Expression of Contractile Protein Isoforms in Microgravity

The general objective of this experiment is to determine the effect of space flight parameters, including microgravity, on ontogenesis and embryogenesis of Japanese quail. Nine U.S. and two Russian investigators are cooperating in this study. Specific objectives of the participating scientists include assessing the gross and microscopic morphological and histological development of the embryo, as well as the temporal and spacial development of specific cells, tissues, and organs. Temporally regulated production of specific proteins is also being investigated. Our objective is to determine the effects of microgravity on developmentally programmed expression of Troponin T and I isoforms known to regulate cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction

Semiclassical charged black holes with a quantized massive scalar field

Semiclassical perturbations to the Reissner-Nordstrom metric caused by the presence of a quantized massive scalar field with arbitrary curvature coupling are found to first order in \epsilon = \hbar/M^2. The DeWitt-Schwinger approximation is used to determine the vacuum stress-energy tensor of the massive scalar field. When the semiclassical perturbation are taken into account, we find extreme black holes will have a charge-to-mass ratio that exceeds unity, as measured at infinity. The effects of the perturbations on the black hole temperature (surface gravity) are studied in detail, with particular emphasis on near extreme ``bare'' states that might become precisely zero temperature ``dressed'' semiclassical black hole states. We find that for minimally or conformally coupled scalar fields there are no zero temperature solutions among the perturbed black holes.Comment: 19 pages; 1 figure; ReVTe

Quantum Backreaction on ``Classical'' Variables

A mathematically consistent procedure for coupling quasiclassical and quantum variables through coupled Hamilton-Heisenberg equations of motion is derived from a variational principle. During evolution, the quasiclassical variables become entangled with the quantum variables with the result that the value of the quasiclassical variables depends on the quantum state. This provides a formalism to compute the backreaction of any quantum system on a quasiclassical one. In particular, it leads to a natural candidate for a theory of gravity coupled to quantized matter in which the gravitational field is not quantized.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pp. title change, minor improvement of presentatio

Effective Potential of a Black Hole in Thermal Equilibrium with Quantum Fields

Expectation values of one-loop renormalized thermal equilibrium stress-energy tensors of free conformal scalars, spin-${1 \over 2}$ fermions and U(1) gauge fields on a Schwarzschild black hole background are used as sources in the semi-classical Einstein equation. The back-reaction and new equilibrium metric are solved for at $O({\hbar})$ for each spin field. The nature of the modified black hole spacetime is revealed through calculations of the effective potential for null and timelike orbits. Significant novel features affecting the motions of both massive and massless test particles show up at lowest order in $\epsilon= (M_{Pl}/M)^2 < 1$, where $M$ is the renormalized black hole mass, and $M_{Pl}$ is the Planck mass. Specifically, we find the tendency for \underline{stable} circular photon orbits, an increase in the black hole capture cross sections, and the existence of a gravitationally repulsive region associated with the black hole which is generated from the U(1) back-reaction. We also consider the back-reaction arising from multiple fields, which will be useful for treating a black hole in thermal equilibrium with field ensembles belonging to gauge theories.Comment: 25 pages (not including seven figures), VAND-TH-93-6. Typed in Latex, uses RevTex macro

The Boulware State and the Generalised Second Law of Thermodynamics

We show that the appropriate vacuum state for the interior of a box with reflecting walls being lowered adiabatically into a Schwarzschild black hole is the Boulware state. This is concordant with the results of Unruh and Wald, who used a different approach to obtain the stress-energy inside the box. Some comments about an entropy bound for ordinary matter, as first conjectured by Bekenstein, are presented.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX,Alberta-Thy-3-9

Semiclassical effects in black hole interiors

First-order semiclassical perturbations to the Schwarzschild black hole geometry are studied within the black hole interior. The source of the perturbations is taken to be the vacuum stress-energy of quantized scalar, spinor, and vector fields, evaluated using analytic approximations developed by Page and others (for massless fields) and the DeWitt-Schwinger approximation (for massive fields). Viewing the interior as an anisotropic collapsing cosmology, we find that minimally or conformally coupled scalar fields, and spinor fields, decrease the anisotropy as the singularity is approached, while vector fields increase the anisotropy. In addition, we find that massless fields of all spins, and massive vector fields, strengthen the singularity, while massive scalar and spinor fields tend to slow the growth of curvature.Comment: 29 pages, ReVTeX; 4 ps figure

Entropy bounds for charged and rotating systems

It was shown in a previous work that, for systems in which the entropy is an extensive function of the energy and volume, the Bekenstein and the holographic entropy bounds predict new results. In this paper, we go further and derive improved upper bounds to the entropy of {\it extensive} charged and rotating systems. Furthermore, it is shown that for charged and rotating systems (including non-extensive ones), the total energy that appear in both the Bekenstein entropy bound (BEB) and the causal entropy bound (CEB) can be replaced by the {\it internal} energy of the system. In addition, we propose possible corrections to the BEB and the CEB.Comment: 12 pages, revte

Universalities of Triplet Pairing in Neutron Matter

The fundamental structure of the full set of solutions of the BCS $^3 P_2$ pairing problem in neutron matter is established. The relations between different spin-angle components in these solutions are shown to be practically independent of density, temperature, and the specific form of the pairing interaction. The spectrum of pairing energies is found to be highly degenerate.Comment: 11 page

Can the Pioneer anomaly be of gravitational origin? A phenomenological answer

In order to satisfy the equivalence principle, any non-conventional mechanism proposed to gravitationally explain the Pioneer anomaly, in the form in which it is presently known from the so-far analyzed Pioneer 10/11 data, cannot leave out of consideration its impact on the motion of the planets of the Solar System as well, especially those orbiting in the regions in which the anomalous behavior of the Pioneer probes manifested itself. In this paper we, first, discuss the residuals of the right ascension \alpha and declination \delta of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto obtained by processing various data sets with different, well established dynamical theories (JPL DE, IAA EPM, VSOP). Second, we use the latest determinations of the perihelion secular advances of some planets in order to put on the test two gravitational mechanisms recently proposed to accommodate the Pioneer anomaly based on two models of modified gravity. Finally, we adopt the ranging data to Voyager 2 when it encountered Uranus and Neptune to perform a further, independent test of the hypothesis that a Pioneer-like acceleration can also affect the motion of the outer planets of the Solar System. The obtained answers are negative.Comment: Latex2e, 26 pages, 6 tables, 2 figure, 47 references. It is the merging of gr-qc/0608127, gr-qc/0608068, gr-qc/0608101 and gr-qc/0611081. Final version to appear in Foundations of Physic

Gravitational vacuum polarization IV: Energy conditions in the Unruh vacuum

Building on a series of earlier papers [gr-qc/9604007, gr-qc/9604008, gr-qc/9604009], I investigate the various point-wise and averaged energy conditions in the Unruh vacuum. I consider the quantum stress-energy tensor corresponding to a conformally coupled massless scalar field, work in the test-field limit, restrict attention to the Schwarzschild geometry, and invoke a mixture of analytical and numerical techniques. I construct a semi-analytic model for the stress-energy tensor that globally reproduces all known numerical results to within 0.8%, and satisfies all known analytic features of the stress-energy tensor. I show that in the Unruh vacuum (1) all standard point-wise energy conditions are violated throughout the exterior region--all the way from spatial infinity down to the event horizon, and (2) the averaged null energy condition is violated on all outgoing radial null geodesics. In a pair of appendices I indicate general strategy for constructing semi-analytic models for the stress-energy tensor in the Hartle-Hawking and Boulware states, and show that the Page approximation is in a certain sense the minimal ansatz compatible with general properties of the stress-energy in the Hartle-Hawking state.Comment: 40 pages; plain LaTeX; uses epsf.sty (ten encapsulated postscript figures); two tables (table and tabular environments). Should successfully compile under both LaTeX 209 and the 209 compatibility mode of LaTeX2