28,882 research outputs found
Studying light propagation in a locally homogeneous universe through an extended Dyer-Roeder approach
Light is affected by local inhomogeneities in its propagation, which may
alter distances and so cosmological parameter estimation. In the era of
precision cosmology, the presence of inhomogeneities may induce systematic
errors if not properly accounted. In this vein, a new interpretation of the
conventional Dyer-Roeder (DR) approach by allowing light received from distant
sources to travel in regions denser than average is proposed. It is argued that
the existence of a distribution of small and moderate cosmic voids (or "black
regions") implies that its matter content was redistributed to the homogeneous
and clustered matter components with the former becoming denser than the cosmic
average in the absence of voids. Phenomenologically, this means that the DR
smoothness parameter (denoted here by ) can be greater than unity,
and, therefore, all previous analyses constraining it should be rediscussed
with a free upper limit. Accordingly, by performing a statistical analysis
involving 557 type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from Union2 compilation data in a
flat CDM model we obtain for the extended parameter,
(). The effects of are also
analyzed for generic CDM models and flat XCDM cosmologies. For both
models, we find that a value of greater than unity is able to
harmonize SNe Ia and cosmic microwave background observations thereby
alleviating the well-known tension between low and high redshift data. Finally,
a simple toy model based on the existence of cosmic voids is proposed in order
to justify why can be greater than unity as required by supernovae
data.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Title modified, results unchanged. It matches
version published as a Brief Report in Phys. Rev.
Hamilton-Jacobi Approach for Power-Law Potentials
The classical and relativistic Hamilton-Jacobi approach is applied to the
one-dimensional homogeneous potential, , where and
are continuously varying parameters. In the non-relativistic case, the
exact analytical solution is determined in terms of , and the total
energy . It is also shown that the non-linear equation of motion can be
linearized by constructing a hypergeometric differential equation for the
inverse problem . A variable transformation reducing the general problem
to that one of a particle subjected to a linear force is also established. For
any value of , it leads to a simple harmonic oscillator if , an
"anti-oscillator" if , or a free particle if E=0. However, such a
reduction is not possible in the relativistic case. For a bounded relativistic
motion, the first order correction to the period is determined for any value of
. For , it is found that the correction is just twice that one
deduced for the simple harmonic oscillator (), and does not depend on the
specific value of .Comment: 12 pages, Late
Is CDM an effective CCDM cosmology?
We show that a cosmology driven by gravitationally induced particle
production of all non-relativistic species existing in the present Universe
mimics exactly the observed flat accelerating CDM cosmology with just
one dynamical free parameter. This kind of scenario includes the creation cold
dark matter (CCDM) model [Lima, Jesus & Oliveira, JCAP 011(2010)027] as a
particular case and also provides a natural reduction of the dark sector since
the vacuum component is not needed to accelerate the Universe. The new cosmic
scenario is equivalent to CDM both at the background and perturbative
levels and the associated creation process is also in agreement with the
universality of the gravitational interaction and equivalence principle.
Implicitly, it also suggests that the present day astronomical observations
cannot be considered the ultimate proof of cosmic vacuum effects in the evolved
Universe because CDM may be only an effective cosmology.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, changes in the abstract, introduction, new
references and typo correction
From de Sitter to de Sitter: decaying vacuum models as a possible solution to the main cosmological problems
Decaying vacuum cosmological models evolving smoothly between two extreme
(very early and late time) de Sitter phases are capable to solve or at least to
alleviate some cosmological puzzles, among them: (i) the singularity, (ii)
horizon, (iii) graceful-exit from inflation, and (iv) the baryogenesis problem.
Our basic aim here is to discuss how the coincidence problem based on a large
class of running vacuum cosmologies evolving from de Sitter to de Sitter can
also be mollified. It is also argued that even the cosmological constant
problem become less severe provided that the characteristic scales of the two
limiting de Sitter manifolds are predicted from first principles.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, title changed, typos corrected, text and new
references adde
Dynamical complexity of discrete time regulatory networks
Genetic regulatory networks are usually modeled by systems of coupled
differential equations and by finite state models, better known as logical
networks, are also used. In this paper we consider a class of models of
regulatory networks which present both discrete and continuous aspects. Our
models consist of a network of units, whose states are quantified by a
continuous real variable. The state of each unit in the network evolves
according to a contractive transformation chosen from a finite collection of
possible transformations, according to a rule which depends on the state of the
neighboring units. As a first approximation to the complete description of the
dynamics of this networks we focus on a global characteristic, the dynamical
complexity, related to the proliferation of distinguishable temporal behaviors.
In this work we give explicit conditions under which explicit relations between
the topological structure of the regulatory network, and the growth rate of the
dynamical complexity can be established. We illustrate our results by means of
some biologically motivated examples.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figure
Anisotropic superconducting properties of aligned MgB2 crystallites
Samples of aligned MgB2 crystallites have been prepared, allowing for the
first time the direct identification of an upper critical field anisotropy
Hc2^{ab}/Hc2^{c}= xi_{ab}/xi_{c} ~ 1.73; with xi_{o,ab} ~ 70 A, xi_{o,c} ~ 40
A, and a mass anisotropy ratio m_{ab}/m_{c} ~ 0.3. A ferromagnetic background
signal was identified, possibly related to the raw materials purity.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; Revised version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Spin-polarized transport in ferromagnetic multilayered semiconductor nanostructures
The occurrence of inhomogeneous spin-density distribution in multilayered
ferromagnetic diluted magnetic semiconductor nanostructures leads to strong
dependence of the spin-polarized transport properties on these systems. The
spin-dependent mobility, conductivity and resistivity in
(Ga,Mn)As/GaAs,(Ga,Mn)N/GaN, and (Si,Mn)/Si multilayers are calculated as a
function of temperature, scaled by the average magnetization of the diluted
magnetic semiconductor layers. An increase of the resistivity near the
transition temperature is obtained. We observed that the spin-polarized
transport properties changes strongly among the three materials.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
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