665 research outputs found
Comment on Experiments Related to the Aharonov-Bohm Phase Shift
Recent experiments undertaken by Caprez, Barwick, and Batelaan should clarify
the connections between classical and quantum theories in connection with the
Aharonov-Bohm phase shift. It is pointed out that resistive aspects for the
solenoid current carriers play a role in the classical but not the quantum
analysis for the phase shift. The observed absence of a classical lag effect
for a macroscopic solenoid does not yet rule out the possibility of a lag
explanation of the observed phase shift for a microscopic solenoid.Comment: 9 page
Blackbody Radiation and the Scaling Symmetry of Relativistic Classical Electron Theory with Classical Electromagnetic Zero-Point Radiation
It is pointed out that relativistic classical electron theory with classical
electromagnetic zero-point radiation has a scaling symmetry which is suitable
for understanding the equilibrium behavior of classical thermal radiation at a
spectrum other than the Rayleigh-Jeans spectrum. In relativistic classical
electron theory, the masses of the particles are the only scale-giving
parameters associated with mechanics while the action-angle variables are scale
invariant. The theory thus separates the interaction of the action variables of
matter and radiation from the scale-giving parameters. Classical zero-point
radiation is invariant under scattering by the charged particles of
relativistic classical electron theory. The basic ideas of the matter
-radiation interaction are illustrated in a simple relativistic classical
electromagnetic example.Comment: 18 page
New Black Hole Solutions in Brans-Dicke Theory of Gravity
Existence check of non-trivial, stationary axisymmetric black hole solutions
in Brans-Dicke theory of gravity in different direction from those of Penrose,
Thorne and Dykla, and Hawking is performed. Namely, working directly with the
known explicit spacetime solutions in Brans-Dicke theory, it is found that
non-trivial Kerr-Newman-type black hole solutions different from general
relativistic solutions could occur for the generic Brans-Dicke parameter values
-5/2\leq \omega <-3/2. Finally, issues like whether these new black holes carry
scalar hair and can really arise in nature and if they can, what the associated
physical implications would be are discussed carefully.Comment: 20 pages, no figure, Revtex, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Advances in the proposed electromagnetic zero-point field theory of inertia
A NASA-funded research effort has been underway at the Lockheed Martin
Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto and at California State University in
Long Beach to develop and test a recently published theory that Newton's
equation of motion can be derived from Maxwell's equations of electrodynamics
as applied to the zero-point field (ZPF) of the quantum vacuum. In this
ZPF-inertia theory, mass is postulated to be not an intrinsic property of
matter but rather a kind of electromagnetic drag force that proves to be
acceleration dependent by virtue of the spectral characteristics of the ZPF.
The theory proposes that interactions between the ZPF and matter take place at
the level of quarks and electrons, hence would account for the mass of a
composite neutral particle such as the neutron. An effort to generalize the
exploratory study of Haisch, Rueda and Puthoff (1994) into a proper
relativistic formulation has been successful. Moreover the principle of
equivalence implies that in this view gravitation would also be electromagnetic
in origin along the lines proposed by Sakharov (1968). With regard to exotic
propulsion we can definitively rule out one speculatively hypothesized
mechanism: matter possessing negative inertial mass, a concept originated by
Bondi (1957) is shown to be logically impossible. On the other hand, the linked
ZPF-inertia and ZPF-gravity concepts open the conceptual possibility of
manipulation of inertia and gravitation, since both are postulated to be
electromagnetic phenomena. It is hoped that this will someday translate into
actual technological potential. A key question is whether the proposed
ZPF-matter interactions generating the phenomenon of mass might involve one or
more resonances. This is presently under investigation.Comment: Revised version of invited presentation at 34th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE
Joint Propulsion Conference, July 13-15, 1998, Cleveland, OH, 10 pages, no
figure
The Volume of some Non-spherical Horizons and the AdS/CFT Correspondence
We calculate the volumes of a large class of Einstein manifolds, namely
Sasaki-Einstein manifolds which are the bases of Ricci-flat affine cones
described by polynomial embedding relations in C^n. These volumes are important
because they allow us to extend and test the AdS/CFT correspondence. We use
these volumes to extend the central charge calculation of Gubser (1998) to the
generalized conifolds of Gubser, Shatashvili, and Nekrasov (1999). These
volumes also allow one to quantize precisely the D-brane flux of the AdS
supergravity solution. We end by demonstrating a relationship between the
volumes of these Einstein spaces and the number of holomorphic polynomials
(which correspond to chiral primary operators in the field theory dual) on the
corresponding affine cone.Comment: 25 pp, LaTeX, 1 figure, v2: refs adde
Grain boundary pinning and glassy dynamics in stripe phases
We study numerically and analytically the coarsening of stripe phases in two
spatial dimensions, and show that transient configurations do not achieve long
ranged orientational order but rather evolve into glassy configurations with
very slow dynamics. In the absence of thermal fluctuations, defects such as
grain boundaries become pinned in an effective periodic potential that is
induced by the underlying periodicity of the stripe pattern itself. Pinning
arises without quenched disorder from the non-adiabatic coupling between the
slowly varying envelope of the order parameter around a defect, and its fast
variation over the stripe wavelength. The characteristic size of ordered
domains asymptotes to a finite value $R_g \sim \lambda_0\
\epsilon^{-1/2}\exp(|a|/\sqrt{\epsilon})\epsilon\ll 1\lambda_0a$ a constant of order unity. Random fluctuations allow defect motion to
resume until a new characteristic scale is reached, function of the intensity
of the fluctuations. We finally discuss the relationship between defect pinning
and the coarsening laws obtained in the intermediate time regime.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. Corrected version with one new figur
Aspects of electrostatics in a weak gravitational field
Several features of electrostatics of point charged particles in a weak,
homogeneous, gravitational field are discussed using the Rindler metric to
model the gravitational field. Some previously known results are obtained by
simpler and more transparent procedures and are interpreted in an intuitive
manner. Specifically: (i) We show that the electrostatic potential of a charge
at rest in the Rindler frame is expressible as A_0=(q/l) where l is the affine
parameter distance along the null geodesic from the charge to the field point.
(ii) We obtain the sum of the electrostatic forces exerted by one charge on
another in the Rindler frame and discuss its interpretation. (iii) We show how
a purely electrostatic term in the Rindler frame appears as a radiation term in
the inertial frame. (In part, this arises because charges at rest in a weak
gravitational field possess additional weight due to their electrostatic
energy. This weight is proportional to the acceleration and falls inversely
with distance -- which are the usual characteristics of a radiation field.)
(iv) We also interpret the origin of the radiation reaction term by extending
our approach to include a slowly varying acceleration. Many of these results
might have possible extensions for the case of electrostatics in an arbitrary
static geometry. [Abridged Abstract]Comment: 26 pages; accepted for publication in Gen.Rel.Gra
Structural basis of nucleosome-dependent cGAS inhibition
Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP)-adenosine monophosphate (AMP) synthase (cGAS) recognizes cytosolic foreign or damaged DNA to activate the innate immune response to infection, inflammatory diseases, and cancer. By contrast, cGAS reactivity against self-DNA in the nucleus is suppressed by chromatin tethering. We report a 3.3-angstrom-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of cGAS in complex with the nucleosome core particle. The structure reveals that cGAS uses two conserved arginines to anchor to the nucleosome acidic patch. The nucleosome-binding interface exclusively occupies the strong double-stranded DNA (dsDNA)-binding surface on cGAS and sterically prevents cGAS from oligomerizing into the functionally active 2:2 cGAS-dsDNA state. These findings provide a structural basis for how cGAS maintains an inhibited state in the nucleus and further exemplify the role of the nucleosome in regulating diverse nuclear protein functions
A Measurement of Time-Averaged Aerosol Optical Depth using Air-Showers Observed in Stereo by HiRes
Air fluorescence measurements of cosmic ray energy must be corrected for
attenuation of the atmosphere. In this paper we show that the air-showers
themselves can yield a measurement of the aerosol attenuation in terms of
optical depth, time-averaged over extended periods. Although the technique
lacks statistical power to make the critical hourly measurements that only
specialized active instruments can achieve, we note the technique does not
depend on absolute calibration of the detector hardware, and requires no
additional equipment beyond the fluorescence detectors that observe the air
showers. This paper describes the technique, and presents results based on
analysis of 1258 air-showers observed in stereo by the High Resolution Fly's
Eye over a four year span.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication by Astroparticle Physics
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