20,872 research outputs found
Revisiting the confrontation of the energy conditions with supernovae data
In the standard Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) approach to model
the Universe the violation of the so-called energy conditions is related to
some important properties of the Universe as, for example, the current and the
inflationary accelerating expansion phases. The energy conditions are also
necessary in the formulation and proofs of Hawking-Penrose singularity
theorems. In two recent articles we have derived bounds from energy conditions
and made confrontations of these bounds with supernovae data. Here, we extend
these results in following way: first, by using our most recent statistical
procedure for calculating new q(z) estimates from the \emph{gold} and
\emph{combined} type Ia supernovae samples; second, we use these estimates to
obtain a new picture of the energy conditions fulfillment and violation for the
recent past () in the context of the standard cosmology.Comment: 5 pages. To appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys. D. Talk presented at the 3rd
International Workshop on Astronomy and Relativistic Astrophysics. V2: typos
correcte
Tax evasion dynamics and Zaklan model on Opinion-dependent Network
Within the context of agent-based Monte-Carlo simulations, we study the
well-known majority-vote model (MVM) with noise applied to tax evasion on
Stauffer-Hohnisch-Pittnauer (SHP) networks. To control the fluctuations for tax
evasion in the economics model proposed by Zaklan, MVM is applied in the
neighborhood of the critical noise to evolve the Zaklan model. The
Zaklan model had been studied recently using the equilibrium Ising model. Here
we show that the Zaklan model is robust because this can be studied besides
using equilibrium dynamics of Ising model also through the nonequilibrium MVM
and on various topologies giving the same behavior regardless of dynamic or
topology used here.Comment: 14 page, 4 figure
Constraints on Cold Dark Matter Accelerating Cosmologies and Cluster Formation
We discuss the properties of homogeneous and isotropic flat cosmologies in
which the present accelerating stage is powered only by the gravitationally
induced creation of cold dark matter (CCDM) particles (). For
some matter creation rates proposed in the literature, we show that the main
cosmological functions such as the scale factor of the universe, the Hubble
expansion rate, the growth factor and the cluster formation rate are
analytically defined. The best CCDM scenario has only one free parameter and
our joint analysis involving BAO + CMB + SNe Ia data yields
() where
is the observed matter density parameter. In particular, this implies that the
model has no dark energy but the part of the matter that is effectively
clustering is in good agreement with the latest determinations from large scale
structure. The growth of perturbation and the formation of galaxy clusters in
such scenarios are also investigated. Despite the fact that both scenarios may
share the same Hubble expansion, we find that matter creation cosmologies
predict stronger small scale dynamics which implies a faster growth rate of
perturbations with respect to the usual CDM cosmology. Such results
point to the possibility of a crucial observational test confronting CCDM with
CDM scenarios trough a more detailed analysis involving CMB, weak
lensing, as well as the large scale structure.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication by Physical Rev.
New Cosmic Accelerating Scenario without Dark Energy
We propose an alternative, nonsingular, cosmic scenario based on
gravitationally induced particle production. The model is an attempt to evade
the coincidence and cosmological constant problems of the standard model
(CDM) and also to connect the early and late time accelerating stages
of the Universe. Our space-time emerges from a pure initial de Sitter stage
thereby providing a natural solution to the horizon problem. Subsequently, due
to an instability provoked by the production of massless particles, the
Universe evolves smoothly to the standard radiation dominated era thereby
ending the production of radiation as required by the conformal invariance.
Next, the radiation becomes sub-dominant with the Universe entering in the cold
dark matter dominated era. Finally, the negative pressure associated with the
creation of cold dark matter (CCDM model) particles accelerates the expansion
and drives the Universe to a final de Sitter stage. The late time cosmic
expansion history of the CCDM model is exactly like in the standard
CDM model, however, there is no dark energy. This complete scenario is
fully determined by two extreme energy densities, or equivalently, the
associated de Sitter Hubble scales connected by , a result that has no correlation with the cosmological constant
problem. We also study the linear growth of matter perturbations at the final
accelerating stage. It is found that the CCDM growth index can be written as a
function of the growth index, . In this
framework, we also compare the observed growth rate of clustering with that
predicted by the current CCDM model. Performing a statistical test
we show that the CCDM model provides growth rates that match sufficiently well
with the observed growth rate of structure.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication by Phys. Rev. D. (final
version, some references have corrected). arXiv admin note: substantial text
overlap with arXiv:1106.193
Thermodynamics of Decaying Vacuum Cosmologies
The thermodynamic behavior of vacuum decaying cosmologies is investigated
within a manifestly covariant formulation. Such a process corresponds to a
continuous irreversible energy flow from the vacuum component to the created
matter constituents. It is shown that if the specific entropy per particle
remains constant during the process, the equilibrium relations are preserved.
In particular, if the vacuum decays into photons, the energy density and
average number density of photons scale with the temperature as and . The temperature law is determined and a generalized
Planckian type form of the spectrum, which is preserved in the course of the
evolution, is also proposed. Some consequences of these results for decaying
vacuum FRW type cosmologies as well as for models with ``adiabatic'' photon
creation are discussed.Comment: 21 pages, uses LATE
Interacting dark energy in gravity
The field equations in gravity derived from the Palatini variational
principle and formulated in the Einstein conformal frame yield a cosmological
term which varies with time. Moreover, they break the conservation of the
energy--momentum tensor for matter, generating the interaction between matter
and dark energy. Unlike phenomenological models of interacting dark energy,
gravity derives such an interaction from a covariant Lagrangian which is
a function of a relativistically invariant quantity (the curvature scalar ).
We derive the expressions for the quantities describing this interaction in
terms of an arbitrary function , and examine how the simplest
phenomenological models of a variable cosmological constant are related to
gravity. Particularly, we show that for a flat,
homogeneous and isotropic, pressureless universe. For the Lagrangian of form
, which is the simplest way of introducing current cosmic acceleration
in gravity, the predicted matter--dark energy interaction rate changes
significantly in time, and its current value is relatively weak (on the order
of 1% of ), in agreement with astronomical observations.Comment: 8 pages; published versio
Human cachexia induces changes in mitochondria, autophagy and apoptosis in the skeletal muscle
Cachexia is a wasting syndrome characterized by the continuous loss of skeletal muscle mass due to imbalance between protein synthesis and degradation, which is related with poor prognosis and compromised quality of life. Dysfunctional mitochondria are associated with lower muscle strength and muscle atrophy in cancer patients, yet poorly described in human cachexia. We herein investigated mitochondrial morphology, autophagy and apoptosis in the skeletal muscle of patients with gastrointestinal cancer-associated cachexia (CC), as compared with a weight-stable cancer group (WSC). CC showed prominent weight loss and increased circulating levels of serum C-reactive protein, lower body mass index and decreased circulating hemoglobin, when compared to WSC. Electron microscopy analysis revealed an increase in intermyofibrillar mitochondrial area in CC, as compared to WSC. Relative gene expression of Fission 1, a protein related to mitochondrial fission, was increased in CC, as compared to WSC. LC3 II, autophagy-related (ATG) 5 and 7 essential proteins for autophagosome formation, presented higher content in the cachectic group. Protein levels of phosphorylated p53 (Ser46), activated caspase 8 (Asp384) and 9 (Asp315) were also increased in the skeletal muscle of CC. Overall, our results demonstrate that human cancer-associated cachexia leads to exacerbated muscle-stress response that may culminate in muscle loss, which is in part due to disruption of mitochondrial morphology, dysfunctional autophagy and increased apoptosis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing quantitative morphological alterations in skeletal muscle mitochondria in cachectic patients
Natural history of a visceral leishmaniasis outbreak in highland Ethiopia
In May 2005, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) was recognized for the first time in Libo Kemken, Ethiopia, a highland region where only few cases had been reported before. We analyzed records of VL patients treated from May 25, 2005 to December 13, 2007 by the only VL treatment center in the area, maintained by Médecins Sans Frontières-Ethiopia, Operational Center Barcelona-Athens. The median age was 18 years; 77.6% were male. The overall case fatality rate was 4%, but adults 45 years or older were five times as likely to die as 5-29 year olds. Other factors associated with increased mortality included HIV infection, edema, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and vomiting. The VL epidemic expanded rapidly over a several-year period, culminating in an epidemic peak in the last third of 2005, spread over two districts, and transformed into a sustained endemic situation by 2007
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