586 research outputs found
Time-Optimal Adiabatic-Like Expansion of Bose-Einstein Condensates
In this paper we study the fast adiabatic-like expansion of a one-dimensional
Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) confined in a harmonic potential, using the
theory of time-optimal control. We find that under reasonable assumptions
suggested by the experimental setup, the minimum-time expansion occurs when the
frequency of the potential changes in a bang-bang form between the permitted
values. We calculate the necessary expansion time and show that it scales
logarithmically with large values of the expansion factor. This work is
expected to find applications in areas where the efficient manipulations of BEC
is of utmost importance. As an example we present the field of atom
interferometry with BEC, where the wavelike properties of atoms are used to
perform interference experiments that measure with unprecedented precision
small shifts induced by phenomena like rotation, acceleration, and gravity
gradients.Comment: Submitted to 51st IEEE Conference on Decision and Contro
Maximum elastic deformations of relativistic stars
We present a method for calculating the maximum elastic quadrupolar
deformations of relativistic stars, generalizing the previous Newtonian,
Cowling approximation integral given by [G. Ushomirsky et al., Mon. Not. R.
Astron. Soc. 319, 902 (2000)]. (We also present a method for Newtonian gravity
with no Cowling approximation.) We apply these methods to the m = 2 quadrupoles
most relevant for gravitational radiation in three cases: crustal deformations,
deformations of crystalline cores of hadron-quark hybrid stars, and
deformations of entirely crystalline color superconducting quark stars. In all
cases, we find suppressions of the quadrupole due to relativity compared to the
Newtonian Cowling approximation, particularly for compact stars. For the crust
these suppressions are up to a factor ~6, for hybrid stars they are up to ~4,
and for solid quark stars they are at most ~2, with slight enhancements instead
for low mass stars. We also explore ranges of masses and equations of state
more than in previous work, and find that for some parameters the maximum
quadrupoles can still be very large. Even with the relativistic suppressions,
we find that 1.4 solar mass stars can sustain crustal quadrupoles of a few
times 10^39 g cm^2 for the SLy equation of state or close to 10^40 g cm^2 for
equations of state that produce less compact stars. Solid quark stars of 1.4
solar masses can sustain quadrupoles of around 10^44 g cm^2. Hybrid stars
typically do not have solid cores at 1.4 solar masses, but the most massive
ones (~2 solar masses) can sustain quadrupoles of a few times 10^41 g cm^2 for
typical microphysical parameters and a few times 10^42 g cm^2 for extreme ones.
All of these quadrupoles assume a breaking strain of 0.1 and can be divided by
10^45 g cm^2 to yield the fiducial "ellipticities" quoted elsewhere.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, version accepted by PRD, including the
corrected maximum hybrid star quadrupoles (from the erratum to the shear
modulus calculation) and the corrected binding energy computatio
Binary Neutron-Star Systems: From the Newtonian Regime to the Last Stable Orbit
We report on the first calculations of fully relativistic binary circular
orbits to span a range of separation distances from the innermost stable
circular orbit (ISCO), deeply inside the strong field regime, to a distance
( 200 km) where the system is accurately described by Newtonian dynamics.
We consider a binary system composed of two identical corotating neutron stars,
with 1.43 gravitational mass each in isolation. Using a conformally
flat spatial metric we find solutions to the initial value equations that
correspond to semi-stable circular orbits. At large distance, our numerical
results agree exceedingly well with the Newtonian limit. We also present a self
consistent determination of the ISCO for different stellar masses.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures. Data points added to fig 2; some
issues clarified; references adde
Radiation reaction for multipole moments
We propose a Poincare-invariant description for the effective dynamics of
systems of charged particles by means of intrinsic multipole moments. To
achieve this goal we study the effective dynamics of such systems within two
frameworks -- the particle itself and hydrodynamical one. We give a
relativistic-invariant definition for the intrinsic multipole moments both
pointlike and extended relativistic objects. Within the hydrodynamical
framework we suggest a covariant action functional for a perfect fluid with
pressure. In the case of a relativistic charged dust we prove the equivalence
of the particle approach to the hydrodynamical one to the problem of radiation
reaction for multipoles. As the particular example of a general procedure we
obtain the effective model for a neutral system of charged particles with
dipole moment.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, RevTeX 4; references updated, minor textual
correction
Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology with Gravitational Waves
Gravitational wave detectors are already operating at interesting sensitivity
levels, and they have an upgrade path that should result in secure detections
by 2014. We review the physics of gravitational waves, how they interact with
detectors (bars and interferometers), and how these detectors operate. We study
the most likely sources of gravitational waves and review the data analysis
methods that are used to extract their signals from detector noise. Then we
consider the consequences of gravitational wave detections and observations for
physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.Comment: 137 pages, 16 figures, Published version
<http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2009-2
Coalescing Binary Neutron Stars
Coalescing compact binaries with neutron star or black hole components
provide the most promising sources of gravitational radiation for detection by
the LIGO/VIRGO/GEO/TAMA laser interferometers now under construction. This fact
has motivated several different theoretical studies of the inspiral and
hydrodynamic merging of compact binaries. Analytic analyses of the inspiral
waveforms have been performed in the Post-Newtonian approximation. Analytic and
numerical treatments of the coalescence waveforms from binary neutron stars
have been performed using Newtonian hydrodynamics and the quadrupole radiation
approximation. Numerical simulations of coalescing black hole and neutron star
binaries are also underway in full general relativity. Recent results from each
of these approaches will be described and their virtues and limitations
summarized.Comment: Invited Topical Review paper to appear in Classical and Quantum
Gravity, 35 pages, including 5 figure
Relativistic Numerical Method for Close Neutron Star Binaries
We describe a numerical method for calculating the (3+1) dimensional general
relativistic hydrodynamics of a coalescing neutron-star binary system. The
relativistic field equations are solved at each time slice with a spatial
3-metric chosen to be conformally flat. Against this solution to the general
relativistic field equations the hydrodynamic variables and gravitational
radiation are allowed to respond. The gravitational radiation signal is derived
via a multipole expansion of the metric perturbation to the hexadecapole order
including both mass and current moments and a correction for the slow motion
approximation. Using this expansion, the effect of gravitational radiation on
the system evolution can also be recovered by introducing an acceleration term
in the matter evolution.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures. Figures available by anonymous ftp at
ftp://cygnus.phys.nd.edu/pub/gr/gr-qc9601017
Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era
We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom
The Hubble Constant
I review the current state of determinations of the Hubble constant, which
gives the length scale of the Universe by relating the expansion velocity of
objects to their distance. There are two broad categories of measurements. The
first uses individual astrophysical objects which have some property that
allows their intrinsic luminosity or size to be determined, or allows the
determination of their distance by geometric means. The second category
comprises the use of all-sky cosmic microwave background, or correlations
between large samples of galaxies, to determine information about the geometry
of the Universe and hence the Hubble constant, typically in a combination with
other cosmological parameters. Many, but not all, object-based measurements
give values of around 72-74km/s/Mpc , with typical errors of 2-3km/s/Mpc.
This is in mild discrepancy with CMB-based measurements, in particular those
from the Planck satellite, which give values of 67-68km/s/Mpc and typical
errors of 1-2km/s/Mpc. The size of the remaining systematics indicate that
accuracy rather than precision is the remaining problem in a good determination
of the Hubble constant. Whether a discrepancy exists, and whether new physics
is needed to resolve it, depends on details of the systematics of the
object-based methods, and also on the assumptions about other cosmological
parameters and which datasets are combined in the case of the all-sky methods.Comment: Extensively revised and updated since the 2007 version: accepted by
Living Reviews in Relativity as a major (2014) update of LRR 10, 4, 200
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