1,338 research outputs found
Apollo 15 rake sample microbreccias and non-mare rocks: Bulk rock, mineral and glass electron microprobe analyses
Quantitative electron microprobe data of Apollo 15 nonmare rake samples are presented. Bulk analyses of lithic fragments in the nomare rocks (expressed in oxide weight-percent) and the corresponding CIPW molecular norms are given. The mineralogy of the rocks and lithic fragments are also given; structural formulae for complete analyses and molecular end-members for all mineral analyses are included. The mineral analyses include pyroxene, olivine, plagioclase, barian K-feldspar, spinel and ilmenite, cobaltian metallic nickel-iron as well as SiO2-K2O-rich residual glass. Electron micropobe analyses (oxide weight percent) of glasses in loose fines and microbreccia samples and their CIPW molecular norms are presented along with electron microprobe data on bulk, mineral, and matrix glass from chondrules
Imaging analysis of LDEF craters
Two small craters in Al from the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) experiment tray A11E00F (no. 74, 119 micron diameter and no. 31, 158 micron diameter) were analyzed using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS), low voltage scanning electron microscopy (LVSEM), and SEM energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). High resolution images and sensitive elemental and molecular analysis were obtained with this combined approach. The result of these analyses are presented
Renormalization of initial conditions and the trans-Planckian problem of inflation
Understanding how a field theory propagates the information contained in a
given initial state is essential for quantifying the sensitivity of the cosmic
microwave background to physics above the Hubble scale during inflation. Here
we examine the renormalization of a scalar theory with nontrivial initial
conditions in the simpler setting of flat space. The renormalization of the
bulk theory proceeds exactly as for the standard vacuum state. However, the
short distance features of the initial conditions can introduce new divergences
which are confined to the surface on which the initial conditions are imposed.
We show how the addition of boundary counterterms removes these divergences and
induces a renormalization group flow in the space of initial conditions.Comment: 22 pages, 4 eps figures, uses RevTe
Electronic states and Landau levels in graphene stacks
We analyze, within a minimal model that allows analytical calculations, the
electronic structure and Landau levels of graphene multi-layers with different
stacking orders. We find, among other results, that electrostatic effects can
induce a strongly divergent density of states in bi- and tri-layers,
reminiscent of one-dimensional systems. The density of states at the surface of
semi-infinite stacks, on the other hand, may vanish at low energies, or show a
band of surface states, depending on the stacking order
Quantum Fields in an Expanding Universe
We extend our analysis for scalar fields in a Robertson-Walker metric to the
electromagnetic field and Dirac fields by the method of invariants. The issue
of the relation between conformal properties and particle production is
re-examined and it is verified that the electromagnetic and massless spinor
actions are conformal invariant, while the massless conformally coupled scalar
field is not. For the scalar field case it is pointed out that the violation of
conformal simmetry due to surface terms, although ininfluential for the
equation of motion, does lead to effects in the quantized theory.Comment: 15 pp, no figures, accepted for publication in Class. Quantum Gra
On Infrared Effects in de~Sitter Background
We have estimated higher order quantum gravity corrections to de~Sitter
spacetime. Our results suggest that, while the classical spacetime metric may
be distorted by the graviton self-interactions, the corrections are relatively
weaker than previously thought, possibly growing like a power rather than
exponentially in time.Comment: 17, UM-TH-94-11, (1 postscript fig. at end
Stochastic approach to inflation II: classicality, coarse-graining and noises
In this work we generalize a previously developed semiclassical approach to
inflation, devoted to the analysis of the effective dynamics of coarse-grained
fields, which are essential to the stochastic approach to inflation. We
consider general non-trivial momentum distributions when defining these fields.
The use of smooth cutoffs in momentum space avoids highly singular quantum
noise correlations and allows us to consider the whole quantum noise sector
when analyzing the conditions for the validity of an effective classical
dynamical description of the coarse-grained field. We show that the weighting
of modes has physical consequences, and thus cannot be considered as a mere
mathematical artifact. In particular we discuss the exponential inflationary
scenario and show that colored noises appear with cutoff dependent amplitudes.Comment: 18 pages, revtex, no figure
On the scalar sector of the covariant graviton two-point function in de Sitter spacetime
We examine the scalar sector of the covariant graviton two-point function in
de Sitter spacetime. This sector consists of the pure-trace part and another
part described by a scalar field. We show that it does not contribute to
two-point functions of gauge-invariant quantities. We also demonstrate that the
long-distance growth present in some gauges is absent in this sector for a wide
range of gauge parameters.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, LaTeX, considerably shortene
Energy-Momentum Tensor of Particles Created in an Expanding Universe
We present a general formulation of the time-dependent initial value problem
for a quantum scalar field of arbitrary mass and curvature coupling in a FRW
cosmological model. We introduce an adiabatic number basis which has the virtue
that the divergent parts of the quantum expectation value of the
energy-momentum tensor are isolated in the vacuum piece of , and
may be removed using adiabatic subtraction. The resulting renormalized
is conserved, independent of the cutoff, and has a physically transparent,
quasiclassical form in terms of the average number of created adiabatic
`particles'. By analyzing the evolution of the adiabatic particle number in de
Sitter spacetime we exhibit the time structure of the particle creation
process, which can be understood in terms of the time at which different
momentum scales enter the horizon. A numerical scheme to compute as a
function of time with arbitrary adiabatic initial states (not necessarily de
Sitter invariant) is described. For minimally coupled, massless fields, at late
times the renormalized goes asymptotically to the de Sitter invariant
state previously found by Allen and Folacci, and not to the zero mass limit of
the Bunch-Davies vacuum. If the mass m and the curvature coupling xi differ
from zero, but satisfy m^2+xi R=0, the energy density and pressure of the
scalar field grow linearly in cosmic time demonstrating that, at least in this
case, backreaction effects become significant and cannot be neglected in de
Sitter spacetime.Comment: 28 pages, Revtex, 11 embedded .ps figure
Quantum corrections to the inflaton potential and the power spectra from superhorizon modes and trace anomalies
We obtain the effective inflaton potential during slow roll inflation by
including the one loop quantum corrections to the energy momentum tensor from
scalar curvature and tensor perturbations as well as quantum fluctuations from
light scalars and light Dirac fermions generically coupled to the inflaton.
During slow roll inflation there is a clean and unambiguous separation between
superhorizon and subhorizon contributions to the energy momentum tensor. The
superhorizon part is determined by the curvature perturbations and scalar field
fluctuations: both feature infrared enhancements as the inverse of a
combination of slow roll parameters which measure the departure from scale
invariance in each case.Fermions and gravitons do not exhibit infrared
divergences. The subhorizon part is completely specified by the trace anomaly
of the fields with different spins and is solely determined by the space-time
geometry. The one-loop quantum corrections to the amplitude of curvature and
tensor perturbations are obtained to leading order in slow-roll and in the
(H/M_PL)^2 expansion. This study provides a complete assessment of the
backreaction problem up to one loop including bosonic and fermionic degrees of
freedom. The result validates the effective field theory description of
inflation and confirms the robustness of the inflationary paradigm to quantum
fluctuations. Quantum corrections to the power spectra are expressed in terms
of the CMB observables:n_s, r and dn_s/dln k. Trace anomalies (especially the
graviton part) dominate these quantum corrections in a definite direction: they
enhance the scalar curvature fluctuations and reduce the tensor fluctuations.Comment: 18 pages, no figure
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