651 research outputs found
Non-Critical Liouville String Escapes Constraints on Generic Models of Quantum Gravity
It has recently been pointed out that generic models of quantum gravity must
contend with severe phenomenological constraints imposed by gravitational
Cerenkov radiation, neutrino oscillations and the cosmic microwave background
radiation. We show how the non-critical Liouville-string model of quantum
gravity we have proposed escapes these constraints. It gives energetic
particles subluminal velocities, obviating the danger of gravitational Cerenkov
radiation. The effect on neutrino propagation is naturally flavour-independent,
obviating any impact on oscillation phenomenology. Deviations from the expected
black-body spectrum and the effects of time delays and stochastic fluctuations
in the propagation of cosmic microwave background photons are negligible, as
are their effects on observable spectral lines from high-redshift astrophysical
objects.Comment: 15 pages LaTeX, 2 eps figures include
Predicting local and non-local effects of resources on animal space use using a mechanistic step selection model
1. Predicting space use patterns of animals from their interactions with the
environment is fundamental for understanding the effect of habitat changes on
ecosystem functioning. Recent attempts to address this problem have sought to
unify resource selection analysis, where animal space use is derived from
available habitat quality, and mechanistic movement models, where detailed
movement processes of an animal are used to predict its emergent utilization
distribution. Such models bias the animal's movement towards patches that are
easily available and resource-rich, and the result is a predicted probability
density at a given position being a function of the habitat quality at that
position. However, in reality, the probability that an animal will use a patch
of the terrain tends to be a function of the resource quality in both that
patch and the surrounding habitat. 2. We propose a mechanistic model where this
non-local effect of resources naturally emerges from the local movement
processes, by taking into account the relative utility of both the habitat
where the animal currently resides and that of where it is moving. We give
statistical techniques to parametrize the model from location data and
demonstrate application of these techniques to GPS data of caribou in
Newfoundland. 3. Steady-state animal probability distributions arising from the
model have complex patterns that cannot be expressed simply as a function of
the local quality of the habitat. In particular, large areas of good habitat
are used more intensively than smaller patches of equal quality habitat,
whereas isolated patches are used less frequently. 4. Whilst we focus on
habitats in this study, our modelling framework can be readily used with any
environmental covariates and therefore represents a unification of mechanistic
modelling and step selection approaches to understanding animal space use
Cosmological Model-independent Gamma-ray Bursts Calibration and its Cosmological Constraint to Dark Energy
As so far, the redshift of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can extend to
which makes it as a complementary probe of dark energy to supernova Ia (SN Ia).
However, the calibration of GRBs is still a big challenge when they are used to
constrain cosmological models. Though, the absolute magnitude of GRBs is still
unknown, the slopes of GRBs correlations can be used as a useful constraint to
dark energy in a completely cosmological model independent way. In this paper,
we follow Wang's model-independent distance measurement method and calculate
their values by using 109 GRBs events via the so-called Amati relation. Then,
we use the obtained model-independent distances to constrain CDM model
as an example.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
Cosmological Models and Latest Observational Data
In this note, we consider the observational constraints on some cosmological
models by using the 307 Union type Ia supernovae (SNIa), the 32 calibrated
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) at , the updated shift parameter from WMAP
5-year data (WMAP5), and the distance parameter of the measurement of the
baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak in the distribution of SDSS luminous red
galaxies with the updated scalar spectral index from WMAP5. The tighter
constraints obtained here update the ones obtained previously in the
literature.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, revtex4; v2: discussions added,
accepted by Eur. Phys. J. C; v3: published versio
Observational Constraints on Cosmological Models with the Updated Long Gamma-Ray Bursts
In the present work, by the help of the newly released Union2 compilation
which consists of 557 Type Ia supernovae (SNIa), we calibrate 109 long
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) with the well-known Amati relation, using the
cosmology-independent calibration method proposed by Liang {\it et al.}. We
have obtained 59 calibrated high-redshift GRBs which can be used to constrain
cosmological models without the circularity problem (we call them ``Hymnium''
GRBs sample for convenience). Then, we consider the joint constraints on 7
cosmological models from the latest observational data, namely, the combination
of 557 Union2 SNIa dataset, 59 calibrated Hymnium GRBs dataset (obtained in
this work), the shift parameter from the WMAP 7-year data, and the distance
parameter of the measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak
in the distribution of SDSS luminous red galaxies. We also briefly consider the
comparison of these 7 cosmological models.Comment: 19 pages, 3 tables, 10 figures, revtex4; v2: accepted for publication
in JCAP; v3: published versio
Time of arrival through interacting environments: Tunneling processes
We discuss the propagation of wave packets through interacting environments.
Such environments generally modify the dispersion relation or shape of the wave
function. To study such effects in detail, we define the distribution function
P_{X}(T), which describes the arrival time T of a packet at a detector located
at point X. We calculate P_{X}(T) for wave packets traveling through a
tunneling barrier and find that our results actually explain recent
experiments. We compare our results with Nelson's stochastic interpretation of
quantum mechanics and resolve a paradox previously apparent in Nelson's
viewpoint about the tunneling time.Comment: Latex 19 pages, 11 eps figures, title modified, comments and
references added, final versio
Chiral symmetry breaking, color superconductivity and color neutral quark matter: a variational approach
We investigate the vacuum realignment for chiral symmetry breaking and color
superconductivity at finite density in Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model in a
variational method. The treatment allows us to investigate simultaneous
formation of condensates in quark antiquark as well as in diquark channels. The
methodology involves an explicit construction of a variational ground state and
minimisation of the thermodynamic potential. Color and electric charge
neutrality conditions are imposed through introduction of appropriate chemical
potentials. Color and flavor dependent condensate functions are determined
through minimisation of the thermodynamic potential. The equation of state is
calculated. Simultaneous existence of a mass gap and superconducting gap is
seen in a small window of quark chemical potential within the model when charge
neutrality conditions are not imposed. Enforcing color and electric charge
neutrality conditions gives rise to existence of gapless superconducting modes
depending upon the magnitude of the gap and the difference of the chemical
potentials of the condensing quarks.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures,to appear in Phys. Rev.
Gauge-ready formulation of the cosmological kinetic theory in generalized gravity theories
We present cosmological perturbations of kinetic components based on
relativistic Boltzmann equations in the context of generalized gravity
theories. Our general theory considers an arbitrary number of scalar fields
generally coupled with the gravity, an arbitrary number of mutually interacting
hydrodynamic fluids, and components described by the relativistic Boltzmann
equations like massive/massless collisionless particles and the photon with the
accompanying polarizations. We also include direct interactions among fluids
and fields. The background FLRW model includes the general spatial curvature
and the cosmological constant. We consider three different types of
perturbations, and all the scalar-type perturbation equations are arranged in a
gauge-ready form so that one can implement easily the convenient gauge
conditions depending on the situation. In the numerical calculation of the
Boltzmann equations we have implemented four different gauge conditions in a
gauge-ready manner where two of them are new. By comparing solutions solved
separately in different gauge conditions we can naturally check the numerical
accuracy.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, revised thoroughly, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Gamma Ray Bursts as Probes of Quantum Gravity
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are short and intense pulses of -rays
arriving from random directions in the sky. Several years ago Amelino-Camelia
et al. pointed out that a comparison of time of arrival of photons at different
energies from a GRB could be used to measure (or obtain a limit on) possible
deviations from a constant speed of light at high photons energies. I review
here our current understanding of GRBs and reconsider the possibility of
performing these observations.Comment: Lectures given at the 40th winter school of theretical physics:
Quantum Gravity and Phenomenology, Feb. 2004 Polan
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