16,743 research outputs found
From the WZWN Model to the Liouville Equation: Exact String Dynamics in Conformally Invariant AdS Background
It has been known for some time that the SL(2,R) WZWN model reduces to
Liouville theory. Here we give a direct and physical derivation of this result
based on the classical string equations of motion and the proper string size.
This allows us to extract precisely the physical effects of the metric and
antisymmetric tensor, respectively, on the {\it exact} string dynamics in the
SL(2,R) background. The general solution to the proper string size is also
found. We show that the antisymmetric tensor (corresponding to conformal
invariance) generally gives rise to repulsion, and it precisely cancels the
dominant attractive term arising from the metric.
Both the sinh-Gordon and the cosh-Gordon sectors of the string dynamics in
non-conformally invariant AdS spacetime reduce here to the Liouville equation
(with different signs of the potential), while the original Liouville sector
reduces to the free wave equation. Only the very large classical string size is
affected by the torsion. Medium and small size string behaviours are unchanged.
We also find illustrative classes of string solutions in the SL(2,R)
background: dynamical closed as well as stationary open spiralling strings, for
which the effect of torsion is somewhat like the effect of rotation in the
metric. Similarly, the string solutions in the 2+1 BH-AdS background with
torsion and angular momentum are fully analyzed.Comment: 24 pages including 4 postscript figures. Enlarged version including a
section on string solutions in 2+1 black hole background. To be published in
Phys. Rev. D., December 199
HST Survey of Clusters in Nearby Galaxies. II. Statistical Analysis of Cluster Populations
We present a statistical system that can be used in the study of cluster
populations. The basis of our approach is the construction of synthetic cluster
color-magnitude-radius diagrams (CMRDs), which we compare with the observed
data using a maximum likelihood calculation. This approach permits a relatively
easy incorporation of incompleteness (a function of not only magnitude and
color, but also radius), photometry errors and biases, and a variety of other
complex effects into the calculation, instead of the more common procedure of
attempting to correct for those effects.
We then apply this procedure to our NGC 3627 data from Paper I. We find that
we are able to successfully model the observed CMRD and constrain a number of
parameters of the cluster population. We measure a power law mass function
slope of alpha = -1.50 +/- 0.07, and a distribution of core radii centered at
r_c = 1.53 +/- 0.15 pc. Although the extinction distribution is less
constrained, we measured a value for the mean extinction consistent with that
determined in Paper I from the Cepheids.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures accepted for publication by A
Valuation of aircraft noise by time of day: a comparison of two approaches
This paper reports an innovative application of stated preference techniques to derive values of aircraft noise by time of day and day of week. Revealed preference techniques cannot provide such segmentations which would clearly be of use in policy development especially relating to airport operations. Given the lack of research on this issue the work reported here is highly experimental. Two stated preference experiments were designed. The first focussed on a single time period whilst the second asked respondents to trade between time periods. Both approaches yielded results that are plausible and mutually consistent in terms of relative values by time period. We conclude that stated preference techniques are particularly useful in this context where the use of aggregated values may lead to non-optimal policy decisions
Stable and Unstable Circular Strings in Inflationary Universes
It was shown by Garriga and Vilenkin that the circular shape of nucleated
cosmic strings, of zero loop-energy in de Sitter space, is stable in the sense
that the ratio of the mean fluctuation amplitude to the loop radius is
constant. This result can be generalized to all expanding strings (of non-zero
loop-energy) in de Sitter space. In other curved spacetimes the situation,
however, may be different.
In this paper we develop a general formalism treating fluctuations around
circular strings embedded in arbitrary spatially flat FRW spacetimes. As
examples we consider Minkowski space, de Sitter space and power law expanding
universes. In the special case of power law inflation we find that in certain
cases the fluctuations grow much slower that the radius of the underlying
unperturbed circular string. The inflation of the universe thus tends to wash
out the fluctuations and to stabilize these strings.Comment: 15 pages Latex, NORDITA 94/14-
A dynamical and kinematical model of the Galactic stellar halo and possible implications for galaxy formation scenarios
We re-analyse the kinematics of the system of blue horizontal branch field
(BHBF) stars in the Galactic halo (in particular the outer halo), fitting the
kinematics with the model of radial and tangential velocity dispersions in the
halo as a function of galactocentric distance r proposed by Sommer-Larsen,
Flynn & Christensen (1994), using a much larger sample (almost 700) of BHBF
stars. The basic result is that the character of the stellar halo velocity
ellipsoid changes markedly from radial anisotropy at the sun to tangential
anisotropy in the outer parts of the Galactic halo (r greater than approx 20
kpc). Specifically, the radial component of the stellar halo's velocity
ellipsoid decreases fairly rapidly beyond the solar circle, from approx 140 +/-
10 km/s at the sun, to an asymptotic value of 89 +/- 19 km/s at large r. The
rapid decrease in the radial velocity dispersion is matched by an increase in
the tangential velocity dispersion, with increasing r.
Our results may indicate that the Galaxy formed hierarchically (partly or
fully) through merging of smaller subsystems - the 'bottom-up' galaxy formation
scenario, which for quite a while has been favoured by most theorists and
recently also has been given some observational credibility by HST observations
of a potential group of small galaxies, at high redshift, possibly in the
process of merging to a larger galaxy (Pascarelle et al 1996).Comment: Latex, 16 pages. 2 postscript figures. Submitted to the Astrophysical
Journal. also available at http://astro.utu.fi/~cflynn/outerhalo.htm
From p-branes to Cosmology
We study the relationship between static p-brane solitons and cosmological
solutions of string theory or M-theory. We discuss two different ways in which
extremal p-branes can be generalised to non-extremal ones, and show how wide
classes of recently discussed cosmological models can be mapped into
non-extremal p-brane solutions of one of these two kinds. We also extend
previous discussions of cosmological solutions to include some that make use of
cosmological-type terms in the effective action that can arise from the
generalised dimensional reduction of string theory or M-theory.Comment: Latex, 24 pages, no figur
Quantum String Dynamics in the conformal invariant SL(2,R) WZWN Background: Anti-de Sitter Space with Torsion
We consider classical and quantum strings in the conformally invariant
background corresponding to the SL(2,R) WZWN model. This background is locally
anti-de Sitter spacetime with non-vanishing torsion. Conformal invariance is
expressed as the torsion being parallelized. The precise effect of the
conformal invariance on the dynamics of both circular and generic classical
strings is extracted. In particular, the conformal invariance gives rise to a
repulsive interaction of the string with the background which precisely cancels
the dominant attractive term arising from gravity. We perform both
semi-classical and canonical string-quantization, in order to see the effect of
the conformal invariance of the background on the string mass spectrum. Both
approaches yield that the high-mass states are governed by m sim HN (N,`large
integer'), where m is the string mass and H is the Hubble constant. It follows
that the level spacing grows proportionally to N: d(m^2 alpha')/dN sim N, while
the entropy goes like: S sim sqrt{m}. Moreover, it follows that there is no
Hagedorn temperature,so that the partition function is well defined at any
positive temperature. All results are compared with the analogue results in
Anti- de Sitter spacetime, which is a non conformal invariant background.
Conformal invariance simplifies the mathematics of the problem but the physics
remains mainly unchanged. Differences between conformal and non-conformal
backgrounds only appear in the intermediate region of the string spectrum, but
these differences are minor. For low and high masses, the string mass spectra
in conformal and non-conformal backgrounds are identical. Interestingly enough,
conformal invariance fixes the value of the spacetime curvature to be -69/(26
alpha').Comment: Latex file, 23 pages, no figure
Smooth geometries with four charges in four dimensions
A class of axially symmetric, rotating four-dimensional geometries carrying
D1, D5, KK monopole and momentum charges is constructed. The geometries are
found to be free of horizons and singulaties, and are candidates to be the
gravity duals of microstates of the (0,4) CFT. These geometries are constructed
by performing singularity analysis on a suitably chosen class of solutions of
six-dimensional minimal supergravity written over a Gibbons-Hawking base
metric. The properties of the solutions raise some interesting questions
regarding the CFT.Comment: 1+32 pages, LaTeX, v2: references added, typographical errors
correcte
Protein structure validation and refinement using amide proton chemical shifts derived from quantum mechanics
We present the ProCS method for the rapid and accurate prediction of protein
backbone amide proton chemical shifts - sensitive probes of the geometry of key
hydrogen bonds that determine protein structure. ProCS is parameterized against
quantum mechanical (QM) calculations and reproduces high level QM results
obtained for a small protein with an RMSD of 0.25 ppm (r = 0.94). ProCS is
interfaced with the PHAISTOS protein simulation program and is used to infer
statistical protein ensembles that reflect experimentally measured amide proton
chemical shift values. Such chemical shift-based structural refinements,
starting from high-resolution X-ray structures of Protein G, ubiquitin, and SMN
Tudor Domain, result in average chemical shifts, hydrogen bond geometries, and
trans-hydrogen bond (h3JNC') spin-spin coupling constants that are in excellent
agreement with experiment. We show that the structural sensitivity of the
QM-based amide proton chemical shift predictions is needed to refine protein
structures to this agreement. The ProCS method thus offers a powerful new tool
for refining the structures of hydrogen bonding networks to high accuracy with
many potential applications such as protein flexibility in ligand binding.Comment: PLOS ONE accepted, Nov 201
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