880 research outputs found
The dynamical equivalence of modified gravity revisited
We revisit the dynamical equivalence between different representations of
vacuum modified gravity models in view of Legendre transformations. The
equivalence is discussed for both bulk and boundary space, by including in our
analysis the relevant Gibbons-Hawking terms. In the f(R) case, the Legendre
transformed action coincides with the usual Einstein frame one. We then
re-express the R+f(G) action, where G is the Gauss-Bonnet term, as a second
order theory with a new set of field variables, four tensor fields and one
scalar and study its dynamics. For completeness, we also calculate the
conformal transformation of the full Jordan frame R+f(G) action. All the
appropriate Gibbons-Hawking terms are calculated explicitly.Comment: 17 pages; v3: Revised version. New comments added in Sections 3 & 5.
New results added in Section 6. Version to appear in Class. Quantum Gravit
Communiqué No. 21: Taxing the Tax-exempt Sector: A Growing Danger for Nonprofit Organizations
Presents findings from a survey of nonprofit organizations in four fields: children and family services, elderly housing and services, community and economic development, and arts and culture. Report sheds light on the practice of state and local governments targeting nonprofits as sources of needed revenues, sometimes using special fees, field-specific taxes, or PILOTs that get around nonprofit exemptions from property and other taxes. With bibliographical references
Are stealth scalar fields stable?
Non-gravitating (stealth) scalar fields associated with Minkowski space in
scalar-tensor gravity are examined. Analytical solutions for both non-minimally
coupled scalar field theory and for Brans-Dicke gravity are studied and their
stability with respect to tensor perturbations is assessed using a covariant
and gauge-invariant formalism developed for alternative gravity. For
Brans-Dicke solutions, the stability with respect to homogeneous perturbations
is also studied. There are regions of parameter space corresponding to
stability and other regions corresponding to instability.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, no figures, to appear in Phys. Rev,
Holding the Fort: Nonprofit Employment During a Decade of Turmoil
This report presents data on year-to-year changes in employment in nonprofit establishments in the United States from January 2000 through June 2010, with a special focus on how nonprofit employment fared during the 2007-2009 recession. Examines data by nonprofit fields, geographic region, and compares it to findings in the for-profit sector. With bibliographical references
Theory for the ultrafast ablation of graphite films
The physical mechanisms for damage formation in graphite films induced by
femtosecond laser pulses are analyzed using a microscopic electronic theory. We
describe the nonequilibrium dynamics of electrons and lattice by performing
molecular dynamics simulations on time-dependent potential energy surfaces. We
show that graphite has the unique property of exhibiting two distinct laser
induced structural instabilities. For high absorbed energies (> 3.3 eV/atom) we
find nonequilibrium melting followed by fast evaporation. For low intensities
above the damage threshold (> 2.0 eV/atom) ablation occurs via removal of
intact graphite sheets.Comment: 5 pages RevTeX, 3 PostScript figures, submitted to Phys. Re
Creation of the universe with a stealth scalar field
The stealth scalar field is a non-trivial configuration without any
back-reaction to geometry, which is characteristic for non-minimally coupled
scalar fields. Studying the creation probability of the de Sitter universe with
a stealth scalar field by the Hartle and Hawking's semi-classical method, we
show that the effect of the stealth field can be significant. For the class of
scalar fields we consider, creation with a stealth field is possible for a
discrete value of the coupling constant and its creation probability is always
less than that with a trivial scalar field. However, those creation rates can
be almost the same depending on the parameters of the theory.Comment: 7 pages; v2, references added; v3, creation of the open universe
adde
The Universality of Einstein Equations
It is shown that for a wide class of analytic Lagrangians which depend only
on the scalar curvature of a metric and a connection, the application of the
so--called ``Palatini formalism'', i.e., treating the metric and the connection
as independent variables, leads to ``universal'' equations. If the dimension
of space--time is greater than two these universal equations are Einstein
equations for a generic Lagrangian and are suitably replaced by other universal
equations at bifurcation points. We show that bifurcations take place in
particular for conformally invariant Lagrangians and prove
that their solutions are conformally equivalent to solutions of Einstein
equations. For 2--dimensional space--time we find instead that the universal
equation is always the equation of constant scalar curvature; the connection in
this case is a Weyl connection, containing the Levi--Civita connection of the
metric and an additional vectorfield ensuing from conformal invariance. As an
example, we investigate in detail some polynomial Lagrangians and discuss their
bifurcations.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, (Extended Version), TO-JLL-P1/9
The conformal frame freedom in theories of gravitation
It has frequently been claimed in the literature that the classical physical
predictions of scalar tensor theories of gravity depend on the conformal frame
in which the theory is formulated. We argue that this claim is false, and that
all classical physical predictions are conformal-frame invariants. We also
respond to criticisms by Vollick [gr-qc/0312041], in which this issue arises,
of our recent analysis of the Palatini form of 1/R gravity.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, revtex; final published versio
- …