218 research outputs found
T and S dualities and The cosmological evolution of the dilaton and the scale factors
Cosmologically stabilizing radion along with the dilaton is one of the major
concerns of low energy string theory. One can hope that T and S dualities can
provide a plausible answer. In this work we study the impact of S and T duality
invariances on dilaton gravity. We have shown various instances where
physically interesting models arise as a result of imposing the mentioned
invariances. In particular S duality has a very privileged effect in that the
dilaton equations partially decouple from the evolution of the scale factors.
This makes it easy to understand the general rules for the stabilization of the
dilaton. We also show that certain T duality invariant actions become S duality
invariance compatible. That is they mimic S duality when extra dimensions
stabilize.Comment: Corrected a misleading interpretation of the S duality transformation
and a wrong comment on d=10. I thank A.Kaya for pointing this out to me in
time. So the new version is dealing with d=10 only. Added references and
corrected some typos. Minor re-editing. Omitted a section for elaboration in
a further study. Corrected further typo
A millisecond pulsar in a stellar triple system
Gravitationally bound three-body systems have been studied for hundreds of
years and are common in our Galaxy. They show complex orbital interactions,
which can constrain the compositions, masses, and interior structures of the
bodies and test theories of gravity, if sufficiently precise measurements are
available. A triple system containing a radio pulsar could provide such
measurements, but the only previously known such system, B1620-26 (with a
millisecond pulsar, a white dwarf, and a planetary-mass object in an orbit of
several decades), shows only weak interactions. Here we report precision timing
and multi-wavelength observations of PSR J0337+1715, a millisecond pulsar in a
hierarchical triple system with two other stars. Strong gravitational
interactions are apparent and provide the masses of the pulsar (1.4378(13)
Msun, where Msun is the solar mass and the parentheses contain the uncertainty
in the final decimal places) and the two white dwarf companions (0.19751(15)
Msun and 0.4101(3) Msun), as well as the inclinations of the orbits (both
approximately 39.2 degrees). The unexpectedly coplanar and nearly circular
orbits indicate a complex and exotic evolutionary past that differs from those
of known stellar systems. The gravitational field of the outer white dwarf
strongly accelerates the inner binary containing the neutron star, and the
system will thus provide an ideal laboratory in which to test the strong
equivalence principle of general relativity.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Published online by Nature on 5 Jan
2014. Extremely minor differences with published version may exis
Dynamical decompactification from brane gases in eleven-dimensional supergravity
Brane gas cosmology provides a dynamical decompactification mechanism that
could account for the number of spacetime dimensions we observe today. In this
work we discuss this scenario taking into account the full bosonic sector of
eleven-dimensional supergravity. We find new cosmological solutions that can
dynamically explain the existence of three large spatial dimensions
characterised by an universal asymptotic scaling behaviour and a large number
of initially unwrapped dimensions. This type of solutions enlarge the possible
initial conditions of the Universe in the Hagedorn phase and consequently can
potentially increase the probability of dynamical decompactification from
anisotropically wrapped backgrounds.Comment: 8 figures, JHEP3 styl
Moduli Stabilization in Brane Gas Cosmology with Superpotentials
In the context of brane gas cosmology in superstring theory, we show why it
is impossible to simultaneously stabilize the dilaton and the radion with a
general gas of strings (including massless modes) and D-branes. Although this
requires invoking a different mechanism to stabilize these moduli fields, we
find that the brane gas can still play a crucial role in the early universe in
assisting moduli stabilization. We show that a modest energy density of
specific types of brane gas can solve the overshoot problem that typically
afflicts potentials arising from gaugino condensation.Comment: minor changes to match the journal versio
A Phase Transition between Small and Large Field Models of Inflation
We show that models of inflection point inflation exhibit a phase transition
from a region in parameter space where they are of large field type to a region
where they are of small field type. The phase transition is between a universal
behavior, with respect to the initial condition, at the large field region and
non-universal behavior at the small field region. The order parameter is the
number of e-foldings. We find integer critical exponents at the transition
between the two phases.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure
Dynamics of Generalized Assisted Inflation
We study the dynamics of multiple scalar fields and a barotropic fluid in an
FLRW-universe. The scalar potential is a sum of exponentials. All critical
points are constructed and these include scaling and de Sitter solutions. A
stability analysis of the critical points is performed for generalized assisted
inflation, which is an extension of assisted inflation where the fields
mutually interact. Effects in generalized assisted inflation which differ from
assisted inflation are emphasized. One such a difference is that an
(inflationary) attractor can exist if some of the exponential terms in the
potential are negative.Comment: 27 page
Pulsars with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a 36-element
array with a 30-square-degree field of view being built at the proposed SKA
site in Western Australia. We are conducting a Design Study for pulsar
observations with ASKAP, planning both timing and search observations. We
provide an overview of the ASKAP telescope and an update on pulsar-related
progress.Comment: To appear in proceedings of "Radio Pulsars: An astrophysical key to
unlock the secrets of the Universe
Supersymmetry Breaking and Dilaton Stabilization in String Gas Cosmology
In this Note we study supersymmetry breaking via gaugino condensation in
string gas cosmology. We show that the same gaugino condensate which is
introduced to stabilize the dilaton breaks supersymmetry. We study the
constraints on the scale of supersymmetry breaking which this mechanism leads
to.Comment: 11 page
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