5,902 research outputs found
On the Geometry and Mass of Static, Asymptotically AdS Spacetimes, and the Uniqueness of the AdS Soliton
We prove two theorems, announced in hep-th/0108170, for static spacetimes
that solve Einstein's equation with negative cosmological constant. The first
is a general structure theorem for spacetimes obeying a certain convexity
condition near infinity, analogous to the structure theorems of Cheeger and
Gromoll for manifolds of non-negative Ricci curvature. For spacetimes with
Ricci-flat conformal boundary, the convexity condition is associated with
negative mass. The second theorem is a uniqueness theorem for the negative mass
AdS soliton spacetime. This result lends support to the new positive mass
conjecture due to Horowitz and Myers which states that the unique lowest mass
solution which asymptotes to the AdS soliton is the soliton itself. This
conjecture was motivated by a nonsupersymmetric version of the AdS/CFT
correspondence. Our results add to the growing body of rigorous mathematical
results inspired by the AdS/CFT correspondence conjecture. Our techniques
exploit a special geometric feature which the universal cover of the soliton
spacetime shares with familiar ``ground state'' spacetimes such as Minkowski
spacetime, namely, the presence of a null line, or complete achronal null
geodesic, and the totally geodesic null hypersurface that it determines. En
route, we provide an analysis of the boundary data at conformal infinity for
the Lorentzian signature static Einstein equations, in the spirit of the
Fefferman-Graham analysis for the Riemannian signature case. This leads us to
generalize to arbitrary dimension a mass definition for static asymptotically
AdS spacetimes given by Chru\'sciel and Simon. We prove equivalence of this
mass definition with those of Ashtekar-Magnon and Hawking-Horowitz.Comment: Accepted version, Commun Math Phys; Added Remark IV.3 and supporting
material dealing with non-uniqueness arising from choice of special cycle on
the boundary at infinity; 2 new citations added; LaTeX 27 page
The AdS/CFT Correspondence Conjecture and Topological Censorship
In gr-qc/9902061 it was shown that (n+1)-dimensional asymptotically
anti-de-Sitter spacetimes obeying natural causality conditions exhibit
topological censorship. We use this fact in this paper to derive in arbitrary
dimension relations between the topology of the timelike boundary-at-infinity,
\scri, and that of the spacetime interior to this boundary. We prove as a
simple corollary of topological censorship that any asymptotically anti-de
Sitter spacetime with a disconnected boundary-at-infinity necessarily contains
black hole horizons which screen the boundary components from each other. This
corollary may be viewed as a Lorentzian analog of the Witten and Yau result
hep-th/9910245, but is independent of the scalar curvature of \scri.
Furthermore, the topology of V', the Cauchy surface (as defined for
asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetime with boundary-at-infinity) for regions
exterior to event horizons, is constrained by that of \scri. In this paper,
we prove a generalization of the homology results in gr-qc/9902061 in arbitrary
dimension, that H_{n-1}(V;Z)=Z^k where V is the closure of V' and k is the
number of boundaries interior to . As a consequence, V
does not contain any wormholes or other compact, non-simply connected
topological structures. Finally, for the case of n=2, we show that these
constraints and the onto homomorphism of the fundamental groups from which they
follow are sufficient to limit the topology of interior of V to either B^2 or
.Comment: Revtex, 20 page
Discovery of pulsations in the X-ray transient 4U 1901+03
We describe observations of the 2003 outburst of the hard-spectrum X-ray
transient 4U 1901+03 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. The outburst was
first detected in 2003 February by the All-Sky Monitor, and reached a peak
2.5-25 keV flux of 8x10^-9 ergs/cm^2/s (around 240 mCrab). The only other known
outburst occurred 32.2 yr earlier, likely the longest presently known
recurrence time for any X-ray transient. Proportional Counter Array (PCA)
observations over the 5-month duration of the 2003 outburst revealed a 2.763 s
pulsar in a 22.58 d orbit. The detection of pulsations down to a flux of
3x10^-11 ergs/cm^2/s (2.5-25 keV), along with the inferred long-term accretion
rate of 8.1x10^-11 M_sun/yr (assuming a distance of 10 kpc) suggests that the
surface magnetic field strength is below ~5x10^11 G. The corresponding
cyclotron energy is thus below 4 keV, consistent with the non-detection of
resonance features at high energies. Although we could not unambiguously
identify the optical counterpart, the lack of a bright IR candidate within the
1' RXTE error circle rules out a supergiant mass donor. The neutron star in 4U
1901+03 probably accretes from the wind of a main-sequence O-B star, like most
other high-mass binary X-ray pulsars. The almost circular orbit e=0.036
confirms the system's membership in a growing class of wide, low-eccentricity
systems in which the neutron stars may have received much smaller kicks as a
result of their natal supernova explosions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted by ApJ. Very minor addition in response
to referee's comment; updated author affiliatio
A Combined Compton and Coded-aperture Telescope for Medium-energy Gamma-ray Astrophysics
A future mission in medium-energy gamma-ray astrophysics would allow for many
scientific advancements, e.g. a possible explanation for the excess positron
emission from the Galactic Center, a better understanding of nucleosynthesis
and explosion mechanisms in Type Ia supernovae, and a look at the physical
forces at play in compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars.
Additionally, further observation in this energy regime would significantly
extend the search parameter space for low-mass dark matter. In order to achieve
these objectives, an instrument with good energy resolution, good angular
resolution, and high sensitivity is required. In this paper we present the
design and simulation of a Compton telescope consisting of cubic-centimeter
Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe) detectors as absorbers behind a silicon tracker
with the addition of a passive coded mask. The goal of the design was to create
a very sensitive instrument that is capable of high angular resolution. The
simulated telescope showed achievable energy resolutions of 1.68 FWHM at
511 keV and 1.11 at 1809 keV, on-axis angular resolutions in Compton mode
of 2.63 FWHM at 511 keV and 1.30 FWHM at 1809 keV, and is
capable of resolving sources to at least 0.2 at lower energies with
the use of the coded mask. An initial assessment of the instrument in Compton
imaging mode yields an effective area of 183 cm at 511 keV and an
anticipated all-sky sensitivity of 3.6 x 10 photons cm s
for a broadened 511 keV source over a 2-year observation time. Additionally,
combining a coded mask with a Compton imager to improve point source
localization for positron detection has been demonstrated
Synthetic biology: advancing biological frontiers by building synthetic systems
Advances in synthetic biology are contributing
to diverse research areas, from basic biology to
biomanufacturing and disease therapy. We discuss the
theoretical foundation, applications, and potential of
this emerging field
The Cosmic Censor Forbids Naked Topology
For any asymptotically flat spacetime with a suitable causal structure
obeying (a weak form of) Penrose's cosmic censorship conjecture and satisfying
conditions guaranteeing focusing of complete null geodesics, we prove that
active topological censorship holds. We do not assume global hyperbolicity, and
therefore make no use of Cauchy surfaces and their topology. Instead, we
replace this with two underlying assumptions concerning the causal structure:
that no compact set can signal to arbitrarily small neighbourhoods of spatial
infinity (``-avoidance''), and that no future incomplete null geodesic is
visible from future null infinity. We show that these and the focusing
condition together imply that the domain of outer communications is simply
connected. Furthermore, we prove lemmas which have as a consequence that if a
future incomplete null geodesic were visible from infinity, then given our
-avoidance assumption, it would also be visible from points of spacetime
that can communicate with infinity, and so would signify a true naked
singularity.Comment: To appear in CQG, this improved version contains minor revisions to
incorporate referee's suggestions. Two revised references. Plain TeX, 12
page
On the Gannon-Lee Singularity Theorem in Higher Dimensions
The Gannon-Lee singularity theorems give well-known restrictions on the
spatial topology of singularity-free (i.e., nonspacelike geodesically
complete), globally hyperbolic spacetimes. In this paper, we revisit these
classic results in the light of recent developments, especially the failure in
higher dimensions of a celebrated theorem by Hawking on the topology of black
hole horizons. The global hyperbolicity requirement is weakened, and we expand
the scope of the main results to allow for the richer variety of spatial
topologies which are likely to occur in higher-dimensional spacetimes.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, to appear in Class. Quantum Gra
Nuclear waste disposal in space
Work on nuclear waste disposal in space conducted by the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and contractors are reported. From the aggregate studies, it is concluded that space disposal of nuclear waste is technically feasible
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