8,491 research outputs found
Constraints on the duality relation from ACT cluster data
The cosmic distance-duality relation (CDDR), , where and and are, respectively, the
luminosity and the angular diameter distances, holds as long as the number of
photons is conserved and gravity is described by a metric theory. Testing such
hypotheses is, therefore, an important task for both cosmology and fundamental
physics. In this paper we use 91 measurements of the gas mass fraction of
galaxy clusters recently reported by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT)
survey along with type Ia supernovae observations of the Union2.1 compilation
to probe a possible deviation from the value . Although in agreement
with the standard hyphothesis, we find that this combination of data tends to
favor negative values of which might be associated with some physical
processes increasing the number of photons and modifying the above relation to
.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Different faces of the phantom
The SNe type Ia data admit that the Universe today may be dominated by some
exotic matter with negative pressure violating all energy conditions. Such
exotic matter is called {\it phantom matter} due to the anomalies connected
with violation of the energy conditions. If a phantom matter dominates the
matter content of the universe, it can develop a singularity in a finite future
proper time. Here we show that, under certain conditions, the evolution of
perturbations of this matter may lead to avoidance of this future singularity
(the Big Rip). At the same time, we show that local concentrations of a phantom
field may form, among other regular configurations, black holes with
asymptotically flat static regions, separated by an event horizon from an
expanding, singularity-free, asymptotically de Sitter universe.Comment: 6 pages, presented at IRGAC 2006, Barcelona, 11-15 July 200
Cosmic homogeneity: a spectroscopic and model-independent measurement
Cosmology relies on the Cosmological Principle, i.e., the hypothesis that the
Universe is homogeneous and isotropic on large scales. This implies in
particular that the counts of galaxies should approach a homogeneous scaling
with volume at sufficiently large scales. Testing homogeneity is crucial to
obtain a correct interpretation of the physical assumptions underlying the
current cosmic acceleration and structure formation of the Universe. In this
Letter, we use the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey to make the first
spectroscopic and model-independent measurements of the angular homogeneity
scale . Applying four statistical estimators, we show that the
angular distribution of galaxies in the range 0.46 < z < 0.62 is consistent
with homogeneity at large scales, and that varies with
redshift, indicating a smoother Universe in the past. These results are in
agreement with the foundations of the standard cosmological paradigm.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Version accepted by MNRA
Ab-initio study of the relation between electric polarization and electric field gradients in ferroelectrics
The hyperfine interaction between the quadrupole moment of atomic nuclei and
the electric field gradient (EFG) provides information on the electronic charge
distribution close to a given atomic site. In ferroelectric materials, the loss
of inversion symmetry of the electronic charge distribution is necessary for
the appearance of the electric polarization. We present first-principles
density functional theory calculations of ferroelectrics such as BaTiO3, KNbO3,
PbTiO3 and other oxides with perovskite structures, by focusing on both EFG
tensors and polarization. We analyze the EFG tensor properties such as
orientation and correlation between components and their link with electric
polarization. This work supports previous studies of ferroelectric materials
where a relation between EFG tensors and polarization was observed, which may
be exploited to study ferroelectric order when standard techniques to measure
polarization are not easily applied.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables, corrected typos, as published in Phys.
Rev.
No-horizon theorem for spacetimes with spacelike G1 isometry groups
We consider four-dimensional spacetimes which obey the
Einstein equations , and admit a global spacelike
isometry group. By means of dimensional reduction and local
analyis on the reduced (2+1) spacetime, we obtain a sufficient condition on
which guarantees that cannot contain apparent
horizons. Given any (3+1) spacetime with spacelike translational isometry, the
no-horizon condition can be readily tested without the need for dimensional
reduction. This provides thus a useful and encompassing apparent horizon test
for -symmetric spacetimes. We argue that this adds further evidence
towards the validity of the hoop conjecture, and signals possible violations of
strong cosmic censorship.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, uses IOP package; published in Class. Quantum Gra
Gluon saturation and the Froissart bound: a simple approach
At very high energies we expect that the hadronic cross sections satisfy the
Froissart bound, which is a well-established property of the strong
interactions. In this energy regime we also expect the formation of the Color
Glass Condensate, characterized by gluon saturation and a typical momentum
scale: the saturation scale . In this paper we show that if a saturation
window exists between the nonperturbative and perturbative regimes of Quantum
Chromodynamics (QCD), the total cross sections satisfy the Froissart bound.
Furthermore, we show that our approach allows us to describe the high energy
experimental data on total cross sections.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Includes additional figures, discussion and
reference
G\"{o}del-type solutions in hybrid metric-Palatini gravity
In this paper, the hybrid metric-Palatini gravity is an approach to modified
gravity in which is added to the usual Einstein-Hilbert action a supplementary
term containing a Palatini-type correction of the form . Here,
is the Palatini curvature scalar, which is constructed from an
independent connection and is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. This
theory describes a non-minimal coupling between matter and geometry. The
modified Einstein field equations in this hybrid metric-Palatini approach are
obtained. Then, it is investigated whether this modified theory of gravity and
its field equations allow G\"{o}del-type solutions, which essentially lead to
violation of causality. Considering physically well-motivated matter sources,
causal and non-causal solutions are explored.Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in EP
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