of the additional BD scalar field, avoiding in this way the necessity of including unstable objects in the compactification scheme. Furthermore, in the context of time variable brane tension, it is shown that the brane tension may change its sign, following the bulk cosmological constant sign.Comment: 15 pages, new version to appear in JHE

Remarks on Screening in a Gauge-Invariant Formalism

In this paper we display a direct and physically attractive derivation of the screening contribution to the interaction potential in the Chiral Schwinger model and generalized Maxwell-Chern-Simons gauge theory. It is shown that these results emerge naturally when a correct separation between gauge-invariant and gauge degrees of freedom is made. Explicit expressions for gauge-invariant fields are found.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, to appear in PR

A dynamic programming setting for functionally graded thick-walled cylinders

Material property variation in non-homogeneous internally pressurized thick-walled cylinders is investigated within the context of dynamic programming theory. The material is assumed to be linear, elastic, isotropic, and functionally graded in the radial direction. Based on the plane stress hypothesis, a state space formulation is given and the optimal control problem is stated and solved by means of Pontryagin's Principle for different objective functionals. Optimal Young's modulus distribution is found to be piecewise linear along the radial domain. A brief digression on the possible existence of switching points is addressed. Finally, a numerical example is performed within a special class of derived optimal solutions, showing promising results in terms of equivalent stress reduction with respect to the most used variations in literature

Analysis of Stress Concentration in Functionally Graded Plates with Linearly Increasing Young’s Modulus

In this article, the strain and stress analyses of functionally graded plates with circular holes that are subject to a uniaxial far-field traction load are analytically considered. The Young’s modulus is assumed to vary linearly along the radial direction around the hole. The adoption of such a type of inhomogeneity variation can be justified as follows. Firstly, and among all the possible variations of stiffness, the linear one is indeed the simplest inhomogeneity distribution. Surprisingly however, according to our knowledge extent, the associated elastic fields were not yet addressed in the literature. Secondly, a linearly varying stiffness could reasonably imply a remarkable advantage from a technological point of view. In fact, unlike nonlinearly varying stiffness plates, manufacturing routes are only required to handle constant variations throughout the radial domain. After recalling the basic equations for plane stress elasticity, the displacement, strain, and stress fields around the hole were numerically tackled and discussed for different stiffness ratios. A comparison was also carried out with other Young’s modulus distributions that have been commonly employed in the literature

Degradation analysis in the estimation of photometric redshifts from non-representative training sets

We perform an analysis of photometric redshifts estimated by using a non-representative training sets in magnitude space. We use the ANNz2 and GPz algorithms to estimate the photometric redshift both in simulations as well as in real data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (DR12). We show that for the representative case, the results obtained by using both algorithms have the same quality, either using magnitudes or colours as input. In order to reduce the errors when estimating the redshifts with a non-representative training set, we perform the training in colour space. We estimate the quality of our results by using a mock catalogue which is split samples cuts in the $r$-band between $19.4< r< 20.8$. We obtain slightly better results with GPz on single point z-phot estimates in the complete training set case, however the photometric redshifts estimated with ANNz2 algorithm allows us to obtain mildly better results in deeper $r$-band cuts when estimating the full redshift distribution of the sample in the incomplete training set case. By using a cumulative distribution function and a Monte-Carlo process, we manage to define a photometric estimator which fits well the spectroscopic distribution of galaxies in the mock testing set, but with a larger scatter. To complete this work, we perform an analysis of the impact on the detection of clusters via density of galaxies in a field by using the photometric redshifts obtained with a non-representative training set.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA