1,348 research outputs found
Gamma-Ray Burst Phenomenon as Collapse of QED Magnetized Vacuum Bubble: Analogy with Sonoluminescence
We consider the phenomenon of a gamma-ray burst as a nonlinear collapse of a
magnetic cavity surrounding a neutron star with very strong magnetic field B =
10^15 - 10^16 G due to the process of the bubble shape instability in a
resonant MHD field of the accreting plasma. The QED effect of vacuum
polarizability by the strong magnetic field is taken into account. We develop
an analogy with the phenomenon of sonoluminescence (SL) when the gas bubble is
located in the surrounding liquid with a driven sound intensity. We show that
this analogy between GRB and SL phenomena really exists.Comment: 14 pages, submitted to Natur
The Radon transform and its dual for limits of symmetric spaces
The Radon transform and its dual are central objects in geometric analysis on
Riemannian symmetric spaces of the noncompact type. In this article we study
algebraic versions of those transforms on inductive limits of symmetric spaces.
In particular, we show that normalized versions exists on some spaces of
regular functions on the limit. We give a formula for the normalized transform
using integral kernels and relate them to limits of double fibration transforms
on spheres
Sonoluminescence as a QED vacuum effect. II: Finite Volume Effects
In a companion paper [quant-ph/9904013] we have investigated several
variations of Schwinger's proposed mechanism for sonoluminescence. We
demonstrated that any realistic version of Schwinger's mechanism must depend on
extremely rapid (femtosecond) changes in refractive index, and discussed ways
in which this might be physically plausible. To keep that discussion tractable,
the technical computations in that paper were limited to the case of a
homogeneous dielectric medium. In this paper we investigate the additional
complications introduced by finite-volume effects. The basic physical scenario
remains the same, but we now deal with finite spherical bubbles, and so must
decompose the electromagnetic field into Spherical Harmonics and Bessel
functions. We demonstrate how to set up the formalism for calculating Bogolubov
coefficients in the sudden approximation, and show that we qualitatively retain
the results previously obtained using the homogeneous-dielectric (infinite
volume) approximation.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX 209, ReV-TeX 3.2, five figure
Connecting geodesics and security of configurations in compact locally symmetric spaces
A pair of points in a riemannian manifold makes a secure configuration if the
totality of geodesics connecting them can be blocked by a finite set. The
manifold is secure if every configuration is secure. We investigate the
security of compact, locally symmetric spaces.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figure
Analysis of Fourier transform valuation formulas and applications
The aim of this article is to provide a systematic analysis of the conditions
such that Fourier transform valuation formulas are valid in a general
framework; i.e. when the option has an arbitrary payoff function and depends on
the path of the asset price process. An interplay between the conditions on the
payoff function and the process arises naturally. We also extend these results
to the multi-dimensional case, and discuss the calculation of Greeks by Fourier
transform methods. As an application, we price options on the minimum of two
assets in L\'evy and stochastic volatility models.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Appl. Math. Financ
Some remarks on the van der Waerden conjecture
AbstractElementary proofs of the van der Waerden conjecture are given for the cases n=3 and n=4. Some partial results are found for the case n=5, and the conjecture is shown true for a special class of matrices
On worst-case investment with applications in finance and insurance mathematics
We review recent results on the new concept of worst-case portfolio optimization, i.e. we consider the determination of portfolio processes which yield the highest worst-case expected utility bound if the stock price may have uncertain (down) jumps. The optimal portfolios are derived as solutions of non-linear differential equations which itself are consequences of a Bellman principle for worst-case bounds. They are by construction non-constant ones and thus differ from the usual constant optimal portfolios in the classical examples of the Merton problem. A particular application of such strategies is to model crash possibilities where both the number and the height of the crash is uncertain but bounded. We further solve optimal investment problems in the presence of an additional risk process which is the typical situation of an insurer
Sonoluminescence as a QED vacuum effect: Probing Schwinger's proposal
Several years ago Schwinger proposed a physical mechanism for
sonoluminescence in terms of photon production due to changes in the properties
of the quantum-electrodynamic (QED) vacuum arising from a collapsing dielectric
bubble. This mechanism can be re-phrased in terms of the Casimir effect and has
recently been the subject of considerable controversy. The present paper probes
Schwinger's suggestion in detail: Using the sudden approximation we calculate
Bogolubov coefficients relating the QED vacuum in the presence of the expanded
bubble to that in the presence of the collapsed bubble. In this way we derive
an estimate for the spectrum and total energy emitted. We verify that in the
sudden approximation there is an efficient production of photons, and further
that the main contribution to this dynamic Casimir effect comes from a volume
term, as per Schwinger's original calculation. However, we also demonstrate
that the timescales required to implement Schwinger's original suggestion are
not physically relevant to sonoluminescence. Although Schwinger was correct in
his assertion that changes in the zero-point energy lead to photon production,
nevertheless his original model is not appropriate for sonoluminescence. In
other works (see quant-ph/9805023, quant-ph/9904013, quant-ph/9904018,
quant-ph/9905034) we have developed a variant of Schwinger's model that is
compatible with the physically required timescales.Comment: 18 pages, ReV_TeX 3.2, 9 figures. Major revisions: This document is
now limited to providing a probe of Schwinger's original suggestion for
sonoluminescence. For details on our own variant of Schwinger's ideas see
quant-ph/9805023, quant-ph/9904013, quant-ph/9904018, quant-ph/990503
Quantum Electrodynamics near a Dielectric Half-space
We determine the photon propagator in the presence of a non-dispersive
dielectric half-space and use it to calculate the self-energy of an electron
near a dielectric surface
Symmetric spaces of higher rank do not admit differentiable compactifications
Any nonpositively curved symmetric space admits a topological
compactification, namely the Hadamard compactification. For rank one spaces,
this topological compactification can be endowed with a differentiable
structure such that the action of the isometry group is differentiable.
Moreover, the restriction of the action on the boundary leads to a flat model
for some geometry (conformal, CR or quaternionic CR depending of the space).
One can ask whether such a differentiable compactification exists for higher
rank spaces, hopefully leading to some knew geometry to explore. In this paper
we answer negatively.Comment: 13 pages, to appear in Mathematische Annale
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