943 research outputs found
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
Inflaton Fragmentation and Oscillon Formation in Three Dimensions
Analytical arguments suggest that a large class of scalar field potentials
permit the existence of oscillons -- pseudo-stable, non-topological solitons --
in three spatial dimensions. In this paper we numerically explore oscillon
solutions in three dimensions. We confirm the existence of these field
configurations as solutions to the Klein-Gorden equation in an expanding
background, and verify the predictions of Amin and Shirokoff for the
characteristics of individual oscillons for their model. Further, we
demonstrate that significant numbers of oscillons can be generated via
fragmentation of the inflaton condensate, consistent with the analysis of Amin.
These emergent oscillons can easily dominate the post-inflationary universe.
Finally, both analytic and numerical results suggest that oscillons are stable
on timescales longer than the post-inflationary Hubble time. Consequently, the
post-inflationary universe can contain an effective matter-dominated phase,
during which it is dominated by localized concentrations of scalar field
matter.Comment: See http://easther.physics.yale.edu/downloads.html for numerical
codes. Visualizations available at http://www.mit.edu/~mamin/oscillons.html
and http://easther.physics.yale.edu/fields.html V2 Minor fixes to reference
lis
Thermoelectric properties of the layered Pd oxide R_2PdO_4 (R = La, Nd, Sm and Gd)
We prepared polycrystalline samples of RPdO (R = La, Nd, Sm and Gd)
using a NaCl-flux technique. The measured resistivity is of the order of
10 cm at room temperature, which is two orders of magnitude
smaller than the values reported so far. We further studied the substitution
effects of Ce for Nd in NdCePdO, where the substituted Ce
decreases the resistivity and the magnitude of the thermopower. The activation
energy gap of 70-80 meV and the effective mass of 15 evaluated from the
measured data are suitable for thermoelectric materials, but the mobility of
10 cm/Vs is much lower than a typical value of 1-10 cm/Vs for
other thermoelectric oxides.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jp
Scalar cosmological perturbations in the Gauss-Bonnet braneworld
We study scalar cosmological perturbations in a braneworld model with a bulk
Gauss-Bonnet term. For an anti-de Sitter bulk, the five-dimensional
perturbation equations share the same form as in the Randall-Sundrum model,
which allows us to obtain metric perturbations in terms of a master variable.
We derive the boundary conditions for the master variable from the generalized
junction conditions on the brane. We then investigate several limiting cases in
which the junction equations are reduced to a feasible level. In the low energy
limit, we confirm that the standard result of four-dimensional Einstein gravity
is reproduced on large scales, whereas on small scales we find that the
perturbation dynamics is described by the four-dimensional Brans-Dicke theory.
In the high energy limit, all the non-local contributions drop off from the
junction equations, leaving a closed system of equations on the brane. We show
that, for inflation models driven by a scalar field on the brane, the
Sasaki-Mukhanov equation holds on the high energy brane in its original
four-dimensional form.Comment: 18 pages, v2: minor changes, reference added, v3: comments and
references added, accepted for publication in JCA
PyCOOL - a Cosmological Object-Oriented Lattice code written in Python
There are a number of different phenomena in the early universe that have to
be studied numerically with lattice simulations. This paper presents a graphics
processing unit (GPU) accelerated Python program called PyCOOL that solves the
evolution of scalar fields in a lattice with very precise symplectic
integrators. The program has been written with the intention to hit a sweet
spot of speed, accuracy and user friendliness. This has been achieved by using
the Python language with the PyCUDA interface to make a program that is easy to
adapt to different scalar field models. In this paper we derive the symplectic
dynamics that govern the evolution of the system and then present the
implementation of the program in Python and PyCUDA. The functionality of the
program is tested in a chaotic inflation preheating model, a single field
oscillon case and in a supersymmetric curvaton model which leads to Q-ball
production. We have also compared the performance of a consumer graphics card
to a professional Tesla compute card in these simulations. We find that the
program is not only accurate but also very fast. To further increase the
usefulness of the program we have equipped it with numerous post-processing
functions that provide useful information about the cosmological model. These
include various spectra and statistics of the fields. The program can be
additionally used to calculate the generated curvature perturbation. The
program is publicly available under GNU General Public License at
https://github.com/jtksai/PyCOOL . Some additional information can be found
from http://www.physics.utu.fi/tiedostot/theory/particlecosmology/pycool/ .Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures; some typos correcte
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Taiwan
We found a virulent closely related clone (Panton-Valentine leukocidin–positive, SCCmec V:ST59) of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in inpatients and outpatients in Taiwan. The isolates were found mostly in wounds but were also detected in blood, ear, respiratory, and other specimens; all were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole
Perception of soundscapes : an interdisciplinary approach
This paper takes an overall view of findings from the Positive Soundscape Project, a large inter-disciplinary soundscapes study. Qualitative fieldwork (soundwalks and focus groups) have found that soundscape perception is influenced by cognitive effects such as the meaning of a soundscape and its components, and how information is conveyed by a soundscape, for example on the behaviour of people within the soundscape. Three significant clusters were found in the language people use to describe soundscapes: sound sources, sound descriptors and soundscape descriptors. Results from listening tests and soundwalks have been integrated to show that the two principal dimensions of soundscape emotional response seem to be calmness and vibrancy. Further, vibrancy seems to have two aspects: organisation of sounds and changes over time. The possible application of the results to soundscape assessment and design are briefly discussed
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