13,604 research outputs found
Collapsing Spheres Satisfying An "Euclidean Condition"
We study the general properties of fluid spheres satisfying the heuristic
assumption that their areas and proper radius are equal (the Euclidean
condition). Dissipative and non-dissipative models are considered. In the
latter case, all models are necessarily geodesic and a subclass of the
Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi solution is obtained. In the dissipative case solutions
are non-geodesic and are characterized by the fact that all non-gravitational
forces acting on any fluid element produces a radial three-acceleration
independent on its inertial mass.Comment: 1o pages, Latex. Title changed and text shortened to fit the version
to appear in Gen.Rel.Grav
12CO and 13CO J=3-2 observations toward N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
After 30 Doradus, N11 is the second largest and brightest nebula in the LMC.
This large nebula has several OB associations with bright nebulae at its
surroundings. N11 was previously mapped at the lowest rotational transitions of
CO (J=1--0 and 2--1), and in some particular regions pointings of the
CO J=1--0 and 2--1 lines were also performed. Using ASTE we mapped the
whole extension of the N11 nebula in the CO J=3--2 line, and three
sub-regions in the CO J=3--2 line. The regions mapped in the CO
J=3--2 were selected based on that they may be exposed to the radiation at
different ways: a region lying over the nebula related to the OB association
LH10 (N11B), another one that it is associated with the southern part of the
nebula related to the OB association LH13 (N11D), and finally a farther area at
the southwest without any embedded OB association (N11I). We found that the
morphology of the molecular clouds lying in each region shows some signatures
that could be explained by the expansion of the nebulae and the action of the
radiation. Fragmentation generated in a molecular shell due to the expansion of
the N11 nebula is suggested. The integrated line ratios CO/CO
show evidences of selective photodissociation of the CO, and probably
other mechanisms such as chemical fractionation. The CO contribution to the
continuum at 870 m was directly derived. The distribution of the
integrated line ratios CO J=3--2/2--1 show hints of stellar feedback in
N11B and N11D. The ratio between the virial and LTE mass (M/M) is higher than unity in all analyzed molecular clumps, which suggests
that the clumps are not gravitationally bounded and may be supported by
external pressure. A non-LTE analysis suggests that we are mapping gas with
densities about a few 10 cm.Comment: Accepted to be published in A&A. Figures were degrade
Dissipative fluids out of hydrostatic equilibrium
In the context of the M\"{u}ller-Israel-Stewart second order phenomenological
theory for dissipative fluids, we analyze the effects of thermal conduction and
viscosity in a relativistic fluid, just after its departure from hydrostatic
equilibrium, on a time scale of the order of relaxation times. Stability and
causality conditions are contrasted with conditions for which the ''effective
inertial mass'' vanishes.Comment: 21 pages, 1 postscript figure (LaTex 2.09 and epsfig.sty required)
Submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit
Active gravitational mass and the invariant characterization of Reissner-Nordstrom spacetime
We analyse the concept of active gravitational mass for Reissner-Nordstrom
spacetime in terms of scalar polynomial invariants and the Karlhede
classification. We show that while the Kretschmann scalar does not produce the
expected expression for the active gravitational mass, both scalar polynomial
invariants formed from the Weyl tensor, and the Cartan scalars, do.Comment: 6 pages Latex, to appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio
Localizing gravity on thick branes: a solution for massive KK modes of the Schroedinger equation
We generate scalar thick brane configurations in a 5D Riemannian space time
which describes gravity coupled to a self-interacting scalar field. We also
show that 4D gravity can be localized on a thick brane which does not
necessarily respect Z_2-symmetry, generalizing several previous models based on
the Randall-Sundrum system and avoiding the restriction to orbifold geometries
as well as the introduction of the branes in the action by hand. We begin by
obtaining a smooth brane configuration that preserves 4D Poincar'e invariance
and violates reflection symmetry along the fifth dimension. The extra dimension
can have either compact or extended topology, depending on the values of the
parameters of the solution. In the non-compact case, our field configuration
represents a thick brane with positive energy density centered at y=c_2,
whereas in the compact case we get pairs of thick branes. We recast as well the
wave equations of the transverse traceless modes of the linear fluctuations of
the classical solution into a Schroedinger's equation form with a volcano
potential of finite bottom. We solve Schroedinger equation for the massless
zero mode m^2=0 and obtain a single bound wave function which represents a
stable 4D graviton and is free of tachyonic modes with m^2<0. We also get a
continuum spectrum of Kaluza-Klein (KK) states with m^2>0 that are suppressed
at y=c_2 and turn asymptotically into plane waves. We found a particular case
in which the Schroedinger equation can be solved for all m^2>0, giving us the
opportunity of studying analytically the massive modes of the spectrum of KK
excitations, a rare fact when considering thick brane configurations.Comment: 8 pages in latex. We corrected signs in the field equations, the
expressions for the scalar field and the self-interacting potential. Due to
the fact that no changes are introduced in the warp factor, the physics of
the system remains the sam
Early pH Changes in Musculoskeletal Tissues upon Injury-Aerobic Catabolic Pathway Activity Linked to Inter-Individual Differences in Local pH
Local pH is stated to acidify after bone fracture. However, the time course and degree of acidification remain unknown. Whether the acidification pattern within a fracture hematoma is applicable to adjacent muscle hematoma or is exclusive to this regenerative tissue has not been studied to date. Thus, in this study, we aimed to unravel the extent and pattern of acidification in vivo during the early phase post musculoskeletal injury. Local pH changes after fracture and muscle trauma were measured simultaneously in two pre-clinical animal models (sheep/rats) immediately after and up to 48 h post injury. The rat fracture hematoma was further analyzed histologically and metabolomically. In vivo pH measurements in bone and muscle hematoma revealed a local acidification in both animal models, yielding mean pH values in rats of 6.69 and 6.89, with pronounced intra- and inter-individual differences. The metabolomic analysis of the hematomas indicated a link between reduction in tricarboxylic acid cycle activity and pH, thus, metabolic activity within the injured tissues could be causative for the different pH values. The significant acidification within the early musculoskeletal hematoma could enable the employment of the pH for novel, sought-after treatments that allow for spatially and temporally controlled drug release
Mass gap for gravity localized on Weyl thick branes
We study the properties of a previously found family of thick brane
configurations in a pure geometric Weyl integrable 5D space time, a
non-Riemannian generalization of Kaluza-Klein (KK) theory involving a geometric
scalar field. Thus the 5D theory describes gravity coupled to a
self-interacting scalar field which gives rise to the structure of the thick
branes. Analyzing the graviton spectrum for this class of models, we find that
a particularly interesting situation arises for a special case in which the 4D
graviton is separated from the KK gravitons by a mass gap. The corresponding
effective Schroedinger equation has a modified Poeschl-Teller potential and can
be solved exactly. Apart from the massless 4D graviton, it contains one massive
KK bound state, and the continuum spectrum of delocalized KK modes. We discuss
the mass hierarchy problem, and explicitly compute the corrections to Newton's
law in the thin brane limit.Comment: 6 pages in Revtex, no figures, journal version, significately revised
and extende
Charged Dual String Vacua from Interacting Rotating Black Holes Via Discrete and Nonlinear Symmetries
Using the stationary formulation of the toroidally compactified heterotic
string theory in terms of a pair of matrix Ernst potentials we consider the
four-dimensional truncation of this theory with no U(1) vector fields excited.
Imposing one time-like Killing vector permits us to express the stationary
effective action as a model in which gravity is coupled to a matrix Ernst
potential which, under certain parametrization, allows us to interpret the
matter sector of this theory as a double Ernst system. We generate a web of
string vacua which are related to each other via a set of discrete symmetries
of the effective action (some of them involve S-duality transformations and
possess non-perturbative character). Some physical implications of these
discrete symmetries are analyzed and we find that, in some particular cases,
they relate rotating black holes coupled to a dilaton with no Kalb--Ramond
field, static black holes with non-trivial dilaton and antisymmetric tensor
fields, and rotating and static naked singularities. Further, by applying a
nonlinear symmetry, namely, the so-called normalized Harrison transformation,
on the seed field configurations corresponding to these neutral backgrounds, we
recover the U(1)^n Abelian vector sector of the four-dimensional action of the
heterotic string, charging in this way the double Ernst system which
corresponds to each one of the neutral string vacua, i.e., the stationary and
the static black holes and the naked singularities.Comment: 19 pages in latex, added referenc
Pre-clinical evaluation of antiproteases as potential candidates for HIV-1 pre-exposure prophylaxis
Previous studies on highly HIV-1-exposed, yet persistently seronegative women from the Punwami Sex Worker cohort in Kenya, have shed light on putative protective mechanisms, suggesting that mucosal immunological factors, such as antiproteases, could be mediating resistance to HIV-1 transmission in the female reproductive tract. Nine protease inhibitors were selected for this study: serpin B4, serpin A1, serpin A3, serpin C1, cystatin A, cystatin B, serpin B13, serpin B1 and α-2-macroglobulin-like-protein 1. We assessed in a pilot study, the activity of these antiproteases with cellular assays and an ex vivo HIV-1 challenge model of human ecto-cervical tissue explants. Preliminary findings with both models, cellular and tissue explants, established an order of inhibitory potency for the mucosal proteins as candidates for pre-exposure prophylaxis when mimicking pre-coital use. Combination of all antiproteases considered in this study was more active than any of the individual mucosal proteins. Furthermore, the migration of cells out of ecto-cervical explants was blocked indicating potential prevention of viral dissemination following amplification of the founder population. These findings constitute the base for further development of these mucosal protease inhibitors for prevention strategies
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