611 research outputs found
Lessons on Eternal Traversable Wormholes in AdS
We attempt to construct eternal traversable wormholes connecting two
asymptotically AdS regions by introducing a static coupling between their dual
CFTs. We prove that there are no semiclassical traversable wormholes with
Poincar\'e invariance in the boundary directions in higher than two spacetime
dimensions. We critically examine the possibility of evading our result by
coupling a large number of bulk fields. Static, traversable wormholes with less
symmetry may be possible, and could be constructed using the ingredients we
develop here.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures. v2: minor additions, matches published versio
Modelling the spectral response of the Swift-XRT CCD camera: Experience learnt from in-flight calibration
(Abbreviated) We show that the XRT spectral response calibration was
complicated by various energy offsets in photon counting (PC) and windowed
timing (WT) modes related to the way the CCD is operated in orbit (variation in
temperature during observations, contamination by optical light from the sunlit
Earth and increase in charge transfer inefficiency). We describe how these
effects can be corrected for in the ground processing software. We show that
the low-energy response, the redistribution in spectra of absorbed sources, and
the modelling of the line profile have been significantly improved since launch
by introducing empirical corrections in our code when it was not possible to
use a physical description. We note that the increase in CTI became noticeable
in June 2006 (i.e. 14 months after launch), but the evidence of a more serious
degradation in spectroscopic performance (line broadening and change in the
low-energy response) due to large charge traps (i.e. faults in the Si crystal)
became more significant after March 2007. We describe efforts to handle such
changes in the spectral response. Finally, we show that the commanded increase
in the substrate voltage from 0 to 6V on 2007 August 30 reduced the dark
current, enabling the collection of useful science data at higher CCD
temperature (up to -50C). We also briefly describe the plan to recalibrate the
XRT response files at this new voltage.Comment: 27 pages, 29 figures (many in colour), accepted for publication in
A&
Comparison between classical potentials and ab initio for silicon under large shear
The homogeneous shear of the {111} planes along the direction of bulk
silicon has been investigated using ab initio techniques, to better understand
the strain properties of both shuffle and glide set planes. Similar
calculations have been done with three empirical potentials, Stillinger-Weber,
Tersoff and EDIP, in order to find the one giving the best results under large
shear strains. The generalized stacking fault energies have also been
calculated with these potentials to complement this study. It turns out that
the Stillinger-Weber potential better reproduces the ab initio results, for the
smoothness and the amplitude of the energy variation as well as the
localization of shear in the shuffle set
Dislocation dipoles and the nucleation of cracks in silicon nanopillars
To understand the brittle to ductile transtion at small scale in silicon nanopillars, plastic deformation of silicon nanopillars was investigated by atomistic simulations. Perfect dislocations were found to be nucleated from surfaces and nano cavities were evidenced resulting from dislocation dipoles annihilation. The formation of such cavities is consistent with previous atomistic calculations showing that the annihilation of dislocation vacancy dipole of perfect shuffle dislocations is associated to the formation of vacancy clusters in silicon and diamond [1]. In nanopillars such cavities contribute to the nucleation of cracks [2]. This mechanism of crack nucleation is relevant to single slip deformation and does not require any interactions between dislocations issued from intersecting glide planes as usually postulated for crack nucleation [3].
Incipient dipoles were also found nucleated on the glide plane swept by dislocations. These incipient dipoles result from bond flips and are similar to the Stone–Wales defects in graphene [4]. These defects could be similar and related to the “dislocations trails” found in the glide plane of dislocations in other deformation conditions, a long time and rather unsolved problem in silicon (see for example [5]). Under the applied stress those incipient dipoles appear to act as new nucleation centers for dislocations located in the glide plane. Those dislocations contribute to dislocation interactions in parallel slip planes and to the formation of nano cracks following the described above mechanism
Geochemical investigation of a sediment core from the Trajan basin at Portus, the harbor of ancient Rome
International audiencea journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: a b s t r a c t From the 1st century AD and for the duration of the Roman Empire, the Portus complex was the main harbor of Rome. Its location on the Tiber delta next to the Tyrrhenian Sea produced rapid environmental changes that, together with historical vicissitudes, largely determined the fate of the harbor. We have assembled data on the mineralogy, sedimentology, geochemistry, and ostracod populations of a sediment core drilled in the access channel of the hexagonal basin of Trajan, with the expectation that such a combined data set will shed new light on how the connections of the inland Trajan basin with the Tiber river, the earlier Claudius harbor on the nearby shoreline, and the sea evolved through the centuries. The data define four distinct periods which geochemistry characterizes by different conditions of salinity and oxygenation. These in turn can be related to historical periods and events by means of 1
Comparative Morphology of the Penis and Clitoris in Four Species of Moles (Talpidae).
The penile and clitoral anatomy of four species of Talpid moles (broad-footed, star-nosed, hairy-tailed, and Japanese shrew moles) were investigated to define penile and clitoral anatomy and to examine the relationship of the clitoral anatomy with the presence or absence of ovotestes. The ovotestis contains ovarian tissue and glandular tissue resembling fetal testicular tissue and can produce androgens. The ovotestis is present in star-nosed and hairy-tailed moles, but not in broad-footed and Japanese shrew moles. Using histology, three-dimensional reconstruction, and morphometric analysis, sexual dimorphism was examined with regard to a nine feature masculine trait score that included perineal appendage length (prepuce), anogenital distance, and presence/absence of bone. The presence/absence of ovotestes was discordant in all four mole species for sex differentiation features. For many sex differentiation features, discordance with ovotestes was observed in at least one mole species. The degree of concordance with ovotestes was highest for hairy-tailed moles and lowest for broad-footed moles. In relationship to phylogenetic clade, sex differentiation features also did not correlate with the similarity/divergence of the features and presence/absence of ovotestes. Hairy-tailed and Japanese shrew moles reside in separated clades, but they exhibit a high degree of congruence. Broad-footed and hairy-tailed moles reside within the same clade but had one of the lowest correlations in features and presence/absence of ovotestes. Thus, phylogenetic affinity and the presence/absence of ovotestes are poor predictors for most sex differentiation features within mole external genitalia
Scattered Emission from A Relativistic Outflow and Its Application to Gamma-Ray Bursts
We investigate a scenario of photons scattering by electrons within a
relativistic outflow. The outflow is composed of discrete shells with different
speeds. One shell emits radiation for a short duration. Some of this radiation
is scattered by the shell(s) behind. We calculate in a simple two-shell model
the observed scattered flux density as a function of the observed primary flux
density, the normalized arrival time delay between the two emission components,
the Lorentz factor ratio of the two shells and the scattering shell's optical
depth. Thomson scattering in a cold shell and inverse Compton scattering in a
hot shell are both considered. The results of our calculations are applied to
the Gamma-Ray Bursts and the afterglows. We find that the scattered flux from a
cold slower shell is small and likely to be detected only for those bursts with
very weak afterglows. A hot scattering shell could give rise to a scattered
emission as bright as the X-ray shallow decay component detected in many
bursts, on a condition that the isotropically equivalent total energy carried
by the hot electrons is large, erg. The scattered emission
from a faster shell could appear as a late short -ray/MeV flash or
become part of the prompt emission depending on the delay of the ejection of
the shell.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS in press; a short intuitive estimation is
added before detailed calculations; references update
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