845 research outputs found
A detailed study of quasinormal frequencies of the Kerr black hole
We compute the quasinormal frequencies of the Kerr black hole using a
continued fraction method. The continued fraction method first proposed by
Leaver is still the only known method stable and accurate for the numerical
determination of the Kerr quasinormal frequencies. We numerically obtain not
only the slowly but also the rapidly damped quasinormal frequencies and analyze
the peculiar behavior of these frequencies at the Kerr limit. We also calculate
the algebraically special frequency first identified by Chandrasekhar and
confirm that it coincide with the quasinormal frequency only at the
Schwarzschild limit.Comment: REVTEX, 15 pages, 7 eps figure
Enhancement of the immunoregulatory potency of mesenchymal stromal cells by treatment with immunosuppressive drugs
Background aims Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are distinguished by their ability to differentiate into a number of stromal derivatives of interest for regenerative medicine, but they also have immunoregulatory properties that are being tested in a number of clinical settings. Methods We show that brief incubations with rapamycin, everolimus, FK506 or cyclosporine A increase the immunosuppressive potency of MSCs and other cell types. Results The treated MSCs are up to 5-fold more potent at inhibiting the induced proliferation of T lymphocytes in vitro. We show that this effect probably is due to adsorption of the drug by the MSCs during pre-treatment, with subsequent diffusion into co-cultures at concentrations sufficient to inhibit T-cell proliferation. MSCs contain measurable amounts of rapamycin after a 15-min exposure, and the potentiating effect is blocked by a neutralizing antibody to the drug. With the use of a pre-clinical model of acute graft-versus-host disease, we demonstrate that a low dose of rapamycin-treated but not untreated umbilical cordâderived MSCs significantly inhibit the onset of disease. Conclusions The use of treated MSCs may achieve clinical end points not reached with untreated MSCs and allow for infusion of fewer cells to reduce costs and minimize potential side effects
An Effective Search Method for Gravitational Ringing of Black Holes
We develop a search method for gravitational ringing of black holes. The
gravitational ringing is due to complex frequency modes called the quasi-normal
modes that are excited when a black hole geometry is perturbed. The detection
of it will be a direct confirmation of the existence of a black hole. Assuming
that the ringdown waves are dominated by the fundamental mode with least
imaginary part, we consider matched filtering and develop an optimal method to
search for the ringdown waves that have damped sinusoidal wave forms.
When we use the matched filtering method, the data analysis with a lot of
templates required. Here we have to ensure a proper match between the filter as
a template and the real wave. It is necessary to keep the detection efficiency
as high as possible under limited computational costs.
First, we consider the white noise case for which the matched filtering can
be studied analytically. We construct an efficient method for tiling the
template space. Then, using a fitting curve of the TAMA300 DT6 noise spectrum,
we numerically consider the case of colored noise. We find our tiling method
developed for the white noise case is still valid even if the noise is colored.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures. Accepted to Phys. Rev. D, Note correction to Eq.
(3-25), A few comments added and minor typos correcte
Quasinormal Modes, the Area Spectrum, and Black Hole Entropy
The results of canonical quantum gravity concerning geometric operators and
black hole entropy are beset by an ambiguity labelled by the Immirzi parameter.
We use a result from classical gravity concerning the quasinormal mode spectrum
of a black hole to fix this parameter in a new way. As a result we arrive at
the Bekenstein - Hawking expression of for the entropy of a black
hole and in addition see an indication that the appropriate gauge group of
quantum gravity is SO(3) and not its covering group SU(2).Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Operation of EMEP âsupersitesâ in the United Kingdom. Annual report for 2008.
As part of its commitment to the UN-ECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution the United Kingdom operates two âsupersitesâ reporting data to the Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP).
This report provides the annual summary for 2008, the second full calendar year of operation of the first EMEP âsupersiteâ to be established in the United Kingdom. Detailed operational reports have been submitted to Defra every 3 months, with unratified data. This annual report contains a summary of the ratified data for 2008.
The EMEP âsupersiteâ is located in central southern Scotland at Auchencorth (3.2oW, 55.8oN), a remote rural moorland site ~20 km south-west of Edinburgh. Monitoring operations started formally on 1 June 2006.
In addition to measurements made specifically under this contract, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology also acts as local site operator for measurements made under other UK monitoring networks: the Automated Urban and Rural Network (AURN), the UK Eutrophication and Acidification Network (UKEAP), the UK Hydrocarbons Network, and the UK Heavy Metals Rural Network. Some measurements were also made under the auspices of the âAir Pollution Deposition Processesâ contract. All these associated networks are funded by Defra.
This report summarises the measurements made between January and December 2008, and presents summary statistics on average concentrations.
The site is dominated by winds from the south-west, but wind direction data highlight potential sources of airborne pollutants (power stations, conurbations).
The average diurnal patterns of gases and particles are consistent with those expected for a remote rural site.
The frequency distributions are presented for data where there was good data capture throughout the whole period. Some components (e.g. black carbon) show log-normal frequency distributions, while other components (e.g. ozone) have more nearly normal frequency distributions.
A case study is presented for a period in June 2008, showing the influence of regional air pollutants at this remote rural site.
All the data reported under the contract are shown graphically in the Appendix
Asymptotic quasinormal modes of Reissner-Nordstr\"om and Kerr black holes
According to a recent proposal, the so-called Barbero-Immirzi parameter of
Loop Quantum Gravity can be fixed, using Bohr's correspondence principle, from
a knowledge of highly-damped black hole oscillation frequencies. Such
frequencies are rather difficult to compute, even for Schwarzschild black
holes. However, it is now quite likely that they may provide a fundamental link
between classical general relativity and quantum theories of gravity. Here we
carry out the first numerical computation of very highly damped quasinormal
modes (QNM's) for charged and rotating black holes. In the Reissner-Nordstr\"om
case QNM frequencies and damping times show an oscillatory behaviour as a
function of charge. The oscillations become faster as the mode order increases.
At fixed mode order, QNM's describe spirals in the complex plane as the charge
is increased, tending towards a well defined limit as the hole becomes
extremal. Kerr QNM's have a similar oscillatory behaviour when the angular
index . For the real part of Kerr QNM frequencies tends to
, being the angular velocity of the black hole horizon, while
the asymptotic spacing of the imaginary parts is given by .Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Added result on the asymptotic spacing of the
imaginary part, minor typos correcte
High overtones of Dirac perturbations of a Schwarzschild black hole
Using the Frobenius method, we find high overtones of the Dirac quasinormal
spectrum for the Schwarzschild black hole. At high overtones, the spacing for
imaginary part of is equidistant and equals to
, ( is the black hole mass), which
is twice less than that for fields of integer spin. At high overtones, the real
part of goes to zero. This supports the suggestion that the
expected correspondence between quasinormal modes and Barbero-Immirzi parameter
in Loop Quantum Gravity is just a numerical coincidence.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, 3 figures, Physical Review D.,at pres
Semi-analytic results for quasi-normal frequencies
The last decade has seen considerable interest in the quasi-normal
frequencies [QNFs] of black holes (and even wormholes), both asymptotically
flat and with cosmological horizons. There is wide agreement that the QNFs are
often of the form omega_n = (offset) + i n (gap), though some authors have
encountered situations where this behaviour seems to fail. To get a better
understanding of the general situation we consider a semi-analytic model based
on a piecewise Eckart (Poeschl-Teller) potential, allowing for different
heights and different rates of exponential falloff in the two asymptotic
directions. This model is sufficiently general to capture and display key
features of the black hole QNFs while simultaneously being analytically
tractable, at least for asymptotically large imaginary parts of the QNFs. We
shall derive an appropriate "quantization condition" for the asymptotic QNFs,
and extract as much analytic information as possible. In particular, we shall
explicitly verify that the (offset)+ i n (gap) behaviour is common but not
universal, with this behaviour failing unless the ratio of rates of exponential
falloff on the two sides of the potential is a rational number. (This is
"common but not universal" in the sense that the rational numbers are dense in
the reals.) We argue that this behaviour is likely to persist for black holes
with cosmological horizons.Comment: V1: 28 pages, no figures. V2: 3 references added, no physics changes.
V3: 29 pages, 9 references added, no physics changes; V4: reformatted, now 27
pages. Some clarifications, comparison with results obtained by monodromy
techniques. This version accepted for publication in JHEP. V5: Minor typos
fixed. Compatible with published versio
Late-Time Evolution of Charged Gravitational Collapse and Decay of Charged Scalar Hair - II
We study analytically the initial value problem for a charged massless
scalar-field on a Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime. Using the technique of
spectral decomposition we extend recent results on this problem. Following the
no-hair theorem we reveal the dynamical physical mechanism by which the charged
hair is radiated away. We show that the charged perturbations decay according
to an inverse power-law behaviour at future timelike infinity and along future
null infinity. Along the future outer horizon we find an oscillatory inverse
power-law relaxation of the charged fields. We find that a charged black hole
becomes ``bald'' slower than a neutral one, due to the existence of charged
perturbations. Our results are also important to the study of mass-inflation
and the stability of Cauchy horizons during a dynamical gravitational collapse
of charged matter in which a charged black-hole is formed.Comment: Latex 15 pages, Revtex.st
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