1,646 research outputs found
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, . 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 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
In this note we study the properties of linearized gravitational excitations
in the new massive gravity theory in asymptotically 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 .
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 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)
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