8,487 research outputs found
Unified first law of black-hole dynamics and relativistic thermodynamics
A unified first law of black-hole dynamics and relativistic thermodynamics is
derived in spherically symmetric general relativity. This equation expresses
the gradient of the active gravitational energy E according to the Einstein
equation, divided into energy-supply and work terms. Projecting the equation
along the flow of thermodynamic matter and along the trapping horizon of a
blackhole yield, respectively, first laws of relativistic thermodynamics and
black-hole dynamics. In the black-hole case, this first law has the same form
as the first law of black-hole statics, with static perturbations replaced by
the derivative along the horizon. There is the expected term involving the area
and surface gravity, where the dynamic surface gravity is defined as in the
static case but using the Kodama vector and trapping horizon. This surface
gravity vanishes for degenerate trapping horizons and satisfies certain
expected inequalities involving the area and energy. In the thermodynamic case,
the quasi-local first law has the same form, apart from a relativistic factor,
as the classical first law of thermodynamics, involving heat supply and
hydrodynamic work, but with E replacing the internal energy. Expanding E in the
Newtonian limit shows that it incorporates the Newtonian mass, kinetic energy,
gravitational potential energy and thermal energy. There is also a weak type of
unified zeroth law: a Gibbs-like definition of thermal equilibrium requires
constancy of an effective temperature, generalising the Tolman condition and
the particular case of Hawking radiation, while gravithermal equilibrium
further requires constancy of surface gravity. Finally, it is suggested that
the energy operator of spherically symmetric quantum gravity is determined by
the Kodama vector, which encodes a dynamic time related to E.Comment: 18 pages, TeX, expanded somewhat, to appear in Class. Quantum Gra
Construction and enlargement of traversable wormholes from Schwarzschild black holes
Analytic solutions are presented which describe the construction of a
traversable wormhole from a Schwarzschild black hole, and the enlargement of
such a wormhole, in Einstein gravity. The matter model is pure radiation which
may have negative energy density (phantom or ghost radiation) and the
idealization of impulsive radiation (infinitesimally thin null shells) is
employed.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
PEN as self-vetoing structural Material
Polyethylene Naphtalate (PEN) is a mechanically very favorable polymer.
Earlier it was found that thin foils made from PEN can have very high
radio-purity compared to other commercially available foils. In fact, PEN is
already in use for low background signal transmission applications (cables).
Recently it has been realized that PEN also has favorable scintillating
properties. In combination, this makes PEN a very promising candidate as a
self-vetoing structural material in low background experiments. Components
instrumented with light detectors could be built from PEN. This includes
detector holders, detector containments, signal transmission links, etc. The
current R\&D towards qualification of PEN as a self-vetoing low background
structural material is be presented.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, contribution to Proceedings of the sixth workshop
on Low Radioactivity Techniques 2017, 23-27 May 2017 Seoul, to be published
at AIP, editor: D. Leonar
SU(2) Cosmological Solitons
We present a class of numerical solutions to the SU(2) nonlinear
-model coupled to the Einstein equations with cosmological constant
in spherical symmetry. These solutions are characterized by the
presence of a regular static region which includes a center of symmetry. They
are parameterized by a dimensionless ``coupling constant'' , the sign of
the cosmological constant, and an integer ``excitation number'' . The
phenomenology we find is compared to the corresponding solutions found for the
Einstein-Yang-Mills (EYM) equations with positive (EYM). If
we choose positive and fix , we find a family of static spacetimes
with a Killing horizon for . As a limiting solution
for we find a {\em globally} static spacetime with
, the lowest excitation being the Einstein static universe. To
interpret the physical significance of the Killing horizon in the cosmological
context, we apply the concept of a trapping horizon as formulated by Hayward.
For small values of an asymptotically de Sitter dynamic region contains
the static region within a Killing horizon of cosmological type. For strong
coupling the static region contains an ``eternal cosmological black hole''.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, Revte
Multiple large clusters of tuberculosis in London: a cross-sectional analysis of molecular and spatial data
Large outbreaks of tuberculosis (TB) represent a particular threat to disease control because they reflect multiple instances of active transmission. The extent to which long chains of transmission contribute to high TB incidence in London is unknown. We aimed to estimate the contribution of large clusters to the burden of TB in London and identify risk factors. We identified TB patients resident in London notified between 2010 and 2014, and used 24-locus mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number tandem repeat strain typing data to classify cases according to molecular cluster size. We used spatial scan statistics to test for spatial clustering and analysed risk factors through multinomial logistic regression. TB isolates from 7458 patients were included in the analysis. There were 20 large molecular clusters (with n>20 cases), comprising 795 (11%) of all cases; 18 (90%) large clusters exhibited significant spatial clustering. Cases in large clusters were more likely to be UK born (adjusted odds ratio 2.93, 95% CI 2.28-3.77), of black-Caribbean ethnicity (adjusted odds ratio 3.64, 95% CI 2.23-5.94) and have multiple social risk factors (adjusted odds ratio 3.75, 95% CI 1.96-7.16). Large clusters of cases contribute substantially to the burden of TB in London. Targeting interventions such as screening in deprived areas and social risk groups, including those of black ethnicities and born in the UK, should be a priority for reducing transmission
Simulated Galaxy Interactions as Probes of Merger Spectral Energy Distributions
We present the first systematic comparison of ultraviolet-millimeter spectral
energy distributions (SEDs) of observed and simulated interacting galaxies. Our
sample is drawn from the Spitzer Interacting Galaxy Survey, and probes a range
of galaxy interaction parameters. We use 31 galaxies in 14 systems which have
been observed with Herschel, Spitzer, GALEX, and 2MASS. We create a suite of
GADGET-3 hydrodynamic simulations of isolated and interacting galaxies with
stellar masses comparable to those in our sample of interacting galaxies.
Photometry for the simulated systems is then calculated with the SUNRISE
radiative transfer code for comparison with the observed systems. For most of
the observed systems, one or more of the simulated SEDs match reasonably well.
The best matches recover the infrared luminosity and the star formation rate of
the observed systems, and the more massive systems preferentially match SEDs
from simulations of more massive galaxies. The most morphologically distorted
systems in our sample are best matched to simulated SEDs close to coalescence,
while less evolved systems match well with SEDs over a wide range of
interaction stages, suggesting that an SED alone is insufficient to identify
interaction stage except during the most active phases in strongly interacting
systems. This result is supported by our finding that the SEDs calculated for
simulated systems vary little over the interaction sequence.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ.
Animations of the evolution of the simulated SEDs can be found at
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~llanz/sigs_sim.htm
Quasi-spherical approximation for rotating black holes
We numerically implement a quasi-spherical approximation scheme for computing
gravitational waveforms for coalescing black holes, testing it against angular
momentum by applying it to Kerr black holes. As error measures, we take the
conformal strain and specific energy due to spurious gravitational radiation.
The strain is found to be monotonic rather than wavelike. The specific energy
is found to be at least an order of magnitude smaller than the 1% level
expected from typical black-hole collisions, for angular momentum up to at
least 70% of the maximum, for an initial surface as close as .Comment: revised version, 8 pages, RevTeX, 8 figures, epsf.sty, psfrag.sty,
graphicx.st
Gravitational waves, black holes and cosmic strings in cylindrical symmetry
Gravitational waves in cylindrically symmetric Einstein gravity are described
by an effective energy tensor with the same form as that of a massless Klein-
Gordon field, in terms of a gravitational potential generalizing the Newtonian
potential. Energy-momentum vectors for the gravitational waves and matter are
defined with respect to a canonical flow of time. The combined energy-momentum
is covariantly conserved, the corresponding charge being the modified Thorne
energy. Energy conservation is formulated as the first law expressing the
gradient of the energy as work and energy-supply terms, including the energy
flux of the gravitational waves. Projecting this equation along a trapping
horizon yields a first law of black-hole dynamics containing the expected term
involving area and surface gravity, where the dynamic surface gravity is
defined with respect to the canonical flow of time. A first law for dynamic
cosmic strings also follows. The Einstein equation is written as three wave
equations plus the first law, each with sources determined by the combined
energy tensor of the matter and gravitational waves.Comment: 10 pages, revtex. Published version with further detail
Production and decay of evolving horizons
We consider a simple physical model for an evolving horizon that is strongly
interacting with its environment, exchanging arbitrarily large quantities of
matter with its environment in the form of both infalling material and outgoing
Hawking radiation. We permit fluxes of both lightlike and timelike particles to
cross the horizon, and ask how the horizon grows and shrinks in response to
such flows. We place a premium on providing a clear and straightforward
exposition with simple formulae.
To be able to handle such a highly dynamical situation in a simple manner we
make one significant physical restriction, that of spherical symmetry, and two
technical mathematical restrictions: (1) We choose to slice the spacetime in
such a way that the space-time foliations (and hence the horizons) are always
spherically symmetric. (2) Furthermore we adopt Painleve-Gullstrand coordinates
(which are well suited to the problem because they are nonsingular at the
horizon) in order to simplify the relevant calculations.
We find particularly simple forms for surface gravity, and for the first and
second law of black hole thermodynamics, in this general evolving horizon
situation. Furthermore we relate our results to Hawking's apparent horizon,
Ashtekar et al's isolated and dynamical horizons, and Hayward's trapping
horizons. The evolving black hole model discussed here will be of interest,
both from an astrophysical viewpoint in terms of discussing growing black
holes, and from a purely theoretical viewpoint in discussing black hole
evaporation via Hawking radiation.Comment: 25 pages, uses iopart.cls V2: 5 references added; minor typos; V3:
some additional clarifications, additional references, additional appendix on
the Viadya spacetime. This version published in Classical and Quiantum
Gravit
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