δ−δ′\delta-\delta^\prime generalized Robin boundary conditions and quantum vacuum fluctuations

The effects induced by the quantum vacuum fluctuations of one massless real scalar field on a configuration of two partially transparent plates are investigated. The physical properties of the infinitely thin plates are simulated by means of Dirac-$\delta-\delta^\prime$ point interactions. It is shown that the distortion caused on the fluctuations by this external background gives rise to a generalization of Robin boundary conditions. The $T$-operator for potentials concentrated on points with non defined parity is computed with total generality. The quantum vacuum interaction energy between the two plates is computed using the $TGTG$ formula to find positive, negative, and zero Casimir energies. The parity properties of the $\delta-\delta^\prime$ potential allow repulsive quantum vacuum force between identical plates.Comment: 21 pages and 11 figures. PhysRev

Self-Dual Vortices in Abelian Higgs Models with Dielectric Function on the Noncommutative Plane

We show that Abelian Higgs Models with dielectric function defined on the noncommutative plane enjoy self-dual vorticial solutions. By choosing a particular form of the dielectric function, we provide a family of solutions whose Higgs and magnetic fields interpolate between the profiles of the noncommutative Nielsen-Olesen and Chern-Simons vortices. This is done both for the usual $U(1)$ model and for the $SU(2)\times U(1)$ semilocal model with a doublet of complex scalar fields. The variety of known noncommutative self-dual vortices which display a regular behaviour when the noncommutativity parameter tends to zero results in this way considerably enlarged

On the solitons of the Chern-Simons-Higgs model

Several issues concerning the self-dual solutions of the Chern-Simons-Higgs model are addressed. The topology of the configuration space of the model is analysed when the space manifold is either the plane or an infinite cylinder. We study the local structure of the moduli space of self-dual solitons in the second case by means of an index computation. It is shown how to manage the non-integer contribution to the heat-kernel supertrace due to the non-compactness of the base space. A physical picture of the local coordinates parametrizing the non-topological soliton moduli space arises .Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, to appear in The European Physical Journal

One-dimensional solitary waves in singular deformations of SO(2) invariant two-component scalar field theory models

In this paper we study the structure of the manifold of solitary waves in some deformations of SO(2) symmetric two-component scalar field theoretical models in two-dimensional Minkowski space. The deformation is chosen in order to make the analogous mechanical system Hamilton-Jacobi separable in polar coordinates and displays a singularity at the origin of the internal plane. The existence of the singularity confers interesting and intriguing properties to the solitary waves or kink solutions.Comment: 25 pages, 18 figure

Tachyons, Supertubes and Brane/Anti-Brane Systems

We find supertubes with arbitrary (and not necessarily planar) cross section; the stability against the D2-brane tension is due to a compensation by the local momentum generated by Born-Infeld fields. Stability against long-range supergravity forces is also established. We find the corresponding solutions of the infinite-N M(atrix) model. The supersymmetric D2/anti-D2 system is a special case of the general supertube, and we show that there are no open-string tachyons in this system via a computation of the open-string one-loop vacuum energy.Comment: 1+23 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX. V2, 1+28 pages: Further generalization to non-planar cross-sections and addition of an entirely new section with the explicit supergravity solutions. V3, 1+30 pages: Bound on the angular momentum added, other minor changes in Section

Quantum scalar fields in the half-line. A heat kernel/zeta function approach

In this paper we shall study vacuum fluctuations of a single scalar field with Dirichlet boundary conditions in a finite but very long line. The spectral heat kernel, the heat partition function and the spectral zeta function are calculated in terms of Riemann Theta functions, the error function, and hypergeometric PFQ functions.Comment: Latex file, 11 pages, 7 figure

On the arcmin structure of the X-ray Universe

We present the angular correlation function of the X-ray population of 1063 XMM-Newton observations at high Galactic latitudes, comprising up to ~30000 sources over a sky area of ~125 sq. degrees in the energy bands: soft (0.5-2 keV) and hard (2-10 keV). This is the largest sample of serendipitous X-ray sources ever used for clustering analysis purposes to date and the results have been determined with unprecedented accuracy. We detect significant clustering signals in the soft and hard bands (~10 sigma and ~5 sigma, respectively). We deproject the angular correlation function via Limber's equation and calculate the typical spatial lengths. We infer that AGN at redshifts ~1 are embedded in dark matter halos with typical masses of log M ~ 12.6/h Msol and lifetimes in the range ~3-5 x 10^8 years, which indicates that AGN activity is a transient phase in the life of galaxies.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Proc. of the conference "X-ray Astronomy 2009: Present status, multiwavelength approach and future perspectives", September 2009, Bologna. To appear in AIP Conf. Proc. (editors: A. Comastri, M. Cappi, L. Angelini)