1,312 research outputs found
Can black holes have Euclidean cores?
The search for regular black hole solutions in classical gravity leads us to
consider a core of Euclidean signature in the interior of a black hole.
Solutions of Lorentzian and Euclidean general relativity match in such a way
that energy densities and pressures of an isotropic perfect fluid form are
everywhere finite and continuous. Although the weak energy condition cannot be
satisfied for these solutions in general relativity, it can be when higher
derivative terms are added. A numerical study shows how the transition becomes
smoother in theories with more derivatives. As an alternative to the Euclidean
core, we also discuss a closely related time dependent orbifold construction
with a smooth space-like boundary inside the horizon.Comment: 14 pages with figures, version to appear in PR
Molecular dynamics simulations for the prediction of the dielectric spectra of alcohols, glycols, and monoethanolamine
The response of molecular systems to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave region (0.3â300Â GHz) has been principally studied experimentally, using broadband dielectric spectroscopy. However, relaxation times corresponding to reorganisation of molecular dipoles due to their interaction with electromagnetic radiation at microwave frequencies are within the scope of modern molecular simulations. In this work, fluctuations of the total dipole moment of a molecular system, obtained through molecular dynamics simulations, are used to determine the dielectric spectra of water, a series of alcohols and glycols, and monoethanolamine. Although the force fields employed in this study have principally been developed to describe thermodynamic properties, most them give fairly good predictions of this dynamical property for these systems. However, the inaccuracy of some models and the long simulation times required for the accurate estimation of the static dielectric constant can sometimes be problematic. We show that the use of the experimental value for the static dielectric constant in the calculations, instead of the one predicted by the different models, yields satisfactory results for the dielectric spectra, and hence the heat absorbed from microwaves, avoiding the need for extraordinarily long simulations or re-calibration of molecular models
Freezing properties of alkenyl succinic anhydrides derived from linear isomerised olefins
Alkenyl succinic anhydrides are important specialty chemicals that are used in the paper, oilfield and fuel additives industries. In this paper we investigate the link between the physical properties of alkenyl succinic anhydrides and the identities of their linear alkyl olefin precursors. We describe a straightforward GC analysis of olefin isomer distributions and show that these correlate well with the freezing temperatures of the subsequent alkenyl succinic anhydride products. This allows the identification of olefin isomer profiles that are required to give the desired physical properties in the alkenyl succinic anhydrides; it also provides a method to predict the freezing temperatures of alkenyl succinic anhydrides synthesised from a particular supply of olefin
A Random Matrix Model of Adiabatic Quantum Computing
We present an analysis of the quantum adiabatic algorithm for solving hard
instances of 3-SAT (an NP-complete problem) in terms of Random Matrix Theory
(RMT). We determine the global regularity of the spectral fluctuations of the
instantaneous Hamiltonians encountered during the interpolation between the
starting Hamiltonians and the ones whose ground states encode the solutions to
the computational problems of interest. At each interpolation point, we
quantify the degree of regularity of the average spectral distribution via its
Brody parameter, a measure that distinguishes regular (i.e., Poissonian) from
chaotic (i.e., Wigner-type) distributions of normalized nearest-neighbor
spacings. We find that for hard problem instances, i.e., those having a
critical ratio of clauses to variables, the spectral fluctuations typically
become irregular across a contiguous region of the interpolation parameter,
while the spectrum is regular for easy instances. Within the hard region, RMT
may be applied to obtain a mathematical model of the probability of avoided
level crossings and concomitant failure rate of the adiabatic algorithm due to
non-adiabatic Landau-Zener type transitions. Our model predicts that if the
interpolation is performed at a uniform rate, the average failure rate of the
quantum adiabatic algorithm, when averaged over hard problem instances, scales
exponentially with increasing problem size.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Dark Matter and Dark Energy
I briefly review our current understanding of dark matter and dark energy.
The first part of this paper focusses on issues pertaining to dark matter
including observational evidence for its existence, current constraints and the
`abundance of substructure' and `cuspy core' issues which arise in CDM. I also
briefly describe MOND. The second part of this review focusses on dark energy.
In this part I discuss the significance of the cosmological constant problem
which leads to a predicted value of the cosmological constant which is almost
times larger than the observed value \la/8\pi G \simeq
10^{-47}GeV. Setting \la to this small value ensures that the
acceleration of the universe is a fairly recent phenomenon giving rise to the
`cosmic coincidence' conundrum according to which we live during a special
epoch when the density in matter and \la are almost equal. Anthropic
arguments are briefly discussed but more emphasis is placed upon dynamical dark
energy models in which the equation of state is time dependent. These include
Quintessence, Braneworld models, Chaplygin gas and Phantom energy. Model
independent methods to determine the cosmic equation of state and the
Statefinder diagnostic are also discussed. The Statefinder has the attractive
property \atridot/a H^3 = 1 for LCDM, which is helpful for differentiating
between LCDM and rival dark energy models. The review ends with a brief
discussion of the fate of the universe in dark energy models.Comment: 40 pages, 11 figures, Lectures presented at the Second Aegean Summer
School on the Early Universe, Syros, Greece, September 2003, New References
added Final version to appear in the Proceeding
Quantum diffusion of microcavity solitons
Coherently pumped (Kerr) solitons in an ideal optical microcavity are expected to undergo random quantum motion that determines fundamental performance limits in applications of the soliton microcombs. Here this random walk and its impact on Kerr soliton timing jitter are studied experimentally. The quantum limit is discerned by measuring the relative position of counter-propagating solitons. Their relative motion features weak interactions and also presents common-mode suppression of technical noise, which typically hides the quantum fluctuations. This is in contrast to co-propagating solitons, which are found to have relative timing jitter well below the quantum limit of a single soliton on account of strong correlation of their mutual motion. Good agreement is found between theory and experiment. The results establish the fundamental limits to timing jitter in soliton microcombs and provide new insights on multisoliton physics
Constraints on alternative models to dark energy
The recent observations of type Ia supernovae strongly support that the
universe is accelerating now and decelerated in the recent past. This may be
the evidence of the breakdown of the standard Friemann equation. We consider a
general modified Friedmann equation. Three different models are analyzed in
detail. The current supernovae data and the Wilkinson microwave anisotropy
probe data are used to constrain these models. A detailed analysis of the
transition from the deceleration phase to the acceleration phase is also
performed.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, revtex
Non-Abelian Monopole and Dyon Solutions in a Modified Einstein-Yang-Mills-Higgs System
We have studied a modified Yang-Mills-Higgs system coupled to Einstein
gravity. The modification of the Einstein-Hilbert action involves a direct
coupling of the Higgs field to the scalar curvature. In this modified system we
are able to write a Bogomol'nyi type condition in curved space and demonstrate
that the positive static energy functional is bounded from below. We then
investigate non-Abelian sperically symmetric static solutions in a similar
fashion to the `t Hooft-Polyakov monopole. After reviewing previously studied
monopole solutions of this type, we extend the formalism to included electric
charge and we present dyon solutions.Comment: 18 pages LaTeX, 7 eps-figure
Objective assessment of limb tissue elasticity : development of a manual indentation procedure
Rehabilitation Engineering CentreVersion of RecordPublishe
Constraining Modified Gravity and Growth with Weak Lensing
The idea that we live in a Universe undergoing a period of acceleration is a
strongly held notion in cosmology. As this can, potentially, be explained with
a modification to General Relativity we look at current cosmological data with
the purpose of testing aspects of gravity. Firstly we constrain a
phenomenological model (mDGP) motivated by a possible extra dimension. This is
characterised by which interpolates between (LCDM) and (the Dvali
Gabadadze Porrati (DGP) model). In addition, we analyse general signatures of
modified gravity given by the growth parameter and power spectrum
parameter . We utilise Weak Lensing data (CFHTLS-wide) in combination
with Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) and Supernovae data. We show that
current weak lensing data is not yet capable of constraining either model in
isolation. However we demonstrate that this probe is highly beneficial, for in
combination with BAOs and Supernovae we obtain and at and , respectively. Without the lensing data no
constraint is possible. Both analyses disfavour the flat DGP braneworld model
() at over . We highlight these are insensitive to
potential systematics in the lensing data. For the growth signature we
show that, in combination, these probes do not yet have sufficient constraining
power. Finally, we look beyond these present capabilities and demonstrate that
Euclid, a future weak lensing survey, will deeply probe the nature of gravity.
A error of 0.104 is found for () whereas for
the general modified signatures we forecast errors of 0.045 for
and 0.25 for (), which is further
tightened to 0.038 for and 0.069 for ().Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
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