384 research outputs found
Physics of Neutron Star Kicks
It is no longer necessary to `sell' the idea of pulsar kicks, the notion that
neutron stars receive a large velocity (a few hundred to a thousand km
s) at birth. However, the origin of the kicks remains mysterious. We
review the physics of different kick mechanisms, including hydrodynamically
driven, neutrino and magnetically driven kicks.Comment: 8 pages including 1 figure. To be published in "Stellar Astrophysics"
(Pacific Rim Conference Proceedings), (Kluwer Pub.
Matrix Models for the Black Hole Information Paradox
We study various matrix models with a charge-charge interaction as toy models
of the gauge dual of the AdS black hole. These models show a continuous
spectrum and power-law decay of correlators at late time and infinite N,
implying information loss in this limit. At finite N, the spectrum is discrete
and correlators have recurrences, so there is no information loss. We study
these models by a variety of techniques, such as Feynman graph expansion, loop
equations, and sum over Young tableaux, and we obtain explicitly the leading
1/N^2 corrections for the spectrum and correlators. These techniques are
suggestive of possible dual bulk descriptions. At fixed order in 1/N^2 the
spectrum remains continuous and no recurrence occurs, so information loss
persists. However, the interchange of the long-time and large-N limits is
subtle and requires further study.Comment: 35 pages, 11 eps figures; v.2 minor typos fixe
Very Cold Gas and Dark Matter
We have recently proposed a new candidate for baryonic dark matter: very cold
molecular gas, in near-isothermal equilibrium with the cosmic background
radiation at 2.73 K. The cold gas, of quasi-primordial abundances, is condensed
in a fractal structure, resembling the hierarchical structure of the detected
interstellar medium.
We present some perspectives of detecting this very cold gas, either directly
or indirectly. The H molecule has an "ultrafine" structure, due to the
interaction between the rotation-induced magnetic moment and the nuclear spins.
But the lines fall in the km domain, and are very weak. The best opportunity
might be the UV absorption of H in front of quasars. The unexpected cold
dust component, revealed by the COBE/FIRAS submillimetric results, could also
be due to this very cold H gas, through collision-induced radiation, or
solid H grains or snowflakes. The -ray distribution, much more
radially extended than the supernovae at the origin of cosmic rays
acceleration, also points towards and extended gas distribution.Comment: 16 pages, Latex pages, crckapb macro, 3 postscript figures, uuencoded
compressed tar file. To be published in the proceeedings of the
"Dust-Morphology" conference, Johannesburg, 22-26 January, 1996, D. Block
(ed.), (Kluwer Dordrecht
From counting to construction of BPS states in N=4 SYM
We describe a universal element in the group algebra of symmetric groups,
whose characters provides the counting of quarter and eighth BPS states at weak
coupling in N=4 SYM, refined according to representations of the global
symmetry group. A related projector acting on the Hilbert space of the free
theory is used to construct the matrix of two-point functions of the states
annihilated by the one-loop dilatation operator, at finite N or in the large N
limit. The matrix is given simply in terms of Clebsch-Gordan coefficients of
symmetric groups and dimensions of U(N) representations. It is expected, by
non-renormalization theorems, to contain observables at strong coupling. Using
the stringy exclusion principle, we interpret a class of its eigenvalues and
eigenvectors in terms of giant gravitons. We also give a formula for the action
of the one-loop dilatation operator on the orthogonal basis of the free theory,
which is manifestly covariant under the global symmetry.Comment: 41 pages + Appendices, 4 figures; v2 - refs and acknowledgments adde
A double coset ansatz for integrability in AdS/CFT
We give a proof that the expected counting of strings attached to giant
graviton branes in AdS_5 x S^5, as constrained by the Gauss Law, matches the
dimension spanned by the expected dual operators in the gauge theory. The
counting of string-brane configurations is formulated as a graph counting
problem, which can be expressed as the number of points on a double coset
involving permutation groups. Fourier transformation on the double coset
suggests an ansatz for the diagonalization of the one-loop dilatation operator
in this sector of strings attached to giant graviton branes. The ansatz agrees
with and extends recent results which have found the dynamics of open string
excitations of giants to be given by harmonic oscillators. We prove that it
provides the conjectured diagonalization leading to harmonic oscillators.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures; v2: references adde
Nonplanar integrability at two loops
In this article we compute the action of the two loop dilatation operator on
restricted Schur polynomials that belong to the su(2) sector, in the displaced
corners approximation. In this non-planar large N limit, operators that
diagonalize the one loop dilatation operator are not corrected at two loops.
The resulting spectrum of anomalous dimensions is related to a set of decoupled
harmonic oscillators, indicating integrability in this sector of the theory at
two loops. The anomalous dimensions are a non-trivial function of the 't Hooft
coupling, with a spectrum that is continuous and starting at zero at large N,
but discrete at finite N.Comment: version to appear in JHE
A repeating fast radio burst
Fast radio bursts are millisecond-duration astronomical radio pulses of unknown physical origin that appear to come from extragalactic distances(1-8). Previous follow-up observations have failed to find additional bursts at the same dispersion measure (that is, the integrated column density of free electrons between source and telescope) and sky position as the original detections(9). The apparent non-repeating nature of these bursts has led to the suggestion that they originate in cataclysmic events(10). Here we report observations of ten additional bursts from the direction of the fast radio burst FRB 121102. These bursts have dispersion measures and sky positions consistent with the original burst(4). This unambiguously identifies FRB 121102 as repeating and demonstrates that its source survives the energetic events that cause the bursts. Additionally, the bursts from FRB 121102 show a wide range of spectral shapes that appear to be predominantly intrinsic to the source and which vary on timescales of minutes or less. Although there may be multiple physical origins for the population of fast radio bursts, these repeat bursts with high dispersion measure and variable spectra specifically seen from the direction of FRB 121102 support an origin in a young, highly magnetized, extragalactic neutron star(11,12)
Diffuse Gamma Rays: Galactic and Extragalactic Diffuse Emission
"Diffuse" gamma rays consist of several components: truly diffuse emission
from the interstellar medium, the extragalactic background, whose origin is not
firmly established yet, and the contribution from unresolved and faint Galactic
point sources. One approach to unravel these components is to study the diffuse
emission from the interstellar medium, which traces the interactions of high
energy particles with interstellar gas and radiation fields. Because of its
origin such emission is potentially able to reveal much about the sources and
propagation of cosmic rays. The extragalactic background, if reliably
determined, can be used in cosmological and blazar studies. Studying the
derived "average" spectrum of faint Galactic sources may be able to give a clue
to the nature of the emitting objects.Comment: 32 pages, 28 figures, kapproc.cls. Chapter to the book "Cosmic
Gamma-Ray Sources," to be published by Kluwer ASSL Series, Edited by K. S.
Cheng and G. E. Romero. More details can be found at
http://www.gamma.mpe-garching.mpg.de/~aws/aws.htm
Interstellar scintillation as the origin of rapid radio variability in the quasar J1819+3845
Quasars shine brightly due to the liberation of gravitational energy as matter falls onto a supermassive black hole in the centre of a galaxy. Variations in the radiation received from active galactic nuclei (AGN) are studied at all wavelengths, revealing the tiny dimensions of the region and the processes of fuelling the black hole. Some AGN are variable at optical and shorter wavelengths, and display radio outbursts over years and decades. These AGN often also show faster variations at radio wavelengths (intraday variability, IDV) which have been the subject of much debate. The simplest explanation, supported by a correlation in some sources between the optical (intrinsic) and faster radio variations, is that the rapid radio variations are intrinsic. However, this explanation implies physically difficult brightness temperatures, suggesting that the variations may be due to scattering of the incident radiation in the interstellar medium of our Galaxy. Here we present results which show unambiguously that the variations in one extreme case are due to interstellar scintillation. We also measure the transverse velocity of the scattering material, revealing a surprising high velocity plasma close to the Solar System
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