1,847 research outputs found
Photon-Graviton Amplitudes from the Effective Action
We report on the status of an ongoing effort to calculate the complete
one-loop low-energy effective actions in Einstein-Maxwell theory with a massive
scalar or spinor loop, and to use them for obtaining the explicit form of the
corresponding M-graviton/N-photon amplitudes. We present explicit results for
the effective actions at the one-graviton four-photon level, and for the
amplitudes at the one-graviton two-photon level. As expected on general
grounds, these amplitudes relate in a simple way to the corresponding
four-photon amplitudes. We also derive the gravitational Ward identity for the
1PI one-graviton -- N photon amplitude.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, talk given by C. Schubert at "Supersymmetries and
Quantum Symmetries - SQS`2011", JINR Dubna, July 18 - 23, 2011 (to appear in
the Proceedings
Loop amplitudes in gauge theories: modern analytic approaches
This article reviews on-shell methods for analytic computation of loop
amplitudes, emphasizing techniques based on unitarity cuts. Unitarity
techniques are formulated generally but have been especially useful for
calculating one-loop amplitudes in massless theories such as Yang-Mills theory,
QCD, and QED.Comment: 34 pages. Invited review for a special issue of Journal of Physics A
devoted to "Scattering Amplitudes in Gauge Theories." v2: typesetting macro
error fixe
Insensitivity of alkenone carbon isotopes to atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> at low to moderate CO<sub>2</sub> levels
Atmospheric pCO2 is a critical component of the global carbon system and is considered to be the major control of Earth’s past, present and future climate. Accurate and precise reconstructions of its concentration through geological time are, therefore, crucial to our understanding of the Earth system. Ice core records document pCO2 for the past 800 kyrs, but at no point during this interval were CO2 levels higher than today. Interpretation of older pCO2 has been hampered by discrepancies during some time intervals between two of the main ocean-based proxy methods used to reconstruct pCO2: the carbon isotope fractionation that occurs during photosynthesis as recorded by haptophyte biomarkers (alkenones) and the boron isotope composition (δ11B) of foraminifer shells. Here we present alkenone and δ11B-based pCO2 reconstructions generated from the same samples from the Plio-Pleistocene at ODP Site 999 across a glacial-interglacial cycle. We find a muted response to pCO2 in the alkenone record compared to contemporaneous ice core and δ11B records, suggesting caution in the interpretation of alkenone-based records at low pCO2 levels. This is possibly caused by the physiology of CO2 uptake in the haptophytes. Our new understanding resolves some of the inconsistencies between the proxies and highlights that caution may be required when interpreting alkenone-based reconstructions of pCO2
Adding flavour to twistor strings
Twistor string theory is known to describe a wide variety of field theories
at tree-level and has proved extremely useful in making substantial progress in
perturbative gauge theory. We explore the twistor dual description of a class
of N=2 UV-finite super-Yang-Mills theories with fundamental flavour by adding
'flavour' branes to the topological B-model on super-twistor space and comment
on the appearance of these objects. Evidence for the correspondence is provided
by matching amplitudes on both sides.Comment: 6 pages; contribution to the proceedings for the European Physical
Society conference on High Energy Physics in Manchester, 19-25 July 2007. v3:
Typos correcte
Hydrological and associated biogeochemical consequences of rapid global warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) hyperthermal, ~ 56 million years ago (Ma), is the most dramatic example of abrupt Cenozoic global warming. During the PETM surface temperatures increased between 5 and 9 °C and the onset likely took < 20 kyr. The PETM provides a case study of the impacts of rapid global warming on the Earth system, including both hydrological and associated biogeochemical feedbacks, and proxy data from the PETM can provide constraints on changes in warm climate hydrology simulated by general circulation models (GCMs). In this paper, we provide a critical review of biological and geochemical signatures interpreted as direct or indirect indicators of hydrological change at the PETM, explore the importance of adopting multi-proxy approaches, and present a preliminary model-data comparison. Hydrological records complement those of temperature and indicate that the climatic response at the PETM was complex, with significant regional and temporal variability. This is further illustrated by the biogeochemical consequences of inferred changes in hydrology and, in fact, changes in precipitation and the biogeochemical consequences are often conflated in geochemical signatures. There is also strong evidence in many regions for changes in the episodic and/or intra-annual distribution of precipitation that has not widely been considered when comparing proxy data to GCM output. Crucially, GCM simulations indicate that the response of the hydrological cycle to the PETM was heterogeneous – some regions are associated with increased precipitation – evaporation (P – E), whilst others are characterised by a decrease. Interestingly, the majority of proxy data come from the regions where GCMs predict an increase in PETM precipitation. We propose that comparison of hydrological proxies to GCM output can be an important test of model skill, but this will be enhanced by further data from regions of model-simulated aridity and simulation of extreme precipitation events
Tree-Level Formalism
We review two novel techniques used to calculate tree-level scattering
amplitudes efficiently: MHV diagrams, and on-shell recursion relations. For the
MHV diagrams, we consider applications to tree-level amplitudes and focus in
particular on the N=4 supersymmetric formulation. We also briefly describe the
derivation of loop amplitudes using MHV diagrams. For the recursion relations,
after presenting their general proof, we discuss several applications to
massless theories with and without supersymmetry, to theories with massive
particles, and to graviton amplitudes in General Relativity. This article is an
invited review for a special issue of Journal of Physics A devoted to
"Scattering Amplitudes in Gauge Theories".Comment: 40 pages, 8 figures, invited review for a special issue of Journal of
Physics A devoted to "Scattering Amplitudes in Gauge Theories", R.
Roiban(ed), M. Spradlin(ed), A. Volovich(ed); v2: minor corrections,
references adde
A comprehensive evaluation of water uptake on atmospherically relevant mineral surfaces: DRIFT spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and aerosol growth measurements
The hygroscopicity of mineral aerosol samples has been examined by three independent methods: diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and differential mobility analysis. All three methods allow an evaluation of the water coverage of two samples, CaCO<sub>3</sub> and Arizona Test dust, as a function of relative humidity. For the first time, a correlation between absolute gravimetric measurements and the other two (indirect) methods has been established. Water uptake isotherms were reliably determined for both solids which at 298 K and 80% relative humidity exhibited similar coverages of ~4 monolayers. However, the behaviour at low relative humidity was markedly different in the two cases, with Arizona Test Dust showing a substantially higher affinity for water in the contact layer. This is understandable in terms of the chemical composition of these two materials. The mobility analysis results are in good accord with field observations and with our own spectroscopic and gravimetric measurements. These findings are of value for an understanding of atmospheric chemical processes
Phase transitions and hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles containing humic acid and mixtures of humic acid and ammonium sulphate
International audienceThe phase transitions and hygroscopic growth of two humic acid aerosols (Aldrich sodium salt and Leonardite Standard (IHSS)) and their mixtures with ammonium sulphate have been investigated using a combination of two techniques, Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy and tandem differential mobility analysis (TDMA). A growth factor of 1.16 at 85% relative humdity (RH) was found for the Aldrich humic acid which can be regarded as an upper limit for growth factors of humic-like substances (HULIS) found in atmospheric aerosol and is significantly smaller than that of typical atmospheric inorganics. We find that the humic acid aerosols exhibit water uptake over all relative humidites with no apparent phase changes, suggesting that these aerosols readily form supersaturated droplets. In the mixed particles, the humic acid component decreases the deliquescence relative humidity (DRH) and increases the efflorescence relative humidity (ERH) of the ammonium sulphate component, and there is some degree of water uptake prior to ammonium sulphate deliquescence. In addition, at low RH, the FTIR spectra show that the ammonium is present in a different chemical environment in the mixed aerosols than in crystalline ammonium sulphate, perhaps existing as a complex with the humic materials. The growth factors of the mixed aerosols are intermediate between those of the single component aerosols and can be predicted assuming that the inorganic and organic fractions take up water independently
- …