Statistical-likelihood Exo-Planetary Habitability Index (SEPHI)

A new Statistical-likelihood Exo-Planetary Habitability Index (SEPHI) is presented. It has been developed to cover the current and future features required for a classification scheme disentangling whether any discovered exoplanet is potentially habitable compared with life on Earth. The SEPHI uses likelihood functions to estimate the habitability potential. It is defined as the geometric mean of four sub-indexes related with four comparison criteria: Is the planet telluric?; Does it have an atmosphere dense enough and a gravity compatible with life?; Does it have liquid water on its surface?; Does it have a magnetic field shielding its surface from harmful radiation and stellar winds?. Only with seven physical characteristics, can the SEPHI be estimated: Planetary mass, radius, and orbital period; stellar mass, radius, and effective temperature; planetary system age. We have applied the SEPHI to all the planets in the Exoplanet Encyclopaedia using a Monte Carlo Method. Kepler-1229 b, Kepler-186 f, and Kepler-442 b have the largest SEPHI values assuming certain physical descriptions. Kepler-1229 b is the most unexpected planet in this privileged position since no previous study pointed to this planet as a potentially interesting and habitable one. In addition, most of the tidally locked Earth-like planets present a weak magnetic field, incompatible with habitability potential. We must stress that our results are linked to the physics used in this study. Any change in the physics used only implies an updating of the likelihood functions. We have developed a web application allowing the on-line estimation of the SEPHI: http://sephi.azurewebsites.net/Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Lagrangian Formalism for Multiform Fields on Minkowski Spacetime

We present an introduction to the mathematical theory of the Lagrangian formalism for multiform fields on Minkowski spacetime based on the multiform and extensor calculus. Our formulation gives a unified mathematical description for the main relativistic field theories including the gravitational field (which however will be discussed in a separate paper). We worked out several examples (including tricks of the trade), from simple to very sophisticated ones (like, e.g., the Dirac-Hestenes field on the more general gravitational background) which show the power and beauty of the formalism

Metric Clifford Algebra

In this paper we introduce the concept of metric Clifford algebra $\mathcal{C\ell}(V,g)$ for a $n$-dimensional real vector space $V$ endowed with a metric extensor $g$ whose signature is $(p,q)$, with $p+q=n$. The metric Clifford product on $\mathcal{C\ell}(V,g)$ appears as a well-defined \emph{deformation}(induced by $g$) of an euclidean Clifford product on $\mathcal{C\ell}(V)$. Associated with the metric extensor $g,$ there is a gauge metric extensor $h$ which codifies all the geometric information just contained in $g.$ The precise form of such $h$ is here determined. Moreover, we present and give a proof of the so-called \emph{golden formula,} which is important in many applications that naturally appear in ours studies of multivector functions, and differential geometry and theoretical physics

Semi-empirical seismic relations of A-F stars from CoRoT and Kepler legacy data

Asteroseismology is witnessing a revolution thanks to high-precise asteroseismic space data (MOST, CoRoT, Kepler, BRITE), and their large ground-based follow-up programs. Those instruments have provided an unprecedented large amount of information, which allows us to scrutinize its statistical properties in the quest for hidden relations among pulsational and/or physical observables. This approach might be particularly useful for stars whose pulsation content is difficult to interpret. This is the case of intermediate-mass classical pulsating stars (i.e. gamma Dor, delta Scuti, hybrids) for which current theories do not properly predict the observed oscillation spectra. Here we establish a first step in finding such hidden relations from Data Mining techniques for these stars. We searched for those hidden relations in a sample of delta Scuti and hybrid stars observed by CoRoT and Kepler (74 and 153, respectively). No significant correlations between pairs of observables were found. However, two statistically significant correlations emerged from multivariable correlations in the observed seismic data, which describe the total number of observed frequencies and the largest one, respectively. Moreover, three different sets of stars were found to cluster according to their frequency density distribution. Such sets are in apparent agreement with the asteroseismic properties commonly accepted for A-F pulsating stars.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Metric and Gauge Extensors

In this paper, the second in a series of eight we continue our development of the basic tools of the multivector and extensor calculus which are used in our formulation of the differential geometry of smooth manifolds of arbitrary topology . We introduce metric and gauge extensors, pseudo-orthogonal metric extensors, gauge bases, tetrad bases and prove the remarkable golden formula, which permit us to view any Clifford algebra Cl(V,G) as a deformation of the euclidean Clifford algebra Cl(V,G_{E}) discussed in the first paper of the series and to easily perform calculations in Cl(V,G) using Cl(V,G_{E}).Comment: revised versio

Geometric Algebras

This is the first paper in a series of eight where in the first three we develop a systematic approach to the geometric algebras of multivectors and extensors, followed by five papers where those algebraic concepts are used in a novel presentation of several topics of the differential geometry of (smooth) manifolds of arbitrary global topology. A key tool for the development of our program is the mastering of the euclidean geometrical algebra of multivectors that is detailed in the present paper

Covariant Derivatives of Mutivector and Extensor Fields

We give in this paper which is the fifth in a series of eight a theory of covariant derivatives of multivector and extensor fields based on the geometric calculus of an arbitrary smooth manifold M, and the notion of a connection extensor field defining a parallelism structure on M. Also we give a novel and intrinsic presentation (i.e., one that does not depend on a chosen orthonormal moving frame) of the torsion and curvature fields of Cartan's theory. Two kinds of Cartan's connection fields are identified, and both appear in the intrinsic Cartan's structure equations satisfied by the Cartan's torsion and curvature extensor fields.Comment: revised versio

Metric Compatible Covariant Derivatives

This paper, sixth in a series of eight, uses the geometric calculus on manifolds developed in previous papers of the series to introduce through the concept of a metric extensor field g a metric structure for a smooth manifold M. The associated Christoffel operators, a notable decomposition of that object and the associated Levi-Civita connection field are given. The paper introduces also the concept of a geometrical structure for a manifold M as a triple (M,g,gamma), where gamma is a connection extensor field defining a parallelism structure for M . Next, the theory of metric compatible covariant derivatives is given and a relationship between the connection extensor fields and covariant derivatives of two deformed (metric compatible) geometrical structures (M,g,gamma) and (M,eta,gamma') is determined

Metric Tensor Vs. Metric Extensor

In this paper we give a comparison between the formulation of the concept of metric for a real vector space of finite dimension in terms of \emph{tensors} and \emph{extensors}. A nice property of metric extensors is that they have inverses which are also themselves metric extensors. This property is not shared by metric tensors because tensors do \emph{not} have inverses. We relate the definition of determinant of a metric extensor with the classical determinant of the corresponding matrix associated to the metric tensor in a given vector basis. Previous identifications of these concepts are equivocated. The use of metric extensor permits sophisticated calculations without the introduction of matrix representations

Multivector and Extensor Fields on Smooth Manifolds

The objective of the present paper (the second in a series of four) is to give a theory of multivector and extensor fields on a smooth manifold M of arbitrary topology based on the powerful geometric algebra of multivectors and extensors. Our approach does not suffer the problems of earlier attempts which are restricted to vector manifolds. It is based on the existence of canonical algebraic structures over the so-called canonical space associated to a local chart (U_{o},phi_{o}) of the maximal atlas of M. The key concepts of a-directional ordinary derivatives of multivector and extensor fields are defined and their properties studied. Also, we introduce the Lie algebra of smooth vector fields and the Hestenes derivatives whose properties are studied in details.Comment: revised versio