3,660 research outputs found
Maximally extended, explicit and regular coverings of the Schwarzschild - de Sitter vacua in arbitrary dimension
Maximally extended, explicit and regular coverings of the Schwarzschild - de
Sitter family of vacua are given, first in spacetime (generalizing a result due
to Israel) and then for all dimensions (assuming a sphere). It is
shown that these coordinates offer important advantages over the well known
Kruskal - Szekeres procedure.Comment: 12 pages revtex4 5 figures in color. Higher resolution version at
http://www.astro.queensu.ca/~lake/regularcoordinates.pd
Detection of zeptojoule microwave pulses using electrothermal feedback in proximity-induced Josephson junctions
We experimentally investigate and utilize electrothermal feedback in a
microwave nanobolometer based on a normal-metal
(\mbox{Au}_{x}\mbox{Pd}_{1-x}) nanowire with proximity-induced
superconductivity. The feedback couples the temperature and the electrical
degrees of freedom in the nanowire, which both absorbs the incoming microwave
radiation, and transduces the temperature change into a radio-frequency
electrical signal. We tune the feedback in situ and access both positive and
negative feedback regimes with rich nonlinear dynamics. In particular, strong
positive feedback leads to the emergence of two metastable electron temperature
states in the millikelvin range. We use these states for efficient threshold
detection of coherent 8.4 GHz microwave pulses containing approximately 200
photons on average, corresponding to 1.1 \mbox{ zJ} \approx 7.0 \mbox{ meV}
of energy
Microscopic non-equilibrium theory of quantum well solar cells
We present a microscopic theory of bipolar quantum well structures in the
photovoltaic regime, based on the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism
for a multi band tight binding Hamiltonian. The quantum kinetic equations for
the single particle Green's functions of electrons and holes are
self-consistently coupled to Poisson's equation, including inter-carrier
scattering on the Hartree level. Relaxation and broadening mechanisms are
considered by the inclusion of acoustic and optical electron-phonon interaction
in a self consistent Born approximation of the scattering self energies.
Photogeneration of carriers is described on the same level in terms of a self
energy derived from the standard dipole approximation of the electron-photon
interaction. Results from a simple two band model are shown for the local
density of states, spectral response, current spectrum, and current-voltage
characteristics for generic single quantum well systems.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures; corrected typos, changed caption Fig. 1,
replaced Fig.
Boundary Effects in Local Inflation and Spectrum of Density Perturbations
We observe that when a local patch in a radiation filled Robertson-Walker
universe inflates by some reason, outside perturbations can enter into the
inflating region. Generally, the physical wavelengths of these perturbations
become larger than the Hubble radius as they cross into the inflating space and
their amplitudes freeze out immediately. It turns out that the corresponding
power spectrum is not scale invariant. Although these perturbations cannot
reach out to a distance inner observer shielded by a de Sitter horizon, they
still indicate a curious boundary effect in local inflationary scenarios.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, revtex4, v4: minor typos corrected, twocolumn
versio
Static Ricci-flat 5-manifolds admitting the 2-sphere
We examine, in a purely geometrical way, static Ricci-flat 5-manifolds
admitting the 2-sphere and an additional hypersurface-orthogonal Killing
vector. These are widely studied in the literature, from different physical
approaches, and known variously as the Kramer - Gross - Perry - Davidson - Owen
solutions. The 2-fold infinity of cases that result are studied by way of new
coordinates (which are in most cases global) and the cases likely to be of
interest in any physical approach are distinguished on the basis of the
nakedness and geometrical mass of their associated singularities. It is argued
that the entire class of solutions has to be considered unstable about the
exceptional solutions: the black string and soliton cases. Any physical theory
which admits the non-exceptional solutions as the external vacuua of a
collapsing object has to accept the possibility of collapse to zero volume
leaving behind the weakest possible, albeit naked, geometrical singularities at
the origin.Finally, it is pointed out that these types of solutions generalize,
in a straightforward way, to higher dimensions.Comment: Generalize, in a straightforward way, to higher dimension
Quantum-mechanical wavepacket transport in quantum cascade laser structures
We present a viewpoint of the transport process in quantum cascade laser
structures in which spatial transport of charge through the structure is a
property of coherent quantum-mechanical wavefunctions. In contrast, scattering
processes redistribute particles in energy and momentum but do not directly
cause spatial motion of charge.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures included in tex, to appear in Physical Review
Six Peaks Visible in the Redshift Distribution of 46,400 SDSS Quasars Agree with the Preferred Redshifts Predicted by the Decreasing Intrinsic Redshift Model
The redshift distribution of all 46,400 quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS) Quasar Catalog III, Third Data Release, is examined. Six Peaks
that fall within the redshift window below z = 4, are visible. Their positions
agree with the preferred redshift values predicted by the decreasing intrinsic
redshift (DIR) model, even though this model was derived using completely
independent evidence. A power spectrum analysis of the full dataset confirms
the presence of a single, significant power peak at the expected redshift
period. Power peaks with the predicted period are also obtained when the upper
and lower halves of the redshift distribution are examined separately. The
periodicity detected is in linear z, as opposed to log(1+z). Because the peaks
in the SDSS quasar redshift distribution agree well with the preferred
redshifts predicted by the intrinsic redshift relation, we conclude that this
relation, and the peaks in the redshift distribution, likely both have the same
origin, and this may be intrinsic redshifts, or a common selection effect.
However, because of the way the intrinsic redshift relation was determined it
seems unlikely that one selection effect could have been responsible for both.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
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