240 research outputs found
Slowly decaying classical fields, unitarity, and gauge invariance
In classical external gauge fields that fall off less fast than the inverse
of the evolution parameter (time) of the system the implementability of a
unitary perturbative scattering operator (-matrix) is not guaranteed,
although the field goes to zero. The importance of this point is exposed for
the counter-example of low-dimensionally expanding systems. The issues of gauge
invariance and of the interpretation of the evolution at intermediate times are
also intricately linked to that point.Comment: 8 pages, no figure
A unique Fock quantization for fields in non-stationary spacetimes
In curved spacetimes, the lack of criteria for the construction of a unique
quantization is a fundamental problem undermining the significance of the
predictions of quantum field theory. Inequivalent quantizations lead to
different physics. Recently, however, some uniqueness results have been
obtained for fields in non-stationary settings. In particular, for vacua that
are invariant under the background symmetries, a unitary implementation of the
classical evolution suffices to pick up a unique Fock quantization in the case
of Klein-Gordon fields with time-dependent mass, propagating in a static
spacetime whose spatial sections are three-spheres. In fact, the field equation
can be reinterpreted as describing the propagation in a
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime after a suitable scaling of the field by a
function of time. For this class of fields, we prove here an even stronger
result about the Fock quantization: the uniqueness persists when one allows for
linear time-dependent transformations of the field in order to account for a
scaling by background functions. In total, paying attention to the dynamics,
there exists a preferred choice of quantum field, and only one
-invariant Fock representation for it that respects the standard
probabilistic interpretation along the evolution. The result has relevant
implications e.g. in cosmology.Comment: Typos correcte
South African Mine Effluents: Heavy Metal Pollution and Impact on the Ecosystem
Published ArticleSouth Africa embarks on extensive mining activities, which consequently produce enormous quantities of toxic HMs1 that pollute the surroundings; subjecting the ecosystem to dangers of infections and diseases. Prevalence of HMs in different environmental media and their impact depend on the physical and chemical states of the metal, which tends to persist in their localities because they cannot be biologically or chemically degraded as with organic substances. Mine fugitive dust clouds the environment; in most cases causing irrevocable damage to the biota, with harmful metals usually transferred from water bodies to the food chain via assimilation, bioaccumulation and biomethylation processes
Second-order corrections to mean-field evolution of weakly interacting Bosons, II
We study the evolution of a N-body weakly interacting system of Bosons. Our
work forms an extension of our previous paper I, in which we derived a
second-order correction to a mean-field evolution law for coherent states in
the presence of small interaction potential. Here, we remove the assumption of
smallness of the interaction potential and prove global existence of solutions
to the equation for the second-order correction. This implies an improved
Fock-space estimate for our approximation of the N-body state
Non-perturbative embedding of local defects in crystalline materials
We present a new variational model for computing the electronic first-order
density matrix of a crystalline material in presence of a local defect. A
natural way to obtain variational discretizations of this model is to expand
the difference Q between the density matrix of the defective crystal and the
density matrix of the perfect crystal, in a basis of precomputed maximally
localized Wannier functions of the reference perfect crystal. This approach can
be used within any semi-empirical or Density Functional Theory framework.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Does pulmonary rehabilitation address cardiovascular risk factors in patients with COPD?
Background Patients with COPD have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Whilst pulmonary rehabilitation has proven benefit for exercise tolerance and quality of life, any effect on cardiovascular risk has not been fully investigated. We hypothesised that pulmonary rehabilitation, through the exercise and nutritional intervention, would address these factors. Methods Thirty-two stable patients with COPD commenced rehabilitation, and were compared with 20 age and gender matched controls at baseline assessment. In all subjects, aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) an independent non-invasive predictor of cardiovascular risk, blood pressure (BP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and fasting glucose and lipids were determined. These measures, and the incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) were repeated in the patients who completed pulmonary rehabilitation. Results On commencement of rehabilitation aortic PWV was increased in patients compared with controls (p < 0.05), despite mean BP, age and gender being similar. The IL-6 was also increased (p < 0.05). Twenty-two patients completed study assessments. In these subjects, rehabilitation reduced mean (SD) aortic PWV (9.8 (3.0) to 9.3 (2.7) m/s (p < 0.05)), and systolic and diastolic BP by 10 mmHg and 5 mmHg respectively (p < 0.01). Total cholesterol and ISWT also improved (p < 0.05). On linear regression analysis, the reduction in aortic PWV was attributed to reducing the BP. Conclusion Cardiovascular risk factors including blood pressure and thereby aortic stiffness were improved following a course of standard multidisciplinary pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with COPD
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