VSP Traveltime Inversion: Near-Surface Issues

P-wave velocity information obtained from vertical seismic profiles (VSPs) can be useful in imaging subsurface structure, either by directly detecting changes in the subsurface or as an aid to the interpretation of seismic reflection data. In the shallow subsurface, P-wave velocity can change by nearly an order of magnitude over a short distance, so curved rays are needed to accurately model VSP traveltimes. We used a curved-ray inversion to estimate the velocity profile and the discrepancy principle to estimate the data noise level and to choose the optimum regularization parameter. The curved-ray routine performed better than a straight-ray inversion for synthetic models containing high-velocity contrasts. The application of the inversion to field data produced a velocity model that agreed well with prior information. These results show that curved-ray inversion should be used to obtain velocity information from VSPs in the shallow subsurface

An Exact Conformal Symmetry Ansatz on Kaluza-Klein Reduced TMG

Using a Kaluza-Klein dimensional reduction, and further imposing a conformal Killing symmetry on the reduced metric generated by the dilaton, we show an Ansatz that yields many of the known stationary axisymmetric solutions to TMG.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure, v3: postprint, added one re

Bose-Einstein Condensate in Weak 3d Isotropic Speckle Disorder

The effect of a weak three-dimensional (3d) isotropic laser speckle disorder on various thermodynamic properties of a dilute Bose gas is considered at zero temperature. First, we summarize the derivation of the autocorrelation function of laser speckles in 1d and 2d following the seminal work of Goodman. The goal of this discussion is to show that a Gaussian approximation of this function, proposed in some recent papers, is inconsistent with the general background of laser speckle theory. Then we propose a possible experimental realization for an isotropic 3d laser speckle potential and derive its corresponding autocorrelation function. Using a Fourier transform of that function, we calculate both condensate depletion and sound velocity of a Bose-Einstein condensate as disorder ensemble averages of such a weak laser speckle potential within a perturbative solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. By doing so, we reproduce the expression of the normalfluid density obtained earlier within the treatment of Landau. This physically transparent derivation shows that condensate particles, which are scattered by disorder, form a gas of quasiparticles which is responsible for the normalfluid component

Three-dimensional black holes, gravitational solitons, kinks and wormholes for BHT massive gravity

The theory of massive gravity in three dimensions recently proposed by Bergshoeff, Hohm and Townsend (BHT) is considered. At the special case when the theory admits a unique maximally symmetric solution, a conformally flat space that contains black holes and gravitational solitons for any value of the cosmological constant is found. For negative cosmological constant, the black hole is characterized in terms of the mass and the "gravitational hair" parameter, providing a lower bound for the mass. For negative mass parameter, the black hole acquires an inner horizon, and the entropy vanishes at the extremal case. Gravitational solitons and kinks, being regular everywhere, are obtained from a double Wick rotation of the black hole. A wormhole solution in vacuum that interpolates between two static universes of negative spatial curvature is obtained as a limiting case of the gravitational soliton with a suitable identification. The black hole and the gravitational soliton fit within a set of relaxed asymptotically AdS conditions as compared with the ones of Brown and Henneaux. In the case of positive cosmological constant the black hole possesses an event and a cosmological horizon, whose mass is bounded from above. Remarkably, the temperatures of the event and the cosmological horizons coincide, and at the extremal case one obtains the analogue of the Nariai solution, $dS_{2}\times S^{1}$. A gravitational soliton is also obtained through a double Wick rotation of the black hole. The Euclidean continuation of these solutions describes instantons with vanishing Euclidean action. For vanishing cosmological constant the black hole and the gravitational soliton are asymptotically locally flat spacetimes. The rotating solutions can be obtained by boosting the previous ones in the $t-\phi$ plane.Comment: Talk given at the "Workshop on Gravity in Three Dimensions," 14-24 April 2009, ESI, Vienna. 30 pages, 6 figures. V2: minor changes and section 6 slightly improved. Last version for JHE

Absolute Calibration of a 200 MeV Proton Polarimeter for Use with the Brookhaven Linac

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY 81-14339 and by Indiana Universit

The potential of discs from a "mean Green function"

By using various properties of the complete elliptic integrals, we have derived an alternative expression for the gravitational potential of axially symmetric bodies, which is free of singular kernel in contrast with the classical form. This is mainly a radial integral of the local surface density weighted by a regular "mean Green function" which depends explicitly on the body's vertical thickness. Rigorously, this result stands for a wide variety of configurations, as soon as the density structure is vertically homogeneous. Nevertheless, the sensitivity to vertical stratification | the Gaussian profile has been considered | appears weak provided that the surface density is conserved. For bodies with small aspect ratio (i.e. geometrically thin discs), a first-order Taylor expansion furnishes an excellent approximation for this mean Green function, the absolute error being of the fourth order in the aspect ratio. This formula is therefore well suited to studying the structure of self-gravitating discs and rings in the spirit of the "standard model of thin discs" where the vertical structure is often ignored, but it remains accurate for discs and tori of finite thickness. This approximation which perfectly saves the properties of Newton's law everywhere (in particular at large separations), is also very useful for dynamical studies where the body is just a source of gravity acting on external test particles.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 11 page

A Lifshitz Black Hole in Four Dimensional R^2 Gravity

We consider a higher derivative gravity theory in four dimensions with a negative cosmological constant and show that vacuum solutions of both Lifshitz type and Schr\"{o}dinger type with arbitrary dynamical exponent z exist in this system. Then we find an analytic black hole solution which asymptotes to the vacuum Lifshitz solution with z=3/2 at a specific value of the coupling constant. We analyze the thermodynamic behavior of this black hole and find that the black hole has zero entropy while non-zero temperature, which is very similar to the case of BTZ black holes in new massive gravity at a specific coupling. In addition, we find that the three dimensional Lifshitz black hole recently found by E. Ayon-Beato et al. has a negative entropy and mass when the Newton constant is taken to be positive.Comment: 11 pages, no figure; v2, a minor error correcte

Extremal limit of the regular charged black holes in nonlinear electrodynamics

The near horizon limit of the extreme nonlinear black hole is investigated. It is shown that resulting geometry belongs to the AdS2xS2 class with different modules of curvatures of subspaces and could be described in terms of the Lambert functions. It is demonstrated that the considered class of Lagrangians does not admit solutions of the Bertotti-Robinson type

Note on New Massive Gravity in AdS3AdS_3

In this note we study the properties of linearized gravitational excitations in the new massive gravity theory in asymptotically $AdS_3$ spacetime and find that there is also a critical point for the mass parameter at which massive gravitons become massless as in topological massive gravity in $AdS_3$. However, at this critical point in the new massive gravity the energy of all branches of highest weight gravitons vanish and the central charges also vanish within the Brown-Henneaux boundary conditions. The new massive gravity in asymptotically $AdS_3$ spacetime seems to be trivial at this critical point under the Brown-Henneaux boundary conditions if the Brown-Henneaux boundary conditions can be consistent with this theory. At this point, the boundary conditions of log gravity may be preferred.Comment: v3 typos corrected, refs added, version to appear in JHE

The role of Amazonian anthropogenic soils in shifting cultivation: Learning from farmers’ rationales

We evaluated farmers’ rationales to understand their decision making in relation to the use of fertile anthropogenic soils, i.e., Amazonian dark earths (ADE), and for dealing with changes in shifting cultivation in Central Amazonia. We analyzed qualitative information from 196 interviews with farmers in 21 riverine villages along the Madeira River. In order to decide about crop management options to attain their livelihood objectives, farmers rely on an integrated and dynamic understanding of their biophysical and social environment. Farmers associate fallow development with higher crop yields and lower weed pressure, but ADE is always associated with high yields and high weeding requirements. Amazonian dark earths are also seen as an opportunity to grow different crops and/or grow crops in more intensified management systems. However, farmers often maintain simultaneously intensive swiddens on ADE and extensive swiddens on nonanthropogenic soils. Farmers acknowledge numerous changes in their socioeconomic environment that affect their shifting cultivation systems, particularly their growing interaction with market economies and the incorporation of modern agricultural practices. Farmers considered that shifting cultivation systems on ADE tend to be more prone to changes leading to intensification, and we identified cases, e.g., swiddens used for watermelon cultivation, in which market demand led to overintensification and resulted in ADE degradation. This shows that increasing intensification can be a potential threat to ADE and can undermine the importance of these soils for agricultural production, for the conservation of agrobiodiversity, and for local livelihoods. Given that farmers have an integrated knowledge of their context and respond to socioeconomic and agro-ecological changes in their environment, we argue that understanding farmers’ knowledge and rationales is crucial to identify sustainable pathways for the future of ADE and of smallholder agriculture in Amazonia. © 2016 by the author(s)