356 research outputs found
Gravitational instability and star formation in disk galaxies
We present a general star formation law where star formation rate depends
upon efficiency , timescale of star formation, gas component
of surface mass density and a real exponent . A given exponent
determines which however yields the corresponding star formation
rate. Current nominal Schmidt exponent for our model is .
Based on a gravitational instability parameter and another
dimensionless parameter , where =
pressure, = column density of molecular clouds, we suggest a
general equation for star formation rate which depends upon relative competence
of the two parameters for various physical circumstances. We find that
emerges to be a better parameter for star formation scenario than Toomre
Q-parameter. Star formation rate in the solar neighbourhood is found to be in
good agreement with values inferred from previous studies. Under closed box
approximation model, we obtain a relation between metallicity of gas and the
efficiency of star formation. Our model calculations of metallicity in the
solar neighbourhood agree with earlier estimates. We conclude that metallicity
dispersion for stars of same age may result due to a change in efficiency
through which different sample stars were processed. For no significant change
of metallicity with age, we suggest that all sample stars were born with almost
similar efficiency.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, submitted to MNRA
Brane-World Cosmology, Bulk Scalars and Perturbations
We investigate aspects of cosmology in brane world theories with a bulk
scalar field. We concentrate on a recent model motivated from supergravity in
singular spaces. After discussing the background evolution of such a
brane-world, we present the evolution of the density contrast. We compare our
results to those obtained in the (second) Randall-Sundrum scenario and usual 4D
scalar-tensor theories.Comment: 29 pages, one figure, JHEP3-styl
Time-Varying Fine-Structure Constant Requires Cosmological Constant
Webb et al. presented preliminary evidence for a time-varying fine-structure
constant. We show Teller's formula for this variation to be ruled out within
the Einstein-de Sitter universe, however, it is compatible with cosmologies
which require a large cosmological constant.Comment: 3 pages, no figures, revtex, to be published in Mod. Phys. Lett.
Cosmological tensor perturbations in the Randall-Sundrum model: evolution in the near-brane limit
We discuss the evolution of cosmological tensor perturbations in the RSII
model. In Gaussian normal coordinates the wave equation is non-separable, so we
use the near-brane limit to perform the separation and study the evolution of
perturbations. Massive excitations, which may also mix, decay outside the
horizon which could lead to some novel cosmological signatures.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur
Running of the running and entropy perturbations during inflation
In single field slow-roll inflation, one expects that the spectral index ns − 1 is first order in slow-roll
parameters. Similarly, its running αs ¼ dns=d log k and the running of the running βs ¼ dαs=d log k are
second and third order and therefore expected to be progressively smaller, and usually negative. Hence,
such models of inflation are in considerable tension with a recent analysis hinting that βs may actually be
positive, and larger than αs. Motivated by this, in this work we ask the question of what kinds of
inflationary models may be useful in achieving such a hierarchy of runnings, particularly focusing on two–
field models of inflation in which the late-time transfer of power from isocurvature to curvature modes
allows for a much more diverse range of phenomenology. We calculate the runnings due to this effect and
briefly apply our results to assess the feasibility of finding jβsj ≳ jαsj in some specific models
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