7,506 research outputs found
Optical reference geometry of the Kerr-Newman spacetimes
Properties of the optical reference geometry related to Kerr-Newman
black-hole and naked-singularity spacetimes are illustrated using embedding
diagrams of their equatorial plane. Among all inertial forces defined in the
framework of the optical geometry, just the centrifugal force plays a
fundamental role in connection to the embedding diagrams because it changes
sign at the turning points of the diagrams. The limits of embeddability are
given, and it is established which of the photon circular orbits hosted the by
Kerr-Newman spacetimes appear in the embeddable regions. Some typical embedding
diagrams are constructed, and the Kerr-Newman backgrounds are classified
according to the number of embeddable regions of the optical geometry as well
as the number of their turning points. Embedding diagrams are closely related
to the notion of the radius of gyration which is useful for analyzing fluid
rotating in strong gravitational fields.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figure
Centrifugal Force and Ellipticity behaviour of a slowly rotating ultra compact object
Using the optical reference geometry approach, we have derived in the
following, a general expression for the ellipticity of a slowly rotating fluid
configuration using Newtonian force balance equation in the conformally
projected absolute 3-space, in the realm of general relativity. Further with
the help of Hartle-Thorne (H-T) metric for a slowly rotating compact object, we
have evaluated the centrifugal force acting on a fluid element and also
evaluated the ellipticity and found that the centrifugal reversal occurs at
around , and the ellipticity maximum at around . The result has been compared with that of Chandrasekhar and
Miller which was obtained in the full 4-spacetime formalism
Optical geometry for gravitational collapse and Hawking radiation
The notion of optical geometry, introduced more than twenty years ago as a
formal tool in quantum field theory on a static background, has recently found
several applications to the study of physical processes around compact objects.
In this paper we define optical geometry for spherically symmetric
gravitational collapse, with the purpose of extending the current formalism to
physically interesting spacetimes which are not conformally static. The
treatment is fully general but, as an example, we also discuss the special case
of the Oppenheimer-Snyder model. The analysis of the late time behaviour shows
a close correspondence between the structure of optical spacetime for
gravitational collapse and that of flat spacetime with an accelerating
boundary. Thus, optical geometry provides a natural physical interpretation for
derivations of the Hawking effect based on the ``moving mirror analogy.''
Finally, we briefly discuss the issue of back-reaction in black hole
evaporation and the information paradox from the perspective of optical
geometry.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, aps, revtex, To be published in PR
The determination of the electron-phonon interaction from tunneling data in the two-band superconductor MgB2
We calculate the tunneling density of states (DOS) of MgB2 for different
tunneling directions, by directly solving the real-axis, two-band Eliashberg
equations (EE). Then we show that the numeric inversion of the standard
single-band EE, if applied to the DOS of the two-band superconductor MgB2, may
lead to wrong estimates of the strength of certain phonon branches (e.g. the
E_2g) in the extracted electron-phonon spectral function alpha^(2)F(omega). The
fine structures produced by the two-band interaction turn out to be clearly
observable only for tunneling along the ab planes in high-quality single
crystals. The results are compared to recent experimental data.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of M2S-HTSC-VII conference, Rio de
Janeiro (May 2003
The slimming effect of advection on black-hole accretion flows
At super-Eddington rates accretion flows onto black holes have been described
as slim (aspect ratio ) or thick (H/R >1) discs, also known as
tori or (Polish) doughnuts. The relation between the two descriptions has never
been established, but it was commonly believed that at sufficiently high
accretion rates slim discs inflate, becoming thick. We wish to establish under
what conditions slim accretion flows become thick. We use analytical equations,
numerical 1+1 schemes, and numerical radiative MHD codes to describe and
compare various accretion flow models at very high accretion rates.We find that
the dominant effect of advection at high accretion rates precludes slim discs
becoming thick. At super-Eddington rates accretion flows around black holes can
always be considered slim rather than thick.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Astronomy & Astrophysics, in pres
Leaving the ISCO: the inner edge of a black-hole accretion disk at various luminosities
The "radiation inner edge" of an accretion disk is defined as the inner
boundary of the region from which most of the luminosity emerges. Similarly,
the "reflection edge" is the smallest radius capable of producing a significant
X-ray reflection of the fluorescent iron line. For black hole accretion disks
with very sub-Eddington luminosities these and all other "inner edges" locate
at ISCO. Thus, in this case, one may rightly consider ISCO as the unique inner
edge of the black hole accretion disk. However, even for moderate luminosities,
there is no such unique inner edge as differently defined edges locate at
different places. Several of them are significantly closer to the black hole
than ISCO. The differences grow with the increasing luminosity. For nearly
Eddington luminosities, they are so huge that the notion of the inner edge
losses all practical significance.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures, submitted to A&
Photon capture cones and embedding diagrams of the Ernst spacetime
The differences between the character of the Schwarzschild and Ernst
spacetimes are illustrated by comparing the photon capture cones, and the
embedding diagrams of the sections of the equatorial planes
of both the ordinary and optical reference geometry of these spacetimes. The
non-flat asymptotic character of the Ernst spacetime reflects itself in two
manifest facts: the escape photon cones correspond to purely outward radial
direction, and the embedding diagrams of both the ordinary and optical geometry
shrink to zero radius asymptotically. Using the properties of the embedding
diagrams, regions of these spacetimes which could have similar character are
estimated, and it is argued that they can exist for the Ernst spacetimes with a
sufficiently low strength of the magnetic field.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Holonomy invariance, orbital resonances, and kilohertz QPOs
Quantized orbital structures are typical for many aspects of classical
gravity (Newton's as well as Einstein's). The astronomical phenomenon of
orbital resonances is a well-known example. Recently, Rothman, Ellis and
Murugan (2001) discussed quantized orbital structures in the novel context of a
holonomy invariance of parallel transport in Schwarzschild geometry. We present
here yet another example of quantization of orbits, reflecting both orbital
resonances and holonomy invariance. This strong-gravity effect may already have
been directly observed as the puzzling kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations
(QPOs) in the X-ray emission from a few accreting galactic black holes and
several neutron stars
Influence of self-gravity on the runaway instability of black hole-torus systems
Results from the first fully general relativistic numerical simulations in
axisymmetry of a system formed by a black hole surrounded by a self-gravitating
torus in equilibrium are presented, aiming to assess the influence of the torus
self-gravity on the onset of the runaway instability. We consider several
models with varying torus-to-black hole mass ratio and angular momentum
distribution orbiting in equilibrium around a non-rotating black hole. The tori
are perturbed to induce the mass transfer towards the black hole. Our numerical
simulations show that all models exhibit a persistent phase of axisymmetric
oscillations around their equilibria for several dynamical timescales without
the appearance of the runaway instability, indicating that the self-gravity of
the torus does not play a critical role favoring the onset of the instability,
at least during the first few dynamical timescales.Comment: To appear on Phys.Rev.Let
Three-dimensional MHD Simulations of Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows
We present three-dimensional MHD simulations of rotating radiatively
inefficient accretion flows onto black holes. In the simulations, we
continuously inject magnetized matter into the computational domain near the
outer boundary, and we run the calculations long enough for the resulting
accretion flow to reach a quasi-steady state. We have studied two limiting
cases for the geometry of the injected magnetic field: pure toroidal field and
pure poloidal field. In the case of toroidal field injection, the accreting
matter forms a nearly axisymmetric, geometrically-thick, turbulent accretion
disk. The disk resembles in many respects the convection-dominated accretion
flows found in previous numerical and analytical investigations of viscous
hydrodynamic flows. Models with poloidal field injection evolve through two
distinct phases. In an initial transient phase, the flow forms a relatively
flattened, quasi-Keplerian disk with a hot corona and a bipolar outflow.
However, when the flow later achieves steady state, it changes in character
completely. The magnetized accreting gas becomes two-phase, with most of the
volume being dominated by a strong dipolar magnetic field from which a thermal
low-density wind flows out. Accretion occurs mainly via narrow slowly-rotating
radial streams which `diffuse' through the magnetic field with the help of
magnetic reconnection events.Comment: 35 pages including 3 built-in plots and 14 separate jpg-plots;
version accepted by Ap
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