2,132 research outputs found
Euclidean action for vacuum decay in a de Sitter universe
The behavior of the action of the instantons describing vacuum decay in a de
Sitter is investigated. For a near-to-limit instanton (a Coleman-de Luccia
instanton close to some Hawking-Moss instanton) we find approximate formulas
for the Euclidean action by expanding the scalar field and the metric of the
instanton in the powers of the scalar field amplitude. The order of the
magnitude of the correction to the Hawking-Moss action depends on the order of
the instanton (the number of crossings of the barrier by the scalar field): for
instantons of odd and even orders the correction is of the fourth and third
order in the scalar field amplitude, respectively. If a near-to-limit instanton
of the first order exists in a potential with the curvature at the top of the
barrier greater than 4 (Hubble constant), which is the case if the
fourth derivative of the potential at the top of the barrier is greater than
some negative limit value, the action of the instanton is less than the
Hawking-Moss action and, consequently, the instanton determines the outcome of
the vacuum decay if no other Coleman-de Luccia instanton is admitted by the
potential. A numerical study shows that for the quartic potential the physical
mode of the vacuum decay is given by the Coleman-de Luccia instanton of the
first order also in the region of parameters in which the potential admits two
instantons of the second order.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, references adde
Coleman - de Luccia instanton of the second order in a brane world
The second order Coleman - de Luccia instanton and its action in the Randall
- Sundrum type II model are investigated and the comparison with the results in
Einstein's general relativity is done in the present paper.Comment: 4 pages, accepted in IJT
Life inside black holes
We consider test planet and photon orbits of the third kind inside a black
hole, which are stable, periodic and neither come out of the black hole nor
terminate at the singularity. Interiors of supermassive black holes may be
inhabited by advanced civilizations living on planets with the third-kind
orbits. In principle, one can get information from the interiors of black holes
by observing their white hole counterparts.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Role of electric charge in shaping equilibrium configurations of fluid tori encircling black holes
Astrophysical fluids may acquire non-zero electrical charge because of strong
irradiation or charge separation in a magnetic field. In this case,
electromagnetic and gravitational forces may act together and produce new
equilibrium configurations, which are different from the uncharged ones.
Following our previous studies of charged test particles and uncharged perfect
fluid tori encircling compact objects, we introduce here a simple test model of
a charged perfect fluid torus in strong gravitational and electromagnetic
fields. In contrast to ideal magnetohydrodynamic models, we consider here the
opposite limit of negligible conductivity, where the charges are tied
completely to the moving matter. This is an extreme limiting case which can
provide a useful reference against which to compare subsequent more complicated
astrophysically-motivated calculations. To clearly demonstrate the features of
our model, we construct three-dimensional axisymmetric charged toroidal
configurations around Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes and compare them with
equivalent configurations of electrically neutral tori.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Is there life inside black holes?
Bound inside rotating or charged black holes, there are stable periodic
planetary orbits, which neither come out nor terminate at the central
singularity. Stable periodic orbits inside black holes exist even for photons.
These bound orbits may be defined as orbits of the third kind, following the
Chandrasekhar classification of particle orbits in the black hole gravitational
field. The existence domain for the third kind orbits is rather spacious, and
thus there is place for life inside supermassive black holes in the galactic
nuclei. Interiors of the supermassive black holes may be inhabited by
civilizations, being invisible from the outside. In principle, one can get
information from the interiors of black holes by observing their white hole
counterparts.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; references adde
Future agroclimatic conditions and implications for European grasslands.
Grasslands play a significant role in livestock fodder production and thus, contribute to food security worldwide while providing numerous additional ecosystem services. However, how agroclimatic conditions and adverse weather events relevant for grasslands will change across the European grassland areas has not been examined to date. Using a single reference setup for soil and management over 476 European sites defined by climate stations, we show the probability of eight selected adverse weather events with the potential to significantly affect grassland productivity under climate change and how these events vary regionally across Europe. Changes in these eight key agroclimatic indicators create markedly specific spatial patterns. We found that by 2050, the exposure of the south and west European grasslands to heat and drought may double in comparison with today and that the area with frequent occurrences of heat and drought will expand northwards. However, across Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic countries to southern Finland and Sweden, the likelihood of these events is likely to decrease. While changing cultivars and management strategies are unavoidable, shifting grassland production to other regions to reduce the risk may not be possible as the risk of adverse events beyond the key grassland-growing areas increases even further. Moreover, we found marked changes in the overall thermal and water regimes across European regions. The effect of adverse weather events in the future could be different in other regions of the world compared to regions in Europe, emphasizing the importance of conducting similar analyses for other major grassland producing regions. To mitigate the impact of climate change, new ways of maintaining grassland productivity need to be developed. These methods include more efficient selection of species mixtures for specific regions, including increased use of legumes and forbs; incorporation of new genetic resources, including the development of hybrid cultivars, such as Festulolium hybrids; and incorporation of state-of-the-art technologies in breeding programs and new grazing management
Plane waves in a relativistic homogeneous and isotropic elastic continuum
Propagation of gravitational and acoustic plane waves in a flat universe
filled with a general relativistic, homogeneous and isotropic, spatially flat
continuum is studied. The continuum is described by analogues of
nonrelativistic characteristics, namely energy per particle, pressure and Lame
coefficients, and considered in the comoving proper-time gauge. For all modes
with the given wave covector, differential equations governing the time
dependence of the amplitudes are derived. In particular, longitudinal acoustic
waves are described, in analogy with the nonrelativistic theory, by two coupled
first-order equations. As an example, plane waves in a stiff ultrarigid
continuum are considered.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure; section 4 extended, minor changes elsewhere,
author adde
Preserving the palaeoenvironmental record in Drylands: Bioturbation and its significance for luminescence-derived chronologies
Luminescence (OSL) dating has revolutionised the understanding of Late Pleistocene dryland activity. However,
one of the key assumptions for this sort of palaeoenvironmental work is that sedimentary sequences have been
preserved intact, enabling their use as proxy indicators of past changes. This relies on stabilisation or burial
soon after deposition and a mechanism to prevent any subsequent re-mobilisation. As well as a dating
technique OSL, especially at the single grain level, can be used to gain an insight into post-depositional
processes that may distort or invalidate the palaeoenvironmental record of geological sediment sequences.
This paper explores the possible impact of bioturbation (the movement of sediment by flora and fauna) on
luminescence derived chronologies from Quaternary sedimentary deposits in Texas and Florida (USA) which
have both independent radiocarbon chronologies and archaeological evidence. These sites clearly illustrate the
ability of bioturbation to rejuvenate ancient weathered sandy bedrock and/or to alter depositional stratigraphies
through the processes of exhumation and sub-surface mixing of sediment. The use of multiple OSL replicate
measurements is advocated as a strategy for checking for bioturbated sediment. Where significant OSL
heterogeneity is found, caution should be taken with the derived OSL ages and further measurements at the
single grain level are recommended. Observations from the linear dunes of the Kalahari show them to have no
bedding structure and to have OSL heterogeneity similar to that shown from the bioturbated Texan and Florida
sites. The Kalahari linear dunes could have therefore undergone hitherto undetected post-depositional sediment
disturbance which would have implications for the established OSL chronology for the region
Formalism for dilepton production via virtual photon bremsstrahlung in hadronic reactions
We derive a set of new formulas for various distributions in dilepton
production via virtual photon bremsstrahlung from pseudoscalar mesons and
unpolarized spin-one-half fermions. These formulas correspond to the leading
and sub-leading terms in the Low-Burnett-Kroll expansion for real photon
bremsstrahlung. The relation of our leading-term formulas to previous works is
also shown. Existing formulas are examined in the light of Lorentz covariance
and gauge invariance. Numerical comparison is made in a simple example, where
an "exact" formula and real photon data exist. The results reveal large
discrepancies among different bremsstrahlung formulas. Of all the leading-term
bremsstrahlung formulas, the one derived in this work agrees best with the
exact formula. The issues of M_T-scaling and event generators are also
addressed.Comment: 37 pages, RevTeX, epsf.sty, 10 embedded figure
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