12,409 research outputs found
Universality of Quantum Gravity Corrections
We show that the existence of a minimum measurable length and the related
Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP), predicted by theories of Quantum
Gravity, influence all quantum Hamiltonians. Thus, they predict quantum gravity
corrections to various quantum phenomena. We compute such corrections to the
Lamb Shift, the Landau levels and the tunnelling current in a Scanning
Tunnelling Microscope (STM). We show that these corrections can be interpreted
in two ways: (a) either that they are exceedingly small, beyond the reach of
current experiments, or (b) that they predict upper bounds on the quantum
gravity parameter in the GUP, compatible with experiments at the electroweak
scale. Thus, more accurate measurements in the future should either be able to
test these predictions, or further tighten the above bounds and predict an
intermediate length scale, between the electroweak and the Planck scale.Comment: v1: 4 pages, LaTeX; v2: typos corrected, references updated, version
to match published version in Physical Review Letter
Canonical density matrix perturbation theory
Density matrix perturbation theory [Niklasson and Challacombe, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 92, 193001 (2004)] is generalized to canonical (NVT) free energy
ensembles in tight-binding, Hartree-Fock or Kohn-Sham density functional
theory. The canonical density matrix perturbation theory can be used to
calculate temperature dependent response properties from the coupled perturbed
self-consistent field equations as in density functional perturbation theory.
The method is well suited to take advantage of sparse matrix algebra to achieve
linear scaling complexity in the computational cost as a function of system
size for sufficiently large non-metallic materials and metals at high
temperatures.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure
A Near-Infrared L Band Survey of the Young Embedded Cluster NGC 2024
We present the results of the first sensitive L band (3.4 micron) imaging
study of the nearby young embedded cluster NGC 2024. Two separate surveys of
the cluster were acquired in order to obtain a census of the circumstellar disk
fraction in the cluster. From an analysis of the JHKL colors of all sources in
our largest area, we find an infrared excess fraction of > 86%. The JHKL colors
suggest that the infrared excesses arise in circumstellar disks, indicating
that the majority of the sources which formed in the NGC 2024 cluster are
currently surrounded by, and likely formed with circumstellar disks. The excess
fractions remain very high, within the errors, even at the faintest L
magnitudes from our deeper surveys suggesting that disks form around the
majority of the stars in very young clusters such as NGC 2024 independent of
mass. From comparison with published JHKL observations of Taurus, we find the K
- L excess fraction in NGC 2024 to be consistent with a high initial incidence
of circumstellar disks in both NGC 2024 and Taurus. Because NGC 2024 represents
a region of much higher stellar density than Taurus, this suggests that disks
may form around most of the YSOs in star forming regions independent of
environment. We find a relatively constant JHKL excess fraction with increasing
cluster radius, indicating that the disk fraction is independent of location in
the cluster. In contrast, the JHK excess fraction increases rapidly toward the
central region of the cluster, and is most likely due to contamination of the K
band measurements by bright nebulosity in the central regions of the cluster.
We identify 45 candidate protostellar sources in the central regions of the NGC
2024 cluster, and find a lower limit on the protostellar phase of early stellar
evolution of 0.4 - 1.4 X 10^5 yr, similar to that in Taurus.Comment: 37 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, To appear in the Astronomical Journa
A proposal for testing Quantum Gravity in the lab
Attempts to formulate a quantum theory of gravitation are collectively known
as {\it quantum gravity}. Various approaches to quantum gravity such as string
theory and loop quantum gravity, as well as black hole physics and doubly
special relativity theories predict a minimum measurable length, or a maximum
observable momentum, and related modifications of the Heisenberg Uncertainty
Principle to a so-called generalized uncertainty principle (GUP). We have
proposed a GUP consistent with string theory, black hole physics and doubly
special relativity theories and have showed that this modifies all quantum
mechanical Hamiltonians. When applied to an elementary particle, it suggests
that the space that confines it must be quantized, and in fact that all
measurable lengths are quantized in units of a fundamental length (which can be
the Planck length). On the one hand, this may signal the breakdown of the
spacetime continuum picture near that scale, and on the other hand, it can
predict an upper bound on the quantum gravity parameter in the GUP, from
current observations. Furthermore, such fundamental discreteness of space may
have observable consequences at length scales much larger than the Planck
scale. Because this influences all the quantum Hamiltonians in an universal
way, it predicts quantum gravity corrections to various quantum phenomena.
Therefore, in the present work we compute these corrections to the Lamb shift,
simple harmonic oscillator, Landau levels, and the tunneling current in a
scanning tunneling microscope.Comment: v1: 10 pages, REVTeX 4, no figures; v2: minor typos corrected and a
reference added. arXiv admin note: has substantial overlap with
arXiv:0906.5396 , published in a different journa
Clustering of the Diffuse Infrared Light from the COBE DIRBE maps. III. Power spectrum analysis and excess isotropic component of fluctuations
The cosmic infrared background (CIB) radiation is the cosmic repository for
energy release throughout the history of the universe. Using the all-sky data
from the COBE DIRBE instrument at wavelengths 1.25 - 100 mic we attempt to
measure the CIB fluctuations. In the near-IR, foreground emission is dominated
by small scale structure due to stars in the Galaxy. There we find a strong
correlation between the amplitude of the fluctuations and Galactic latitude
after removing bright foreground stars. Using data outside the Galactic plane
() and away from the center () we extrapolate
the amplitude of the fluctuations to cosec. We find a positive intercept
of nW/m2/sr at 1.25, 2.2,3.5 and 4.9 mic
respectively, where the errors are the range of 92% confidence limits. For
color subtracted maps between band 1 and 2 we find the isotropic part of the
fluctuations at nW/m2/sr. Based on detailed numerical and
analytic models, this residual is not likely to originate from the Galaxy, our
clipping algorithm, or instrumental noise. We demonstrate that the residuals
from the fit used in the extrapolation are distributed isotropically and
suggest that this extra variance may result from structure in the CIB. For
2\deg< \theta < 15^\deg, a power-spectrum analysis yields firm upper limits
of (\theta/5^\deg) \times\delta F_{\rm rms} (\theta) < 6, 2.5, 0.8, 0.5
nW/m2/sr at 1.25, 2.2, 3.5 and 4.9 mic respectively. From 10-100 mic, the upper
limits <1 nW/m2/sr.Comment: Ap.J., in press. 69 pages including 24 fig
Self-affine surface morphology of plastically deformed metals
We analyze the surface morphology of metals after plastic deformation over a
range of scales from 10 nm to 2 mm, using a combination of atomic force
microscopy and scanning white-light interferometry. We demonstrate that an
initially smooth surface during deformation develops self-affine roughness over
almost four orders of magnitude in scale. The Hurst exponent of
one-dimensional surface profiles is initially found to decrease with increasing
strain and then stabilizes at . By analyzing their statistical
properties we show that the one-dimensional surface profiles can be
mathematically modelled as graphs of a fractional Brownian motion. Our findings
can be understood in terms of a fractal distribution of plastic strain within
the deformed samples
Gravitational anomalies: a recipe for Hawking radiation
We explore the method of Robinson and Wilczek for deriving the Hawking
temperature of a black hole. In this method, the Hawking radiation restores
general covariance in an effective theory of near-horizon physics which
otherwise exhibits a gravitational anomaly at the quantum level. The method has
been shown to work for broad classes of black holes in arbitrary spacetime
dimensions. These include static black holes, accreting or evaporating black
holes, charged black holes, rotating black holes, and even black rings. In the
case of charged and rotating black holes, the expected super-radiant current is
also reproduced.Comment: 7 pages; This essay received an "Honorable Mention" in the 2007 Essay
Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation; (v2) Short comments and
references added; (v3) Minor revisions and updated references to agree with
published versio
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Winning and losing in the creative industries: an analysis of creative graduates' career opportunities across creative disciplines
Following earlier work looking at overall career difficulties and low economic rewards faced by graduates in creative disciplines, the paper takes a closer look into the different career patterns and economic performance of “Bohemian” graduates across different creative disciplines. While it is widely acknowledged in the literature that careers in the creative field tend to be unstructured, often relying on part-time work and low wages, our knowledge of how these characteristics differ across the creative industries and occupational sectors is very limited. The paper explores the different trajectory and career patterns experienced by graduates in different creative disciplinary fields and their ability to enter creative occupations. Data from the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) are presented, articulating a complex picture of the reality of finding a creative occupation for creative graduates. While students of some disciplines struggle to find full-time work in the creative economy, for others full-time occupation is the norm. Geography plays a crucial role also in offering graduates opportunities in creative occupations and higher salaries. The findings are contextualised in the New Labour cultural policy framework and conclusions are drawn on whether the creative industries policy construct has hidden a very problematic reality of winners and losers in the creative economy
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