On the ergoregion instability in rotating gravastars

The ergoregion instability is known to affect very compact objects that rotate very rapidly and do not possess a horizon. We present here a detailed analysis on the relevance of the ergoregion instability for the viability of gravastars. Expanding on some recent results, we show that not all rotating gravastars are unstable. Rather, stable models can be constructed also with J/M^2 ~ 1, where J and M are the angular momentum and mass of the gravastar, respectively. The genesis of gravastars is still highly speculative and fundamentally unclear if not dubious. Yet, their existence cannot be ruled out by invoking the ergoregion instability. For the same reason, not all ultra-compact astrophysical objects rotating with J/M^2 <~ 1 are to be considered necessarily black holes.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Identifying the starting point of a spreading process in complex networks

When dealing with the dissemination of epidemics, one important question that can be asked is the location where the contamination began. In this paper, we analyze three spreading schemes and propose and validate an effective methodology for the identification of the source nodes. The method is based on the calculation of the centrality of the nodes on the sampled network, expressed here by degree, betweenness, closeness and eigenvector centrality. We show that the source node tends to have the highest measurement values. The potential of the methodology is illustrated with respect to three theoretical complex network models as well as a real-world network, the email network of the University Rovira i Virgili

D-meson diffusion in hadronic matter

We present effective-field-theory results with unitarized interactions on the D-meson transport coefficients in a gas populated by light mesons and baryons at finite temperature and baryochemical potential. The Fokker-Planck equation is used to compute the drag force, the relaxation time and the diffusion coefficients of D mesons for collisions at FAIR. At finite baryochemical potential, the combined effect of net baryonic density and sizable meson-baryon interaction makes the D mesons to relax more efficiently than in the case at zero baryochemical potential. We also describe the connection with the quark-gluon plasma phase in adiabatic trajectories on the phase diagram at both zero and finite baryochemical potential.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Contribution to the FAIRNESS 2013 - Workshop for young scientists with research interests focused on FAIR physics. 15-21 September 2013, Berlin (Germany

Preferential attachment growth model and nonextensive statistical mechanics

We introduce a two-dimensional growth model where every new site is located, at a distance $r$ from the barycenter of the pre-existing graph, according to the probability law $1/r^{2+\alpha_G} (\alpha_G \ge 0)$, and is attached to (only) one pre-existing site with a probability $\propto k_i/r^{\alpha_A}_i (\alpha_A \ge 0$; $k_i$ is the number of links of the $i^{th}$ site of the pre-existing graph, and $r_i$ its distance to the new site). Then we numerically determine that the probability distribution for a site to have $k$ links is asymptotically given, for all values of $\alpha_G$, by $P(k) \propto e_q^{-k/\kappa}$, where $e_q^x \equiv [1+(1-q)x]^{1/(1-q)}$ is the function naturally emerging within nonextensive statistical mechanics. The entropic index is numerically given (at least for $\alpha_A$ not too large) by $q = 1+(1/3) e^{-0.526 \alpha_A}$, and the characteristic number of links by $\kappa \simeq 0.1+0.08 \alpha_A$. The $\alpha_A=0$ particular case belongs to the same universality class to which the Barabasi-Albert model belongs. In addition to this, we have numerically studied the rate at which the average number of links $$ increases with the scaled time $t/i$; asymptotically, $\propto (t/i)^\beta$, the exponent being close to $\beta={1/2}(1-\alpha_A)$ for $0 \le \alpha_A \le 1$, and zero otherwise. The present results reinforce the conjecture that the microscopic dynamics of nonextensive systems typically build (for instance, in Gibbs $\Gamma$-space for Hamiltonian systems) a scale-free network.Comment: 5 pages including 5 figures (the original colored figures 1 and 5a can be asked directly to the authors

Black-hole horizons as probes of black-hole dynamics I: post-merger recoil in head-on collisions

The understanding of strong-field dynamics near black-hole horizons is a long-standing and challenging prob- lem in general relativity. Recent advances in numerical relativity and in the geometric characterization of black- hole horizons open new avenues into the problem. In this first paper in a series of two, we focus on the analysis of the recoil occurring in the merger of binary black holes, extending the analysis initiated in [1] with Robinson- Trautman spacetimes. More specifically, we probe spacetime dynamics through the correlation of quantities defined at the black-hole horizon and at null infinity. The geometry of these hypersurfaces responds to bulk gravitational fields acting as test screens in a scattering perspective of spacetime dynamics. Within a 3 + 1 approach we build an effective-curvature vector from the intrinsic geometry of dynamical-horizon sections and correlate its evolution with the flux of Bondi linear momentum at large distances. We employ this setup to study numerically the head-on collision of nonspinning black holes and demonstrate its validity to track the qualita- tive aspects of recoil dynamics at infinity. We also make contact with the suggestion that the antikick can be described in terms of a "slowness parameter" and how this can be computed from the local properties of the horizon. In a companion paper [2] we will further elaborate on the geometric aspects of this approach and on its relation with other approaches to characterize dynamical properties of black-hole horizons.Comment: final version published on PR

Heating triangle singularities in heavy ion collisions

We predict that triangle singularities of hadron spectroscopy are strongly affected in heavy ion collisions. To do it we examine various effects of finite temperature on the triangle loop yielding the singularity within the hadron phase. Pion-containing triangles can be enhanced by exchanging them with the medium, but in other cases, especially with heavy-quark hadrons, known thermal effects over the particles mass and width can quickly reduce the singularity: at temperatures of about 150 MeV, below the transition to a quark-gluon plasma, even by two orders of magnitude. It appears that peaks seen in central heavy ion collisions are more likely to be hadrons than rescattering effects unless perhaps if a pion is involved in the triangle. The medium then acts as a spectroscopic filter.Comment: 5 pages, 7 plot