134 research outputs found
A Non - Singular Cosmological Model with Shear and Rotation
We have investigated a non-static and rotating model of the universe with an
imperfect fluid distribution. It is found that the model is free from
singularity and represents an ever expanding universe with shear and rotation
vanishing for large value of time.Comment: 10 pages, late
Further results on non-diagonal Bianchi type III vacuum metrics
We present the derivation, for these vacuum metrics, of the Painlev\'e VI
equation first obtained by Christodoulakis and Terzis, from the field equations
for both minkowskian and euclidean signatures. This allows a complete
discussion and the precise connection with some old results due to Kinnersley.
The hyperk\"ahler metrics are shown to belong to the Multi-Centre class and for
the cases exhibiting an integrable geodesic flow the relevant Killing tensors
are given. We conclude by the proof that for the Bianchi B family, excluding
type III, there are no hyperk\"ahler metrics.Comment: 21 pages, no figure
Towards Canonical Quantum Gravity for G1 Geometries in 2+1 Dimensions with a Lambda--Term
The canonical analysis and subsequent quantization of the (2+1)-dimensional
action of pure gravity plus a cosmological constant term is considered, under
the assumption of the existence of one spacelike Killing vector field. The
proper imposition of the quantum analogues of the two linear (momentum)
constraints reduces an initial collection of state vectors, consisting of all
smooth functionals of the components (and/or their derivatives) of the spatial
metric, to particular scalar smooth functionals. The demand that the
midi-superspace metric (inferred from the kinetic part of the quadratic
(Hamiltonian) constraint) must define on the space of these states an induced
metric whose components are given in terms of the same states, which is made
possible through an appropriate re-normalization assumption, severely reduces
the possible state vectors to three unique (up to general coordinate
transformations) smooth scalar functionals. The quantum analogue of the
Hamiltonian constraint produces a Wheeler-DeWitt equation based on this reduced
manifold of states, which is completely integrated.Comment: Latex 2e source file, 25 pages, no figures, final version (accepted
in CQG
Essential Constants for Spatially Homogeneous Ricci-flat manifolds of dimension 4+1
The present work considers (4+1)-dimensional spatially homogeneous vacuum
cosmological models. Exact solutions -- some already existing in the
literature, and others believed to be new -- are exhibited. Some of them are
the most general for the corresponding Lie group with which each homogeneous
slice is endowed, and some others are quite general. The characterization
``general'' is given based on the counting of the essential constants, the
line-element of each model must contain; indeed, this is the basic contribution
of the work. We give two different ways of calculating the number of essential
constants for the simply transitive spatially homogeneous (4+1)-dimensional
models. The first uses the initial value theorem; the second uses, through
Peano's theorem, the so-called time-dependent automorphism inducing
diffeomorphismsComment: 26 Pages, 2 Tables, latex2
Vacuum Plane Waves in 4+1 D and Exact solutions to Einstein's Equations in 3+1 D
In this paper we derive homogeneous vacuum plane-wave solutions to Einstein's
field equations in 4+1 dimensions. The solutions come in five different types
of which three generalise the vacuum plane-wave solutions in 3+1 dimensions to
the 4+1 dimensional case. By doing a Kaluza-Klein reduction we obtain solutions
to the Einstein-Maxwell equations in 3+1 dimensions. The solutions generalise
the vacuum plane-wave spacetimes of Bianchi class B to the non-vacuum case and
describe spatially homogeneous spacetimes containing an extremely tilted fluid.
Also, using a similar reduction we obtain 3+1 dimensional solutions to the
Einstein equations with a scalar field.Comment: 16 pages, no figure
Monotonic functions in Bianchi models: Why they exist and how to find them
All rigorous and detailed dynamical results in Bianchi cosmology rest upon
the existence of a hierarchical structure of conserved quantities and monotonic
functions. In this paper we uncover the underlying general mechanism and derive
this hierarchical structure from the scale-automorphism group for an
illustrative example, vacuum and diagonal class A perfect fluid models. First,
kinematically, the scale-automorphism group leads to a reduced dynamical system
that consists of a hierarchy of scale-automorphism invariant sets. Second, we
show that, dynamically, the scale-automorphism group results in
scale-automorphism invariant monotone functions and conserved quantities that
restrict the flow of the reduced dynamical system.Comment: 26 pages, replaced to match published versio
Towards Canonical Quantum Gravity for Geometries Admitting Maximally Symmetric Two-dimensional Surfaces
The 3+1 (canonical) decomposition of all geometries admitting two-dimensional
space-like surfaces is exhibited. A proposal consisting of a specific
re-normalization {\bf Assumption} and an accompanying {\bf Requirement} is put
forward, which enables the canonical quantization of these geometries. The
resulting Wheeler-deWitt equation is based on a re-normalized manifold
parameterized by three smooth scalar functionals. The entire space of solutions
to this equation is analytically given, exploiting the freedom left by the
imposition of the {\bf Requirement} and contained in the third functional.Comment: 27 pages, no figures, LaTex2e source fil
Trace Anomaly and Backreaction of the Dynamical Casimir Effect
The Casimir energy for massless scalar field which satisfies priodic boundary
conditions in two-dimensional domain wall background is calculated by making
use of general properties of renormalized stress-tensor. The line element of
domain wall is time dependent, the trace anomaly which is the nonvanishing
for a conformally invariant field after renormalization,
represent the back reaction of the dynamical Casimir effect.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, typos corrected, discussion added, has been
accepted for the publication in GR
Some remarks on Bianchi type-II, VIII and IX models
Within the scope of anisotropic non-diagonal Bianchi type-II, VIII and IX
spacetime it is shown that the off-diagonal components of the corresponding
metric impose severe restrictions on the components of the energy momentum
tensor in general. If the energy momentum tensor is considered to be diagonal
one, the spacetime, expect a partial case of BII, becomes locally rotationally
symmetric.Comment: 8 page
Salvage chemotherapy with high-dose leucovorin (LV) and 48-hour continuous infusion (CI) of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in combination with conventional doses of cyclophosphamide (CPM) in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) pretreated with anthracycline and taxanes
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the activity and tolerance of high-dose leucovorin (LV) and infusional 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in combination with conventional doses of cyclophosphamide (CPM) as salvage chemotherapy in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) pretreated with anthracyclines and taxanes. 41 patients (median age 59 years) with MBC refractory or resistant to anthracyclines and taxanes were enrolled. The patients' performance status (WHO) was 0 in 10 patients (24%), 1 in 22 (54%), and 2 in 9 (22%). 30 (73%) patients had received 2 or more prior chemotherapy regimens. Cyclophosphamide (600 mg m−2) was given i.v. bolus on day 1 and LV (500 mg m−2 d−1) as a 2-h infusion followed by 5-FU (1.5 g m−2 d−1) over a 22 h c.i. for 2 consecutive days. Cyclophosphamide was administered every 28 days while 5-FU/LV every 14 days. In an intention-to-treat analysis, complete response (CR) was achieved in 2 (4.9%) patients and partial response (PR) in 9 (22%) (overall response rate 26.9%; 95% CI: 13.27–40.39%). Stable disease (SD) and progressive disease (PD) were observed in 9 (22%) and 21 (51%) patients, respectively. The overall response rate was 6% and 40% in patients with primary and secondary resistance to anthracyclines/taxanes, respectively (P = 0.047). The median duration of response and the median time to disease progression was 8 and 9.5 months, respectively. The median overall survival was 13 months and the probability for 1-year survival 51%. Grade 3/4 neutropenia occurred in 9 (22%) patients and 4 (9%) patients developed grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia. Non-haematological toxicity was mild. There were no cases of febrile neutropenia, toxic deaths or treatment-related hospital admissions due to toxicity. The combination of high-dose 5-FU/LV with conventional doses of cyclophosphamide is a well tolerated and effective salvage regimen in patients with MBC heavily pretreated with both anthracyclines and taxanes. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaignhttp://www.bjcancer.comhttp://www.bjcancer.co
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