Study of gravitational radiation from cosmic domain walls

In this paper, following the previous study, we evaluate the spectrum of gravitational wave background generated by domain walls which are produced if some discrete symmetry is spontaneously broken in the early universe. We apply two different methods to calculate the gravitational wave spectrum: One is to calculate the gravitational wave spectrum directly from numerical simulations, and another is to calculate it indirectly by estimating the unequal time anisotropic stress power spectrum of the scalar field. Both analysises indicate that the slope of the spectrum changes at two characteristic frequencies corresponding to the Hubble radius at the decay of domain walls and the width of domain walls, and that the spectrum between these two characteristic frequencies becomes flat or slightly red tilted. The second method enables us to evaluate the GW spectrum semi-analytically for the frequencies which can not be resolved in the finite box lattice simulations, but relies on the assumptions for the unequal time correlations of the source.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures; revised version of the manuscript, accepted for publication in JCA

Evolution of String-Wall Networks and Axionic Domain Wall Problem

We study the cosmological evolution of domain walls bounded by strings which arise naturally in axion models. If we introduce a bias in the potential, walls become metastable and finally disappear. We perform two dimensional lattice simulations of domain wall networks and estimate the decay rate of domain walls. By using the numerical results, we give a constraint for the bias parameter and the Peccei-Quinn scale. We also discuss the possibility to probe axion models by direct detection of gravitational waves produced by domain walls.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures; revised version of the manuscript, accepted for publication in JCA

Primordial perturbations from slow-roll inflation on a brane

In this paper we quantise scalar perturbations in a Randall-Sundrum-type model of inflation where the inflaton field is confined to a single brane embedded in five-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time. In the high energy regime, small-scale inflaton fluctuations are strongly coupled to metric perturbations in the bulk and gravitational back-reaction has a dramatic effect on the behaviour of inflaton perturbations on sub-horizon scales. This is in contrast to the standard four-dimensional result where gravitational back-reaction can be neglected on small scales. Nevertheless, this does not give rise to significant particle production, and the correction to the power spectrum of the curvature perturbations on super-horizon scales is shown to be suppressed by a slow-roll parameter. We calculate the complete first order slow-roll corrections to the spectrum of primordial curvature perturbations.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figure

Scalar perturbations in braneworld cosmology

We study the behaviour of scalar perturbations in the radiation-dominated era of Randall-Sundrum braneworld cosmology by numerically solving the coupled bulk and brane master wave equations. We find that density perturbations with wavelengths less than a critical value (set by the bulk curvature length) are amplified during horizon re-entry. This means that the radiation era matter power spectrum will be at least an order of magnitude larger than the predictions of general relativity (GR) on small scales. Conversely, we explicitly confirm from simulations that the spectrum is identical to GR on large scales. Although this magnification is not relevant for the cosmic microwave background or measurements of large scale structure, it will have some bearing on the formation of primordial black holes in Randall-Sundrum models.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Co-rich decagonal Al-Co-Ni: predicting structure, orientational order, and puckering

We apply systematic methods previously used by Mihalkovic et al. to predict the structure of the `basic' Co-rich modification of the decagonal Al70 Co20 Ni10 layered quasicrystal, based on known lattice constants and previously calculated pair potentials. The modelling is based on Penrose tile decoration and uses Monte Carlo annealing to discover the dominant motifs, which are converted into rules for another level of description. The result is a network of edge-sharing large decagons on a binary tiling of edge 10.5 A. A detailed analysis is given of the instability of a four-layer structure towards $c$-doubling and puckering of the atoms out of the layers, which is applied to explain the (pentagonal) orientational order.Comment: IOP LaTex; 7 pp, 2 figures. In press, Phil. Mag. A (Proc. Intl. Conf. on Quasicrystals 9, Ames Iowa, May 2005

Self-Reduction Rate of a Microtubule

We formulate and study a quantum field theory of a microtubule, a basic element of living cells. Following the quantum theory of consciousness by Hameroff and Penrose, we let the system to reduce to one of the classical states without measurement if certain conditions are satisfied(self-reductions), and calculate the self-reduction time $\tau_N$ (the mean interval between two successive self-reductions) of a cluster consisting of more than $N$ neighboring tubulins (basic units composing a microtubule). $\tau_N$ is interpreted there as an instance of the stream of consciousness. We analyze the dependence of $\tau_N$ upon $N$ and the initial conditions, etc. For relatively large electron hopping amplitude, $\tau_N$ obeys a power law $\tau_N \sim N^b$, which can be explained by the percolation theory. For sufficiently small values of the electron hopping amplitude, $\tau_N$ obeys an exponential law, $\tau_N \sim \exp(c' N)$. By using this law, we estimate the condition for $\tau_N$ to take realistic values $\tau_N$ \raisebox{-0.5ex}{$\stackrel{>}{\sim}$} $10^{-1}$ sec as $N$ \raisebox{-0.5ex} {$\stackrel{>}{\sim}$} 1000.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, Extended versio

Josephson junction in cobalt-doped BaFe2As2 epitaxial thin films on (La, Sr)(Al, Ta)O3 bicrystal substrates

Josephson junctions were fabricated in epitaxial films of cobalt-doped BaFe2As2 on [001]-tilt (La,Sr)(Al,Ta)O3 bicrystal substrates. 10m-wide microbridges spanning a 30-degrees-tilted bicrystal grain boundary (BGB bridge) exhibited resistively-shunted-junction (RSJ)-like current-voltage characteristics up to 17 K, and the critical current was suppressed remarkably by a magnetic field. Microbridges without a BGB did not show the RSJ-like behavior, and their critical current densities were 20 times larger than those of BGB bridges, confirming BGB bridges display a Josephson effect originating from weakly-linked BGB