17,678 research outputs found
A fireworks model for Gamma-Ray Bursts
The energetics of the long duration GRB phenomenon is compared with models of
a rotating Black Hole (BH) in a strong magnetic field generated by an accreting
torus. A rough estimate of the energy extracted from a rotating BH with the
Blandford-Znajek mechanism is obtained with a very simple assumption: an
inelastic collision between the rotating BH and the torus. The GRB energy
emission is attributed to an high magnetic field that breaks down the vacuum
around the BH and gives origin to a e+- fireball. Its subsequent evolution is
hypothesized, in analogy with the in-flight decay of an elementary particle, to
evolve in two distinct phases. The first one occurs close to the engine and is
responsible of energizing and collimating the shells. The second one consists
of a radiation dominated expansion, which correspondingly accelerates the
relativistic photon--particle fluid and ends at the transparency time. This
mechanism simply predicts that the observed Lorentz factor is determined by the
product of the Lorentz factor of the shell close to the engine and the Lorentz
factor derived by the expansion. An anisotropy in the fireball propagation is
thus naturally produced, whose degree depends on the bulk Lorentz factor at the
end of the collimation phase.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Some computations in the cyclic permutations of completely rational nets
In this paper we calculate certain chiral quantities from the cyclic
permutation orbifold of a general completely rational net. We determine the
fusion of a fundamental soliton, and by suitably modified arguments of A. Coste
, T. Gannon and especially P. Bantay to our setting we are able to prove a
number of arithmetic properties including congruence subgroup properties for
matrices of a completely rational net defined by K.-H. Rehren .Comment: 30 Pages Late
Modular localization and Wigner particles
We propose a framework for the free field construction of algebras of local
observables which uses as an input the Bisognano-Wichmann relations and a
representation of the Poincare' group on the one-particle Hilbert space. The
abstract real Hilbert subspace version of the Tomita-Takesaki theory enables us
to bypass some limitations of the Wigner formalism by introducing an intrinsic
spacetime localization. Our approach works also for continuous spin
representations to which we associate a net of von Neumann algebras on
spacelike cones with the Reeh-Schlieder property. The positivity of the energy
in the representation turns out to be equivalent to the isotony of the net, in
the spirit of Borchers theorem. Our procedure extends to other spacetimes
homogeneous under a group of geometric transformations as in the case of
conformal symmetries and de Sitter spacetime.Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX. Some errors have been corrected. To appear on Rev.
Math. Phy
Constraints on Lorentz Invariance Violation from Fermi-Large Area Telescope Observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts
We analyze the MeV/GeV emission from four bright Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs)
observed by the Fermi-Large Area Telescope to produce robust, stringent
constraints on a dependence of the speed of light in vacuo on the photon energy
(vacuum dispersion), a form of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) allowed by
some Quantum Gravity (QG) theories. First, we use three different and
complementary techniques to constrain the total degree of dispersion observed
in the data. Additionally, using a maximally conservative set of assumptions on
possible source-intrinsic spectral-evolution effects, we constrain any vacuum
dispersion solely attributed to LIV. We then derive limits on the "QG energy
scale" (the energy scale that LIV-inducing QG effects become important, E_QG)
and the coefficients of the Standard Model Extension. For the subluminal case
(where high energy photons propagate more slowly than lower energy photons) and
without taking into account any source-intrinsic dispersion, our most stringent
limits (at 95% CL) are obtained from GRB090510 and are E_{QG,1}>7.6 times the
Planck energy (E_Pl) and E_{QG,2}>1.3 x 10^11 GeV for linear and quadratic
leading order LIV-induced vacuum dispersion, respectively. These limits improve
the latest constraints by Fermi and H.E.S.S. by a factor of ~2. Our results
disfavor any class of models requiring E_{QG,1} \lesssim E_Pl.Comment: Accepted for publication by Physical Review
A multi-layer edge-on single photon counting silicon microstrip detector for innovative techniques in diagnostic radiology
A three-layer detector prototype, obtained by stacking three edge-on single photon counting silicon microstrip detectors, has been developed and widely tested. This was done in the framework of the Synchrotron Radiation for Medical Physics/Frontier Radiology (SYRMEP/FRONTRAD) collaboration activities, whose aim is to improve the quality of mammographic examinations operating both on the source and on the detector side. The active surface of the device has been fully characterized making use of an edge-scanning technique and of a well-collimated laminar synchrotron radiation beam. The obtained data (interlayer distances, channel correspondence, etc.) have then been used to combine information coming from each detector layer, without causing any loss in spatial and contrast resolution of the device. Contrast and spatial resolution have also been separately evaluated for each detector layer. Moreover, imaging techniques (phase contrast, refraction, and scatter imaging), resulting in an increased visibility of low absorbing details, have been implemented, and their effectiveness has been tested on a biological sample. Finally, the possibility of simultaneously acquiring different kind of images with the different detector layers is discussed. This would result in maximizing the information extracted from the sample, while at the same time the high absorption efficiency of the detector device would allow a low dose delivery
Spectral triples and the super-Virasoro algebra
We construct infinite dimensional spectral triples associated with
representations of the super-Virasoro algebra. In particular the irreducible,
unitary positive energy representation of the Ramond algebra with central
charge c and minimal lowest weight h=c/24 is graded and gives rise to a net of
even theta-summable spectral triples with non-zero Fredholm index. The
irreducible unitary positive energy representations of the Neveu-Schwarz
algebra give rise to nets of even theta-summable generalised spectral triples
where there is no Dirac operator but only a superderivation.Comment: 27 pages; v2: a comment concerning the difficulty in defining cyclic
cocycles in the NS case have been adde
Gravitational wave scintillation by a stellar cluster
The diffraction effects on gravitational waves propagating through a stellar
cluster are analyzed in the relevant approximation of Fresnel diffraction
limit. We find that a gravitational wave scintillation effect - similar to the
radio source scintillation effect - comes out naturally, implying that the
gravitational wave intensity changes in a characteristic way as the observer
moves.Comment: 9 pages, in press in IJMP
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