4,150 research outputs found
Microfield Dynamics of Black Holes
The microcanonical treatment of black holes as opposed to the canonical
formulation is reviewed and some major differences are displayed. In particular
the decay rates are compared in the two different pictures.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, Revtex, Minor change in forma
Infinite average lifetime of an unstable bright state in the green fluorescent protein
The time evolution of the fluorescence intensity emitted by well-defined
ensembles of Green Fluorescent Proteins has been studied by using a standard
confocal microscope. In contrast with previous results obtained in single
molecule experiments, the photo-bleaching of the ensemble is well described by
a model based on Levy statistics. Moreover, this simple theoretical model
allows us to obtain information about the energy-scales involved in the aging
process.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Ghost Busting: PT-Symmetric Interpretation of the Lee Model
The Lee model was introduced in the 1950s as an elementary quantum field
theory in which mass, wave function, and charge renormalization could be
carried out exactly. In early studies of this model it was found that there is
a critical value of g^2, the square of the renormalized coupling constant,
above which g_0^2, the square of the unrenormalized coupling constant, is
negative. Thus, for g^2 larger than this critical value, the Hamiltonian of the
Lee model becomes non-Hermitian. It was also discovered that in this
non-Hermitian regime a new state appears whose norm is negative. This state is
called a ghost state. It has always been assumed that in this ghost regime the
Lee model is an unacceptable quantum theory because unitarity appears to be
violated. However, in this regime while the Hamiltonian is not Hermitian, it
does possess PT symmetry. It has recently been discovered that a non-Hermitian
Hamiltonian having PT symmetry may define a quantum theory that is unitary. The
proof of unitarity requires the construction of a new time-independent operator
called C. In terms of C one can define a new inner product with respect to
which the norms of the states in the Hilbert space are positive. Furthermore,
it has been shown that time evolution in such a theory is unitary. In this
paper the C operator for the Lee model in the ghost regime is constructed
exactly in the V/N-theta sector. It is then shown that the ghost state has a
positive norm and that the Lee model is an acceptable unitary quantum field
theory for all values of g^2.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figure
Theoretical survey of tidal-charged black holes at the LHC
We analyse a family of brane-world black holes which solve the effective
four-dimensional Einstein equations for a wide range of parameters related to
the unknown bulk/brane physics. We first constrain the parameters using known
experimental bounds and, for the allowed cases, perform a numerical analysis of
their time evolution, which includes accretion through the Earth. The study is
aimed at predicting the typical behavior one can expect if such black holes
were produced at the LHC. Most notably, we find that, under no circumstances,
would the black holes reach the (hazardous) regime of Bondi accretion.
Nonetheless, the possibility remains that black holes live long enough to
escape from the accelerator (and even from the Earth's gravitational field) and
result in missing energy from the detectors.Comment: RevTeX4, 12 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables, minor changes to match the
accepted version in JHE
On dispersion relations and the statistical mechanics of Hawking radiation
We analyze the interplay between dispersion relations for the spectrum of
Hawking quanta and the statistical mechanics of such a radiation. We first find
the general relation between the occupation number density and the energy
spectrum of Hawking quanta and then study several cases in details. We show
that both the canonical and the microcanonical picture of the evaporation lead
to the same linear dispersion relation for relatively large black holes. We
also compute the occupation number obtained by instead assuming that the
spectrum levels out (and eventually falls to zero) for very large momenta and
show that the luminosity of black holes is not appreciably affected by the
modified statistics.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 6 eps figures included, final version to appear in
Class. Quantum Gravit
The role of pre-school quality in promoting resilience in the cognitive development of young children
The study reported here investigates the role of pre-school education as a protective factor in the development of children who are at risk due to environmental and individual factors. This investigation builds upon earlier research by examining different kinds of 'quality' in early education and tests the hypothesis that pre-schools of high quality can moderate the impacts of risks upon cognitive development. Cognitive development was measured in 2857 English pre-schoolers at 36 and 58 months of age, together with 22 individual risks to children's development, and assessments were made of the quality of their pre-school provision. Multilevel Structural Equation Modelling revealed that: the global quality of pre-school can moderate the effects of familial risk (such as poverty); the relationships between staff and children can moderate the effects of child level risk (such as low birth weight); and the specific quality of curricular provision can moderate the effects of both. Policy makers need to take quality into account in their efforts to promote resilience in young 'at risk' children through early childhood services
Characterization of the seismic environment at the Sanford Underground Laboratory, South Dakota
An array of seismometers is being developed at the Sanford Underground
Laboratory, the former Homestake mine, in South Dakota to study the properties
of underground seismic fields and Newtonian noise, and to investigate the
possible advantages of constructing a third-generation gravitational-wave
detector underground. Seismic data were analyzed to characterize seismic noise
and disturbances. External databases were used to identify sources of seismic
waves: ocean-wave data to identify sources of oceanic microseisms, and surface
wind-speed data to investigate correlations with seismic motion as a function
of depth. In addition, sources of events contributing to the spectrum at higher
frequencies are characterized by studying the variation of event rates over the
course of a day. Long-term observations of spectral variations provide further
insight into the nature of seismic sources. Seismic spectra at three different
depths are compared, establishing the 4100-ft level as a world-class low
seismic-noise environment.Comment: 29 pages, 16 figure
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