33 research outputs found
What can we learn about GW Physics with an elastic spherical antenna?
A general formalism is set up to analyse the response of an arbitrary solid
elastic body to an arbitrary metric Gravitational Wave perturbation, which
fully displays the details of the interaction antenna-wave. The formalism is
applied to the spherical detector, whose sensitivity parameters are thereby
scrutinised. A multimode transfer function is defined to study the amplitude
sensitivity, and absorption cross sections are calculated for a general metric
theory of GW physics. Their scaling properties are shown to be independent of
the underlying theory, with interesting consequences for future detector
design. The GW incidence direction deconvolution problem is also discussed,
always within the context of a general metric theory of the gravitational
field.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, REVTeX, enhanced Appendix B with numerical
values and mathematical detail. See also gr-qc/000605
Vibrations and Berry Phases of Charged Buckminsterfullerene
A simple model of electron-vibron interactions in buckminsterfullerene ions
is solved semiclassically. Electronic degeneracies of C induce
dynamical Jahn-Teller distortions, which are unimodal for and
bimodal for . The quantization of motion along the Jahn-Teller
manifold leads to a symmetric-top rotator Hamiltonian. I find Molecular
Aharonov-Bohm effects where electronic Berry phases determine the vibrational
spectra, zero point fluctuations, and electrons' pair binding energies. The
latter are relevant to superconductivity in alkali-fullerenes.Comment: Latex 11 pages. IIT-00
The detection of Gravitational Waves
This chapter is concerned with the question: how do gravitational waves (GWs)
interact with their detectors? It is intended to be a theory review of the
fundamental concepts involved in interferometric and acoustic (Weber bar) GW
antennas. In particular, the type of signal the GW deposits in the detector in
each case will be assessed, as well as its intensity and deconvolution. Brief
reference will also be made to detector sensitivity characterisation, including
very summary data on current state of the art GW detectors.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, LaTeX2e, Springer style files --included. For
Proceedings of the ERE-2001 Conference (Madrid, September 2001
Spherical Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes
The paper considers random motion of a point on the surface of a sphere, in the case where the angular velocity is determined by an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. The solution is fully characterised by only one dimensionless number, the persistence angle, which is the typical angle of rotation during the correlation time of the angular velocity. We first show that the two-dimensional case is exactly solvable. When the persistence angle is large, a series for the correlation function has the surprising property that its sum varies much more slowly than any of its individual terms. In three dimensions we obtain asymptotic forms for the correlation function, in the limits where the persistence angle is very small and very large. The latter case exhibits a complicated transient, followed by a much slower exponential decay. The decay rate is determined by the solution of a radial Schrödinger equation in which the angular momentum quantum number takes an irrational value, namely j=½ (√17-1). Possible applications of the model to objects tumbling in a turbulent environment are discussed