Gravitational redshifts in electromagnetic bursts occuring near Schwarzschild horizon

It was suggested earlier that the gravitational redshift formula can be invalid when the effect of the backscattering is strong. It is demonstrated here numerically, for an exemplary electromagnetic pulse that is: i) initially located very close to the horizon of a Schwarzschild black hole and ii) strongly backscattered, that a mean frequency does not obey the standard redshift formula. Redshifts appear to depend on the frequency and there manifests a backscatter-induced blueshift in the outgoing radiation.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the Class. Q. Gra

Strictly finite range forces from the signum-Gordon field: exact results in two spatial dimensions

Exact formula for the force between two identical static point charges coupled to the nonlinear scalar field of two-dimensional signum-Gordon model is obtained. Pertinent solution of the field equation is found in the form of one-dimensional integral. The force exactly vanishes when the distance between the charges exceeds certain critical value.Comment: published versio

The distance and neutral environment of the massive stellar cluster Westerlund 1

The goal of this study is to determine a distance to Westerlund 1 independent of the characteristics of the stellar population and to study its neutral environment, using observations of atomic hydrogen. The HI observations are taken from the Southern Galactic Plane Survey to study HI absorption in the direction of the HII region created by the members of Westerlund 1 and to investigate its environment as observed in the HI line emission. A Galactic rotation curve was derived using the recently revised values for the Galactic centre distance of $R_\odot = 7.6$ kpc, and the velocity of the Sun around the Galactic centre of $\Theta_\odot = 214$ km s$^{-1}$. The newly determined rotation model leads us to derive a distance of $3.9\pm 0.7$ kpc to Westerlund 1, consistent with a location in the Scutum-Crux Arm. Included in this estimate is a very careful investigation of possible sources of error for the Galactic rotation curve. We also report on small expanding HI features around the cluster with a maximum dynamic age of 600,000 years and a larger bubble which has a minimum dynamic age of 2.5 million years. Additionally we re-calculated the kinematic distances to nearby HII regions and supernova remnants based on our new Galaxic rotation curve. We propose that in the early stages of the development of Wd 1 a large interstellar bubble of diameter about 50 pc was created by the cluster members. This bubble has a dynamic age similar to the age of the cluster. Small expanding bubbles, with dynamical ages $\sim 0.6$ Myr are found around Wd 1, which we suggest consist of recombined material lost by cluster members through their winds.Comment: 8 pages, accepted for publication in A&

Nambu-Goto string action with Gauss-Bonnet term

We examine the relativistic Nambu-Goto model with Gauss-Bonnet boundary term added to the action integral. The system is analysed using an invariant representation of dynamical string degrees of freedom by complex Liouville fields. The solutions of classical equations of motion for open strings are described.Comment: 9 pages, late