134 research outputs found
Chapter 19: Vulnerability of coastal and estuarine habitats in the Great Barrier Reef to climate change
This chapter attempts to address the vulnerability of the CEM in the Great Barrier Reef region to global
climate change. It does not consider individual habitats (eg reefs or seagrasses) but goes beyond
the individual species and habitat assessments, to consider impacts on the whole coastal marine
community complex, and the ecological processes that support its functioning.This is Chapter 19 of Climate change and the Great Barrier Reef: a vulnerability assessment. The entire book can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11017/13
On the thin-shell limit of branes in the presence of Gauss-Bonnet interactions
In this paper we study thick-shell braneworld models in the presence of a
Gauss-Bonnet term. We discuss the peculiarities of the attainment of the
thin-shell limit in this case and compare them with the same situation in
Einstein gravity. We describe the two simplest families of thick-brane models
(parametrized by the shell thickness) one can think of. In the thin-shell
limit, one family is characterized by the constancy of its internal density
profile (a simple structure for the matter sector) and the other by the
constancy of its internal curvature scalar (a simple structure for the
geometric sector). We find that these two families are actually equivalent in
Einstein gravity and that the presence of the Gauss-Bonnet term breaks this
equivalence. In the second case, a shell will always keep some non-trivial
internal structure, either on the matter or on the geometric sectors, even in
the thin-shell limit.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX 4. Revised version accepted for
publication in Physical Review
Generalised Israel Junction Conditions for a Gauss-Bonnet Brane World
In spacetimes of dimension greater than four it is natural to consider higher
order (in R) corrections to the Einstein equations. In this letter generalized
Israel junction conditions for a membrane in such a theory are derived. This is
achieved by generalising the Gibbons-Hawking boundary term. The junction
conditions are applied to simple brane world models, and are compared to the
many contradictory results in the literature.Comment: 4 page
Gravitation with superposed Gauss--Bonnet terms in higher dimensions: Black hole metrics and maximal extensions
Our starting point is an iterative construction suited to combinatorics in
arbitarary dimensions d, of totally anisymmetrised p-Riemann 2p-forms (2p\le d)
generalising the (1-)Riemann curvature 2-forms. Superposition of p-Ricci
scalars obtained from the p-Riemann forms defines the maximally Gauss--Bonnet
extended gravitational Lagrangian. Metrics, spherically symmetric in the (d-1)
space dimensions are constructed for the general case. The problem is directly
reduced to solving polynomial equations. For some black hole type metrics the
horizons are obtained by solving polynomial equations. Corresponding Kruskal
type maximal extensions are obtained explicitly in complete generality, as is
also the periodicity of time for Euclidean signature. We show how to include a
cosmological constant and a point charge. Possible further developments and
applications are indicated.Comment: 13 pages, REVTEX. References and Note Adde
Brane cosmology with curvature corrections
We study the cosmology of the Randall-Sundrum brane-world where the
Einstein-Hilbert action is modified by curvature correction terms: a
four-dimensional scalar curvature from induced gravity on the brane, and a
five-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet curvature term. The combined effect of these
curvature corrections to the action removes the infinite-density big bang
singularity, although the curvature can still diverge for some parameter
values. A radiation brane undergoes accelerated expansion near the minimal
scale factor, for a range of parameters. This acceleration is driven by the
geometric effects, without an inflaton field or negative pressures. At late
times, conventional cosmology is recovered.Comment: RevTex4, 8 pages, no figures, minor change
Scalar brane backgrounds in higher order curvature gravity
We investigate maximally symmetric brane world solutions with a scalar field.
Five-dimensional bulk gravity is described by a general lagrangian which yields
field equations containing no higher than second order derivatives. This
includes the Gauss-Bonnet combination for the graviton. Stability and
gravitational properties of such solutions are considered, and we particularily
emphasise the modifications induced by the higher order terms. In particular it
is shown that higher curvature corrections to Einstein theory can give rise to
instabilities in brane world solutions. A method for analytically obtaining the
general solution for such actions is outlined. Genericaly, the requirement of a
finite volume element together with the absence of a naked singularity in the
bulk imposes fine-tuning of the brane tension. A model with a moduli scalar
field is analysed in detail and we address questions of instability and
non-singular self-tuning solutions. In particular, we discuss a case with a
normalisable zero mode but infinite volume element.Comment: published versio
Six-dimensional Abelian vortices with quadratic curvature self-interactions
Six-dimensional Nielsen-Olesen vortices are analyzed in the context of a
quadratic gravity theory containing Euler-Gauss-Bonnet self-interactions. The
relations among the string tensions can be tuned in such a way that the
obtained solutions lead to warped compactification on the vortex. New regular
solutions are possible in comparison with the case where the gravity action
only consists of the Einstein-Hilbert term. The parameter space of the model is
discussedComment: 28 pages in Latex style with 11 figure
Transiting Exoplanets with JWST
The era of exoplanet characterization is upon us. For a subset of exoplanets
-- the transiting planets -- physical properties can be measured, including
mass, radius, and atmosphere characteristics. Indeed, measuring the atmospheres
of a further subset of transiting planets, the hot Jupiters, is now routine
with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will
continue Spitzer's legacy with its large mirror size and precise thermal
stability. JWST is poised for the significant achievement of identifying
habitable planets around bright M through G stars--rocky planets lacking
extensive gas envelopes, with water vapor and signs of chemical disequilibrium
in their atmospheres. Favorable transiting planet systems, are, however,
anticipated to be rare and their atmosphere observations will require tens to
hundreds of hours of JWST time per planet. We review what is known about the
physical characteristics of transiting planets, summarize lessons learned from
Spitzer high-contrast exoplanet measurements, and give several examples of
potential JWST observations.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures. In press in "Astrophysics in the Next Decade:
JWST and Concurrent Facilities, Astrophysics & Space Science Library,
Thronson, H. A., Tielens, A., Stiavelli, M., eds., Springer: Dordrecht
(2008)." The original publication will be available at
http://www.springerlink.co
Variations on the Seventh Route to Relativity
As motivated in the full abstract, this paper further investigates Barbour,
Foster and O Murchadha (BFO)'s 3-space formulation of GR. This is based on
best-matched lapse-eliminated actions and gives rise to several theories
including GR and a conformal gravity theory. We study the simplicity postulates
assumed in BFO's work and how to weaken them, so as to permit the inclusion of
the full set of matter fields known to occur in nature.
We study the configuration spaces of gravity-matter systems upon which BFO's
formulation leans. In further developments the lapse-eliminated actions used by
BFO become impractical and require generalization. We circumvent many of these
problems by the equivalent use of lapse-uneliminated actions, which furthermore
permit us to interpret BFO's formulation within Kuchar's generally covariant
hypersurface framework. This viewpoint provides alternative reasons to BFO's as
to why the inclusion of bosonic fields in the 3-space approach gives rise to
minimally-coupled scalar fields, electromagnetism and Yang--Mills theory. This
viewpoint also permits us to quickly exhibit further GR-matter theories
admitted by the 3-space formulation. In particular, we show that the spin-1/2
fermions of the theories of Dirac, Maxwell--Dirac and Yang--Mills--Dirac, all
coupled to GR, are admitted by the generalized 3-space formulation we present.
Thus all the known fundamental matter fields can be accommodated. This
corresponds to being able to pick actions for all these theories which have
less kinematics than suggested by the generally covariant hypersurface
framework. For all these theories, Wheeler's thin sandwich conjecture may be
posed, rendering them timeless in Barbour's sense.Comment: Revtex version; Journal-ref adde
Cosmological equations and Thermodynamics on Apparent Horizon in Thick Braneworld
We derive the generalized Friedmann equation governing the cosmological
evolution inside the thick brane model in the presence of two curvature
correction terms: a four-dimensional scalar curvature from induced gravity on
the brane, and a five-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet curvature term. We find two
effective four-dimensional reductions of the Friedmann equation in some limits
and demonstrate that they can be rewritten as the first law of thermodynamics
on the apparent horizon of thick braneworld.Comment: 25 pages, no figure, a definition corrected, several references
added, more motivation and discussio
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