935 research outputs found
Cosmic distance-duality as probe of exotic physics and acceleration
In cosmology, distances based on standard candles (e.g. supernovae) and
standard rulers (e.g. baryon oscillations) agree as long as three conditions
are met: (1) photon number is conserved, (2) gravity is described by a metric
theory with (3) photons travelling on unique null geodesics. This is the
content of distance-duality (the reciprocity relation) which can be violated by
exotic physics. Here we analyse the implications of the latest cosmological
data sets for distance-duality. While broadly in agreement and confirming
acceleration we find a 2-sigma violation caused by excess brightening of SN-Ia
at z > 0.5, perhaps due to lensing magnification bias. This brightening has
been interpreted as evidence for a late-time transition in the dark energy but
because it is not seen in the d_A data we argue against such an interpretation.
Our results do, however, rule out significant SN-Ia evolution and extinction:
the "replenishing" grey-dust model with no cosmic acceleration is excluded at
more than 4-sigma despite this being the best-fit to SN-Ia data alone, thereby
illustrating the power of distance-duality even with current data sets.Comment: 6 pages, 4 colour figures. Version accepted as a Rapid Communication
in PR
Lattice-switch Monte Carlo
We present a Monte Carlo method for the direct evaluation of the difference
between the free energies of two crystal structures. The method is built on a
lattice-switch transformation that maps a configuration of one structure onto a
candidate configuration of the other by `switching' one set of lattice vectors
for the other, while keeping the displacements with respect to the lattice
sites constant. The sampling of the displacement configurations is biased,
multicanonically, to favor paths leading to `gateway' arrangements for which
the Monte Carlo switch to the candidate configuration will be accepted. The
configurations of both structures can then be efficiently sampled in a single
process, and the difference between their free energies evaluated from their
measured probabilities. We explore and exploit the method in the context of
extensive studies of systems of hard spheres. We show that the efficiency of
the method is controlled by the extent to which the switch conserves correlated
microstructure. We also show how, microscopically, the procedure works: the
system finds gateway arrangements which fulfill the sampling bias
intelligently. We establish, with high precision, the differences between the
free energies of the two close packed structures (fcc and hcp) in both the
constant density and the constant pressure ensembles.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures, RevTeX. To appear in Phys. Rev.
The fate of classical tensor inhomogeneities in pre-big-bang string cosmology
In pre-big-bang string cosmology one uses a phase of dilaton-driven inflation
to stretch an initial (microscopic) spatial patch to the (much larger) size of
the big-bang fireball. We show that the dilaton-driven inflationary phase does
not naturally iron out the initial classical tensor inhomogeneities unless the
initial value of the string coupling is smaller than 10^(-35).Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure
Singularities In Scalar-Tensor Cosmologies
In this article, we examine the possibility that there exist special
scalar-tensor theories of gravity with completely nonsingular FRW solutions.
Our investigation in fact shows that while most probes living in such a
Universe never see the singularity, gravity waves always do. This is because
they couple to both the metric and the scalar field, in a way which effectively
forces them to move along null geodesics of the Einstein conformal frame. Since
the metric of the Einstein conformal frame is always singular for
configurations where matter satisfies the energy conditions, the gravity wave
world lines are past inextendable beyond the Einstein frame singularity, and
hence the geometry is still incomplete, and thus singular. We conclude that the
singularity cannot be entirely removed, but only be made invisible to most, but
not all, probes in the theory.Comment: 23 pages, latex, no figure
A CsI(Tl) Scintillating Crystal Detector for the Studies of Low Energy Neutrino Interactions
Scintillating crystal detector may offer some potential advantages in the
low-energy, low-background experiments. A 500 kg CsI(Tl) detector to be placed
near the core of Nuclear Power Station II in Taiwan is being constructed for
the studies of electron-neutrino scatterings and other keV-MeV range neutrino
interactions. The motivations of this detector approach, the physics to be
addressed, the basic experimental design, and the characteristic performance of
prototype modules are described. The expected background channels and their
experimental handles are discussed.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instrum. Method
Running coupling: Does the coupling between dark energy and dark matter change sign during the cosmological evolution?
In this paper we put forward a running coupling scenario for describing the
interaction between dark energy and dark matter. The dark sector interaction in
our scenario is free of the assumption that the interaction term is
proportional to the Hubble expansion rate and the energy densities of dark
sectors. We only use a time-variable coupling (with the scale factor
of the universe) to characterize the interaction . We propose a
parametrization form for the running coupling in which the
early-time coupling is given by a constant , while today the coupling is
given by another constant, . For investigating the feature of the running
coupling, we employ three dark energy models, namely, the cosmological constant
model (), the constant model (), and the time-dependent
model (). We constrain the models with the current
observational data, including the type Ia supernova, the baryon acoustic
oscillation, the cosmic microwave background, the Hubble expansion rate, and
the X-ray gas mass fraction data. The fitting results indicate that a
time-varying vacuum scenario is favored, in which the coupling crosses
the noninteracting line () during the cosmological evolution and the sign
changes from negative to positive. The crossing of the noninteracting line
happens at around , and the crossing behavior is favored at about
1 confidence level. Our work implies that we should pay more attention
to the time-varying vacuum model and seriously consider the phenomenological
construction of a sign-changeable or oscillatory interaction between dark
sectors.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures; refs added; to appear in EPJ
Model-independent dark energy test with sigma_8 using results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
By combining the recent WMAP measurements of the cosmic microwave background
anisotropies and the results of the recent luminosity distance measurements to
type-Ia supernovae, we find that the normalization of the matter power spectrum
on cluster scales, sigma_8, can be used to discriminate between dynamical
models of dark energy (quintessence models) and a conventional cosmological
constant model (LCDM).Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures. Additional discussion and reference, matches PRD
accepted versio
Superfluid rotation sensor with helical laser trap
The macroscopic quantum states of the dilute bosonic ensemble in helical
laser trap at the temperatures about are considered in the
framework of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The helical interference pattern is
composed of the two counter propagating Laguerre-Gaussian optical vortices with
opposite orbital angular momenta and this pattern is driven in
rotation via angular Doppler effect. Macroscopic observables including linear
momentum and angular momentum of the atomic cloud are evaluated explicitly. It
is shown that rotation of reference frame is transformed into translational
motion of the twisted matter wave. The speed of translation equals the group
velocity of twisted wavetrain and alternates with a sign
of the frame angular velocity and helical pattern handedness .
We address detection of this effect using currently accessible laboratory
equipment with emphasis on the difference between quantum and classical fluids.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted to publication Journ.Low Temp.Phy
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