212 research outputs found
A generic estimate of trans-Planckian modifications to the primordial power spectrum in inflation
We derive a general expression for the power spectra of scalar and tensor
fluctuations generated during inflation given an arbitrary choice of boundary
condition for the mode function at a short distance. We assume that the
boundary condition is specified at a short-distance cutoff at a scale which
is independent of time. Using a particular prescription for the boundary
condition at momentum , we find that the modulation to the power spectra
of density and gravitational wave fluctuations is of order , where
is the Hubble parameter during inflation, and we argue that this behavior is
generic, although by no means inevitable. With fixed boundary condition, we
find that the shape of the modulation to the power spectra is determined
entirely by the deviation of the background spacetime from the de Sitter limit.Comment: 15 pages (RevTeX), 2 figure
Imprints of Short Distance Physics On Inflationary Cosmology
We analyze the impact of certain modifications to short distance physics on
the inflationary perturbation spectrum. For the specific case of power-law
inflation, we find distinctive -- and possibly observable -- effects on the
spectrum of density perturbations.Comment: Revtex 4, 3 eps figs, 4 page
Current Status of Simulations
As the title suggests, the purpose of this chapter is to review the current
status of numerical simulations of black hole accretion disks. This chapter
focuses exclusively on global simulations of the accretion process within a few
tens of gravitational radii of the black hole. Most of the simulations
discussed are performed using general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)
schemes, although some mention is made of Newtonian radiation MHD simulations
and smoothed particle hydrodynamics. The goal is to convey some of the exciting
work that has been going on in the past few years and provide some speculation
on future directions.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the ISSI-Bern
workshop on "The Physics of Accretion onto Black Holes" (8-12 October 2012
On a class of 4D Kahler bases and AdS_5 supersymmetric Black Holes
We construct a class of toric Kahler manifolds, M_4, of real dimension four,
a subset of which corresponds to the Kahler bases of all known 5D
asymptotically AdS_5 supersymmetric black-holes. In a certain limit, these
Kahler spaces take the form of cones over Sasaki spaces, which, in turn, are
fibrations over toric manifolds of real dimension two. The metric on M_4 is
completely determined by a single function H(x), which is the conformal factor
of the two dimensional space. We study the solutions of minimal five
dimensional gauged supergravity having this class of Kahler spaces as base and
show that in order to generate a five dimensional solution H(x) must obey a
simple sixth order differential equation. We discuss the solutions in detail,
which include all known asymptotically AdS_5 black holes as well as other
spacetimes with non-compact horizons. Moreover we find an infinite number of
supersymmetric deformations of these spacetimes with less spatial isometries
than the base space. These deformations vanish at the horizon, but become
relevant asymptotically.Comment: 34 pages, 3 figures. v2: formula (8.35) and other minor typos
corrected; references added; accepted for publication in JHE
An Index for 4 dimensional Super Conformal Theories
We present a trace formula for an index over the spectrum of four dimensional
superconformal field theories on time. Our index receives
contributions from states invariant under at least one supercharge and captures
all information -- that may be obtained purely from group theory -- about
protected short representations in 4 dimensional superconformal field theories.
In the case of the theory our index is a function of four
continuous variables. We compute it at weak coupling using gauge theory and at
strong coupling by summing over the spectrum of free massless particles in
and find perfect agreement at large and small charges.
Our index does not reproduce the entropy of supersymmetric black holes in
, but this is not a contradiction, as it differs qualitatively from the
partition function over supersymmetric states of the theory. We
note that entropy for some small supersymmetric black holes may be
reproduced via a D-brane counting involving giant gravitons. For big black
holes we find a qualitative (but not exact) agreement with the naive counting
of BPS states in the free Yang Mills theory. In this paper we also evaluate and
study the partition function over the chiral ring in the Yang
Mills theory.Comment: harvmac 40+16 pages, v3: references and table of contents added,
typos fixe
Minimal modifications of the primordial power spectrum from an adiabatic short distance cutoff
As a simple model for unknown Planck scale physics, we assume that the
quantum modes responsible for producing primordial curvature perturbations
during inflation are placed in their instantaneous adiabatic vacuum when their
proper momentum reaches a fixed high energy scale M. The resulting power
spectrum is derived and presented in a form that exhibits the amplitude and
frequency of the superimposed oscillations in terms of H/M and the slow roll
parameter epsilon. The amplitude of the oscillations is proportional to the
third power of H/M. We argue that these small oscillations give the lower bound
of the modifications of the power spectrum if the notion of free mode
propagation ceases to exist above the critical energy scale M.Comment: 10 pages; matches version accepted by PR
Stringent Constraints on Cosmological Neutrino-Antineutrino Asymmetries from Synchronized Flavor Transformation
We assess a mechanism which can transform neutrino-antineutrino asymmetries
between flavors in the early universe, and confirm that such transformation is
unavoidable in the near bi-maximal framework emerging for the neutrino mixing
matrix. We show that the process is a standard Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein
flavor transformation dictated by a synchronization of momentum states. We also
show that flavor ``equilibration'' is a special feature of maximal mixing, and
carefully examine new constraints placed on neutrino asymmetries. In
particular, the big bang nucleosynthesis limit on electron neutrino degeneracy
xi_e < 0.04 does not apply directly to all flavors, yet confirmation of the
large-mixing-angle solution to the solar neutrino problem will eliminate the
possibility of degenerate big bang nucleosynthesis.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; minor changes to match PRD versio
On exact solutions for quintessential (inflationary) cosmological models with exponential potentials
We first study dark energy models with a minimally-coupled scalar field and
exponential potentials, admitting exact solutions for the cosmological
equations: actually, it turns out that for this class of potentials the
Einstein field equations exhibit alternative Lagrangians, and are completely
integrable and separable (i.e. it is possible to integrate the system
analytically, at least by quadratures). We analyze such solutions, especially
discussing when they are compatible with a late time quintessential expansion
of the universe. As a further issue, we discuss how such quintessential scalar
fields can be connected to the inflationary phase, building up, for this class
of potentials, a quintessential inflationary scenario: actually, it turns out
that the transition from inflation toward late-time exponential quintessential
tail admits a kination period, which is an indispensable ingredient of this
kind of theoretical models. All such considerations have also been done by
including radiation into the model.Comment: Revtex4, 10 figure
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Discrete vortex representation of magnetohydrodynamics
We present an alternative approach to statistical analysis of an intermittent ideal MHD fluid in two dimensions, based on the hydrodynamical discrete vortex model applied to the Elsasser variables. The model contains negative temperature states which predict the formation of magnetic islands, but also includes a natural limit under which the equilibrium states revert to the familiar twin-vortex states predicted by hydrodynamical turbulence theories. Numerical dynamical calculations yield equilibrium spectra in agreement with the theoretical predictions
Density perturbations in generalized Einstein scenarios and constraints on nonminimal couplings from the Cosmic Microwave Background
We study cosmological perturbations in generalized Einstein scenarios and
show the equivalence of inflationary observables both in the Jordan frame and
the Einstein frame. In particular the consistency relation relating the
tensor-to-scalar ratio with the spectral index of tensor perturbations
coincides with the one in Einstein gravity, which leads to the same likelihood
results in terms of inflationary observables. We apply this formalism to
nonminimally coupled chaotic inflationary scenarios with potential
and place constraints on the strength of nonminimal couplings using a
compilation of latest observational data. In the case of the quadratic
potential (), the nonminimal coupling is constrained to be for negative from the observational contour
bound. Although the quartic potential () is under a strong observational
pressure for , this property is relaxed by taking into account negative
nonminimal couplings. We find that inflationary observables are within the
contour bound as long as . We also show that
the cases are disfavoured even in the presence of nonminimal
couplings.Comment: 16 pages, 4 eps figure
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