656 research outputs found
Updated results on prototype chalcogenide fibers for 10-um wavefront spatial filtering
The detection of terrestrial planets by Darwin/TPF missions will require
extremely high quality wavefronts. Single-mode fibers have proven to be
powerful beam cleaning components in the near-infrared, but are currently not
available in the mid-infrared where they would be critically needed for
Darwin/TPF. In this paper, we present updated measurements on the prototype
chalcogenide fibers we are developing for the purpose of mid-infrared spatial
filtering. We demonstrate the guiding property of our 3rd generation component
and we characterize its filtering performances on a 4 mm length: the far-field
radiation pattern matches a Gaussian profile at the level of 3% rms and 13%
pk-pk.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference
"Toward Other Earths, Darwin/TPF and the search for extrasolar terrestrial
planets", held in Heidelberg, Germany, 22-25 April 2003, ESA SP-53
Non-Singular Charged Black Hole Solution for Non-Linear Source
A non-singular exact black hole solution in General Relativity is presented.
The source is a non-linear electromagnetic field, which reduces to the Maxwell
theory for weak field. The solution corresponds to a charged black hole with
|q| \leq 2s_c m \approx 0.6 m, having metric, curvature invariants, and
electric field bounded everywhere.Comment: 3 pages, RevTe
Open and Closed Universes, Initial Singularities and Inflation
The existence of initial singularities in expanding universes is proved
without assuming the timelike convergence condition. The assumptions made in
the proof are ones likely to hold both in open universes and in many closed
ones. (It is further argued that at least some of the expanding closed
universes that do not obey a key assumption of the theorem will have initial
singularities on other grounds.) The result is significant for two reasons:
(a)~previous closed-universe singularity theorems have assumed the timelike
convergence condition, and (b)~the timelike convergence condition is known to
be violated in inflationary spacetimes. An immediate consequence of this
theorem is that a recent result on initial singularities in open,
future-eternal, inflating spacetimes may now be extended to include many closed
universes. Also, as a fringe benefit, the time-reverse of the theorem may be
applied to gravitational collapse.Comment: 27 pages, Plain TeX (figures are embedded in the file itself and they
will emerge if it is processed according to the instructions at the top of
the file
Neutrino oscillations in a stochastic model for space-time foam
We study decoherence models for flavour oscillations in four-dimensional
stochastically fluctuating space times and discuss briefly the sensitivity of
current neutrino experiments to such models. We pay emphasis on demonstrating
the model dependence of the associated decoherence-induced damping coefficients
in front of the oscillatory terms in the respective transition probabilities
between flavours. Within the context of specific models of foam, involving
point-like D-branes and leading to decoherence-induced damping which is
inversely proportional to the neutrino energies, we also argue that future
limits on the relevant decoherence parameters coming from TeV astrophysical
neutrinos, to be observed in ICE-CUBE, are not far from theoretically expected
values with Planck mass suppression. Ultra high energy neutrinos from Gamma Ray
Bursts at cosmological distances can also exhibit in principle sensitivity to
such effects.Comment: 12 pages RevTex4, no figure
Rationale for the use of color information on Eddington
For the Eddington mission, the intrinsic stellar variability can be a major
source of noise in the detection of extrasolar planets by the transit method.
We derive that most detections of terrestrial planets (1-2 R_Earth) will occur
around G or K stars with 15-16th magnitude. When these stars are 7-12 times
more variable than the Sun on a 10 hour timescale, we demonstrate that the
detection can be performed with a higher S/N provided composite lightcurves
obtained with the combination of two colors are used instead of white ones. The
level of 10 hour variability for K stars is quite uncertain. We make two
"guess-estimates" of it and find that it could be several times larger than the
solar value. If these estimates were relevant, the color information would not
provide a significant advantage. Although we do not demonstrate a need for
colors, we point out the risk of an unpleasant surprise regarding the 10 hour
stellar variability. Indeed, there is presently no qualified proxy for this
variability. Besides, if Eddington were designed to provide this information at
the cost of added complexity but not sensitivity, white photometry by channel
summation would still be as efficient. Considering the risk that 10 hour
variability is higher than estimated, the Precaution Imperative points to a
study of practical implementations of photometry in different colors before
taking irreversible decisions about the Eddington instrument.Comment: Submitted to A&A as a Research Not
Tolman wormholes violate the strong energy condition
For an arbitrary Tolman wormhole, unconstrained by symmetry, we shall define
the bounce in terms of a three-dimensional edgeless achronal spacelike
hypersurface of minimal volume. (Zero trace for the extrinsic curvature plus a
"flare-out" condition.) This enables us to severely constrain the geometry of
spacetime at and near the bounce and to derive general theorems regarding
violations of the energy conditions--theorems that do not involve geodesic
averaging but nevertheless apply to situations much more general than the
highly symmetric FRW-based subclass of Tolman wormholes. [For example: even
under the mildest of hypotheses, the strong energy condition (SEC) must be
violated.] Alternatively, one can dispense with the minimal volume condition
and define a generic bounce entirely in terms of the motion of test particles
(future-pointing timelike geodesics), by looking at the expansion of their
timelike geodesic congruences. One re-confirms that the SEC must be violated at
or near the bounce. In contrast, it is easy to arrange for all the other
standard energy conditions to be satisfied.Comment: 8 pages, ReV-TeX 3.
Averaged Energy Conditions and Quantum Inequalities
Connections are uncovered between the averaged weak (AWEC) and averaged null
(ANEC) energy conditions, and quantum inequality restrictions on negative
energy for free massless scalar fields. In a two-dimensional compactified
Minkowski universe, we derive a covariant quantum inequality-type bound on the
difference of the expectation values of the energy density in an arbitrary
quantum state and in the Casimir vacuum state. From this bound, it is shown
that the difference of expectation values also obeys AWEC and ANEC-type
integral conditions. In contrast, it is well-known that the stress tensor in
the Casimir vacuum state alone satisfies neither quantum inequalities nor
averaged energy conditions. Such difference inequalities represent limits on
the degree of energy condition violation that is allowed over and above any
violation due to negative energy densities in a background vacuum state. In our
simple two-dimensional model, they provide physically interesting examples of
new constraints on negative energy which hold even when the usual AWEC, ANEC,
and quantum inequality restrictions fail. In the limit when the size of the
space is allowed to go to infinity, we derive quantum inequalities for timelike
and null geodesics which, in appropriate limits, reduce to AWEC and ANEC in
ordinary two-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. We also derive a quantum
inequality bound on the energy density seen by an inertial observer in
four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. The bound implies that any inertial
observer in flat spacetime cannot see an arbitrarily large negative energy
density which lasts for an arbitrarily long period of time.Comment: 20pp, plain LATEX, TUTP-94-1
Regular Black Hole in General Relativity Coupled to Nonlinear Electrodynamics
The first regular exact black hole solution in General Relativity is
presented. The source is a nonlinear electrodynamic field satisfying the weak
energy condition, which in the limit of weak field becomes the Maxwell field.
The solution corresponds to a charged black hole with |q| \leq 2 s_c m \approx
0.6 m, having the metric, the curvature invariants, and the electric field
regular everywhere.Comment: 5 pages, RevTex, 6 figure
Quantum Interference Effects in Slowly Rotating NUT Space-time
General relativistic quantum interference effects in the slowly rotating NUT
space-time as the Sagnac effect and the phase shift effect of interfering
particle in neutron interferometer are considered. It was found that in the
case of the Sagnac effect the influence of NUT parameter is becoming important
due to the fact that the angular velocity of the locally non rotating observer
must be larger than one in the Kerr space-time. In the case of neutron
interferometry it is found that due to the presence of NUT-parameter an
additional term in the phase shift of interfering particle emerges. This term
can be, in principle, detected by sensitive interferometer and derived results
can be further used in experiments to detect the gravitomagnetic charge.
Finally, as an example, we apply the obtained results to the calculation of the
UCN (ultra-cold neutrons) energy level modification in the slowly rotating NUT
space-time.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. D;
added reference
Anti-Collision Function Design and Performances of the CNES Formation Flying Experiment on the PRISMA Mission
Within the framework of a partnership agreement, EADS ASTRIUM has worked since June 2006 for the CNES formation flying experiment on the PRISMA mission. EADS ASTRIUM is responsible for the anti-collision function. This responsibility covers the design and the development of the function as a Matlab/Simulink library, as well as its functional validation and performance assessment. PRISMA is a technology in-orbit testbed mission from the Swedish National Space Board, mainly devoted to formation flying demonstration. PRISMA is made of two micro-satellites that will be launched in 2009 on a quasi-circular SSO at about 700 km of altitude. The CNES FFIORD experiment embedded on PRISMA aims at flight validating an FFRF sensor designed for formation control, and assessing its performances, in preparation to future formation flying missions such as Simbol X; FFIORD aims as well at validating various typical autonomous rendezvous and formation guidance and control algorithms. This paper presents the principles of the collision avoidance function developed by EADS ASTRIUM for FFIORD; three kinds of maneuvers were implemented and are presented in this paper with their performances
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