Stability of de Sitter spacetime under isotropic perturbations in semiclassical gravity

A spatially flat Robertson-Walker spacetime driven by a cosmological constant is non-conformally coupled to a massless scalar field. The equations of semiclassical gravity are explicitly solved for this case, and a self-consistent de Sitter solution associated with the Bunch-Davies vacuum state is found (the effect of the quantum field is to shift slightly the effective cosmological constant). Furthermore, it is shown that the corrected de Sitter spacetime is stable under spatially-isotropic perturbations of the metric and the quantum state. These results are independent of the free renormalization parameters.Comment: 19 pages, REVTeX

Rocket plume URANS simulation using OpenFOAM

[EN] A key aspect in the launch environment of a space vehicle is the generation and propagation of noise, due to its effect in the payload. Obtaining experimental measures is an extremely difficult, so CFD techniques appear as a useful tool to estimate both the spatial location of noise sources and their spectral power. In this paper, a numerical simulation has been carried out to simulate the supersonic impingement of the plume jet generated by the engine and the corresponding acoustic load generated in the launch platform of the VEGA rocket using a URANS model in OpenFOAM.This work was partially funded by MINECO / FEDER, under project TI2018-102256-B-I00.Escartí-Guillem, MS.; Hoyas, S.; García-Raffi, LM. (2019). Rocket plume URANS simulation using OpenFOAM. Results in Engineering. 4:1-3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2019.100056S13

URANS Analysis of a Launch Vehicle Aero-Acoustic Environment

[EN] Predicting and mitigating acoustic levels become critical because of the harsh acoustic environment during space vehicle lift-off. This paper aimed to study the aero-acoustic environment during a rocket lift-off. The sound propagation within a launch event was studied using dedicated computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The resolution of all the phenomena that occur is unfeasible. We discuss the turbulence simplification and propose a feasible simulation through an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier¿Stokes (URANS) model. The results were validated with experimental data showing a good correlation near the fairing surface and an improvable accuracy in the far field. To assess noise generation, the main shock waves were identified, and the evolution of the generated sound pressure was assessed. Moreover, vertical directivity was revealed by data analysis of the pressure field surrounding the fairing.This research was funded by the European Space Agency of Project REDLAUCH: Launch Sound Level Reduction under contract 4000126316/19/NL/LvH. The work was supported by the MICINN (grants: DIN2019-010877 and RTI2018-102256-B-100) and by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center under Project IM-2021-2-0017 Rocket launch aeroacoustics.Escartí-Guillem, MS.; García-Raffi, LM.; Hoyas, S. (2022). URANS Analysis of a Launch Vehicle Aero-Acoustic Environment. Applied Sciences. 12(7):1-9. https://doi.org/10.3390/app120733561912

The Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project (BDKP). III. Parallaxes for 70 Ultracool Dwarfs

We report parallax measurements for 70 ultracool dwarfs (UCDs). Using both literature values and our sample, we report new polynomial relations between spectral type and M$_{JHK}$. Including resolved L/T transition binaries in the relations, we find no reason to differentiate between a "bright" (unresolved binary) and "faint" (single source) sample across the L/T boundary. Isolating early T dwarfs, we find that the brightening of T0-T4 sources is prominent in M$_{J}$ where there is a [1.2 - 1.4] magnitude difference. A similar yet dampened brightening of [0.3 - 0.5] magnitude happens at M$_{H}$ and a plateau or dimming of [-0.2 - -0.3] magnitude is seen in M$_{K}$. Comparing with evolutionary models that vary gravity, metallicity, and cloud thickness we find that a near constant temperature of 1200 $\pm$100 K along a narrow spectral subtype of T0-T4 is required to account for the brightening and color magnitude diagram of the L-dwarf/T-dwarf transition. Furthermore, there is a significant population of both L and T dwarfs which are red or potentially "ultra-cloudy" compared to the models, many of which are known to be young indicating a correlation between enhanced photospheric dust and youth. For the low surface-gravity or young companion L dwarfs we find that 8 out of 10 are at least [0.2-1.0] magnitude underluminous in M$_{JH}$ and/or M$_{K}$ compared to equivalent spectral type objects. We speculate that this is a consequence of increased dust opacity and conclude that low-surface gravity L dwarfs require a completely new spectral-type/absolute magnitude polynomial for analysis.Comment: 65 pages, Accepted for publication to Ap

A low-mass planet candidate orbiting Proxima Centauri at a distance of 1.5 AU

Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).Our nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, hosts a temperate terrestrial planet. We detected in radial velocities evidence of a possible second planet with minimum mass m c sin i c = 5.8 ± 1.9 M ⊕ and orbital period P c = 5.21 - 0.22 + 0.26 years. The analysis of photometric data and spectro-scopic activity diagnostics does not explain the signal in terms of a stellar activity cycle, but follow-up is required in the coming years for confirming its planetary origin. We show that the existence of the planet can be ascertained, and its true mass can be determined with high accuracy, by combining Gaia astrometry and radial velocities. Proxima c could become a prime target for follow-up and characterization with next-generation direct imaging instrumentation due to the large maximum angular separation of ~1 arc second from the parent star. The candidate planet represents a challenge for the models of super-Earth formation and evolution.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Efficient estimation of propagator anisotropy and non‐Gaussianity in multishell diffusion MRI with micro‐structure adaptive convolution kernels and dual Fourier integral transforms

Producción CientíficaPurpose:We seek to reformulate the so-called Propagator Anisotropy (PA) andNon-Gaussianity (NG), originally conceived for the Mean Apparent Propagatordiffusion MRI (MAP-MRI), to the Micro-Structure adaptive convolution ker-nels and dual Fourier Integral Transforms (MiSFIT). These measures describerelevant normalized features of the Ensemble Average Propagator (EAP).Theory and Methods:First, the indices, which are defined as the EAP’sdissimilarity from an isotropic (PA) or a Gaussian (NG) one, are analyticallyreformulated within the MiSFIT framework. Then a comparison between theresulting maps is drawn by means of a visual analysis, a quantitative assess-ment via numerical simulations, a test-retest study across the MICRA dataset (6subjects scanned five times) and, finally, a computational time evaluation.Results:Findings illustrate the visual similarity between the indices computedwith either technique. Evaluation against synthetic ground truth data, however,demonstrates MiSFIT’s improved accuracy. In addition, the test–retest studyreveals MiSFIT’s higher degree of reliability in most of white matter regions.Finally, the computational time evaluation shows MiSFIT’s time reduction upto two orders of magnitude.Conclusions:Despite being a direct development on the MAP-MRI represen-tation, the PA and the NG can be reliably and efficiently computed withinMiSFIT’s framework. This, together with the previous findings in the originalMiSFIT’s article, could mean the difference that definitely qualifies diffusionMRI to be incorporated into regular clinical settings.Ministerio de Educación, Junta de Castilla y León y Fondo Social Europeo, (Grant/Award Number: OrdenEDU/1100/2017 12/12)Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Grant/AwardNumbers: (RTI2018-094569-B-I00),(PID2021-124407NB-I00)Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland,(Grant/Award Number:692/STYP/13/2018)Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej, (Grant/AwardNumber: PPN/BEK/2019/1/00421

Synthetic, structural and magnetic implications of introducing 2,2'-dipyridylamide to sodium-ferrate complexes

Using a transamination approach to access novel Fe(II) complexes, this study presents the synthesis, X-ray crystallographic and magnetic characterisation of a series of new iron complexes containing the multifunctional 2,2-dipyridylamide (DPA) ligand using iron bis(amide) [{Fe(HMDS)2}2] and sodium ferrate [{NaFe (HMDS)3}∞] (1) as precursors (HMDS = 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexamethyldisilazide). Reactions of DPA(H) with 1 show exceptionally good stoichiometric control, allowing access to heteroleptic [(THF)2·NaFe(DPA)(HMDS)2] (3) and homoleptic [{THF·NaFe(DPA)3}∞] (4) by using 1 and 3 equivalents of DPA(H) respectively. Linking this methodology and co-complexation, which is a more widely used approach to prepare heterobimetallic complexes, 3 can also be prepared by combining NaHMDS with heteroleptic [{Fe(DPA)(HMDS)}2] (2). In turn, 2 has been also synthesised and structurally defined by reacting [{Fe(HMDS)2}2] with two equivalents of DPA(H). Structural studies demonstrate the coordination flexibility of the N-bridged bis(heterocycle) ligand DPA, with 2 and 3 exhibiting discrete monomeric motifs, whereas 4 displays a much more intricate supramolecular structure, with one of its DPA ligands coordinating in an anti/anti fashion (as opposed to 2 and 3 where DPA shows a syn/syn conformation), which facilitates propagation of the structure via its central amido N. Magnetic studies confirmed the high-spin electron configuration of the iron(II) centres in all three compounds and revealed the existence of weak ferromagnetic interactions in dinuclear compound 2 ( J = 1.01 cm−1)