Ultraspinning instability: the missing link

We study linearized perturbations of Myers-Perry black holes in d=7, with two of the three angular momenta set to be equal, and show that instabilities always appear before extremality. Analogous results are expected for all higher odd d. We determine numerically the stationary perturbations that mark the onset of instability for the modes that preserve the isometries of the background. The onset is continuously connected between the previously studied sectors of solutions with a single angular momentum and solutions with all angular momenta equal. This shows that the near-extremality instabilities are of the same nature as the ultraspinning instability of d>5 singly-spinning solutions, for which the angular momentum is unbounded. Our results raise the question of whether there are any extremal Myers-Perry black holes which are stable in d>5.Comment: 19 pages. 1 figur

Improving the Knowledge on Seismogenic Sources in the Lower Tagus Valley for Seismic Hazard Purposes

The Lower Tagus Valley, that includes the metropolitan area of Lisbon, has been struck by several earthquakes which produced significant material damage and loss of lives. Their exact location remains unknown. Our goal is to shed some light into the seismogenic sources in the area using seismic reflection and geological data. In areas with no seismic coverage, potential-field data interpretation was carried out. Seismicity was overlaid to the potential seismogenic structures and high-resolution data was acquired in order to confirm which structures have been active into the Quaternary. Three major fault-zones affecting the Neogene were identified: V. F. Xira, Samora-Alcochete and Pinhal Novo. For the first fault, strong evidences suggest it is active. The other two fault-zones and other structures previously unknown can be correlated with several epicentres. Empirical relationships between maximum moment magnitude and fault area indicate that MW > 6.5 earthquakes can be expected for the larger structures

On the Renormalizability of Theories with Gauge Anomalies

We consider the detailed renormalization of two (1+1)-dimensional gauge theories which are quantized without preserving gauge invariance: the chiral and the "anomalous" Schwinger models. By regularizing the non-perturbative divergences that appear in fermionic Green's functions of both models, we show that the "tree level" photon propagator is ill-defined, thus forcing one to use the complete photon propagator in the loop expansion of these functions. We perform the renormalization of these divergences in both models to one loop level, defining it in a consistent and semi-perturbative sense that we propose in this paper.Comment: Final version, new title and abstract, introduction and conclusion rewritten, detailed semiperturbative discussion included, references added; to appear in International Journal of Modern Physics

Pair creation of higher dimensional black holes on a de Sitter background

We study in detail the quantum process in which a pair of black holes is created in a higher D-dimensional de Sitter (dS) background. The energy to materialize and accelerate the pair comes from the positive cosmological constant. The instantons that describe the process are obtained from the Tangherlini black hole solutions. Our pair creation rates reduce to the pair creation rate for Reissner-Nordstrom-dS solutions when D=4. Pair creation of black holes in the dS background becomes less suppressed when the dimension of the spacetime increases. The dS space is the only background in which we can discuss analytically the pair creation process of higher dimensional black holes, since the C-metric and the Ernst solutions, that describe respectively a pair accelerated by a string and by an electromagnetic field, are not know yet in a higher dimensional spacetime.Comment: 10 pages; 1 figure included; RexTeX4. v2: References added. Published version. v3: Typo in equation (46) fixe

Developing novel temperature sensing garments for health monitoring applications

Embedding temperature sensors within textiles provides an easy method for measuring skin temperature. Skin temperature measurements are an important parameter for a variety of health monitoring applications, where changes in temperature can indicate changes in health. This work uses a temperature sensing yarn, which was fully characterized in previous work, to create a series of temperature sensing garments: armbands, a glove, and a sock. The purpose of this work was to develop the design rules for creating temperature sensing garments and to understand the limitations of these devices. Detailed design considerations for all three devices are provided. Experiments were conducted to examine the effects of contact pressure on skin contact temperature measurements using textile-based temperature sensors. The temperature sensing sock was used for a short user trial where the foot skin temperature of five healthy volunteers was monitored under different conditions to identify the limitations of recording textile-based foot skin temperature measurements. The fit of the sock significantly affected the measurements. In some cases, wearing a shoe or walking also heavily influenced the temperature measurements. These variations show that textile-based foot skin temperature measurements may be problematic for applications where small temperature differences need to be measured

Estudo da adaptabilidade e estabilidade fenotípica de progênies de Eucalyptus grandis via metodologia AMMI.

Foram avaliadas a adaptabilidade e a estabilidade fenotípica de 200 progênies de Eucalyptus grandis procedentes de 10 localidades australianas, selecionadas pelo Programa Nacional de Pesquisa Florestal – coordenado pela Embrapa Florestas, e implantadas em sete testes de procedência e progênies nas regiões sul e sudeste do Brasil. Os resultados indicaram comportamentos diferenciados dos materiais avaliados, sendo a interação genótipo x ambiente significativa (p<0,01). O método AMMI (Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction Analysis) permitiu identificar as melhores combinações entre progênies e locais

A note on Kerr/CFT and free fields

The near-horizon geometry of the extremal four-dimensional Kerr black hole and certain generalizations thereof has an SL(2,R) x U(1) isometry group. Excitations around this geometry can be controlled by imposing appropriate boundary conditions. For certain boundary conditions, the U(1) isometry is enhanced to a Virasoro algebra. Here, we propose a free-field construction of this Virasoro algebra.Comment: 10 pages, v2: comments and references adde

Sistema de monitoramento e alerta de inundações e secas no Pantanal.

The regime of floods and droughts in the Pantanal wetlands determines the distribution and abundance of the wildlife, vegetation and ecological processes. Cattle ranching and fisheries, the main economic activities in this floodplain, are extremely influenced by and depend on this regime. The aim of this work is to propose a Monitoring and Alert System, denoted SISMONPAN, of floods and droughts in the Pantanal for a better management, conservation and decision making, especially in the case of extreme events. A ten years time series, from 2000 to 2009, of estimated satellite precipitation, river stages and flood mapping derived from MODIS surface reflectance bands processed by the unmixing spectral model was analyzed. The main hydrological compartments and their relationships were defined using previous knowledge in the region as well as correlation statistical models derived from upstream - downstream water fluxes. The power and time lag of the correlations between the water fluxes in the hydrological compartments were determined. These data, flood maps and obtained relationships were organized in a database to be used by the monitoring and alert system for the Pantanal region. The SISMONPAN was developed in PHP language using TerraView and TerraLib libraries in its architecture. The system will be available on the Internet, allowing any stakeholder to simulate possible scenarios of floods and droughts based both on the predetermined upstream-downstream water flux relationships and previous events stored in the database

On the Nonlinear Stability of Asymptotically Anti-de Sitter Solutions

Despite the recent evidence that anti-de Sitter spacetime is nonlinearly unstable, we argue that many asymptotically anti-de Sitter solutions are nonlinearly stable. This includes geons, boson stars, and black holes. As part of our argument, we calculate the frequencies of long-lived gravitational quasinormal modes of AdS black holes in various dimensions. We also discuss a new class of asymptotically anti-de Sitter solutions describing noncoalescing black hole binaries.Comment: 26 pages. 5 figure