18,178 research outputs found
Classical String in Curved Backgrounds
The Mathisson-Papapetrou method is originally used for derivation of the
particle world line equation from the covariant conservation of its
stress-energy tensor. We generalize this method to extended objects, such as a
string. Without specifying the type of matter the string is made of, we obtain
both the equations of motion and boundary conditions of the string. The world
sheet equations turn out to be more general than the familiar minimal surface
equations. In particular, they depend on the internal structure of the string.
The relevant cases are classified by examining canonical forms of the effective
2-dimensional stress-energy tensor. The case of homogeneously distributed
matter with the tension that equals its mass density is shown to define the
familiar Nambu-Goto dynamics. The other three cases include physically relevant
massive and massless strings, and unphysical tahyonic strings.Comment: 12 pages, REVTeX 4. Added a note and one referenc
Spinning branes in Riemann-Cartan spacetime
We use the conservation law of the stress-energy and spin tensors to study
the motion of massive brane-like objects in Riemann-Cartan geometry. The
world-sheet equations and boundary conditions are obtained in a manifestly
covariant form. In the particle case, the resultant world-line equations turn
out to exhibit a novel spin-curvature coupling. In particular, the spin of a
zero-size particle does not couple to the background curvature. In the string
case, the world-sheet dynamics is studied for some special choices of spin and
torsion. As a result, the known coupling to the Kalb-Ramond antisymmetric
external field is obtained. Geometrically, the Kalb-Ramond field has been
recognized as a part of the torsion itself, rather than the torsion potential
Self-forces on extended bodies in electrodynamics
In this paper, we study the bulk motion of a classical extended charge in
flat spacetime. A formalism developed by W. G. Dixon is used to determine how
the details of such a particle's internal structure influence its equations of
motion. We place essentially no restrictions (other than boundedness) on the
shape of the charge, and allow for inhomogeneity, internal currents,
elasticity, and spin. Even if the angular momentum remains small, many such
systems are found to be affected by large self-interaction effects beyond the
standard Lorentz-Dirac force. These are particularly significant if the
particle's charge density fails to be much greater than its 3-current density
(or vice versa) in the center-of-mass frame. Additional terms also arise in the
equations of motion if the dipole moment is too large, and when the
`center-of-electromagnetic mass' is far from the `center-of-bare mass' (roughly
speaking). These conditions are often quite restrictive. General equations of
motion were also derived under the assumption that the particle can only
interact with the radiative component of its self-field. These are much simpler
than the equations derived using the full retarded self-field; as are the
conditions required to recover the Lorentz-Dirac equation.Comment: 30 pages; significantly improved presentation; accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev.
Swimming in curved space or The Baron and the cat
We study the swimming of non-relativistic deformable bodies in (empty) static
curved spaces. We focus on the case where the ambient geometry allows for rigid
body motions. In this case the swimming equations turn out to be geometric. For
a small swimmer, the swimming distance in one stroke is determined by the
Riemann curvature times certain moments of the swimmer.Comment: 19 pages 6 figure
Spinning test particles and clock effect in Schwarzschild spacetime
We study the behaviour of spinning test particles in the Schwarzschild
spacetime. Using Mathisson-Papapetrou equations of motion we confine our
attention to spatially circular orbits and search for observable effects which
could eventually discriminate among the standard supplementary conditions
namely the Corinaldesi-Papapetrou, Pirani and Tulczyjew. We find that if the
world line chosen for the multipole reduction and whose unit tangent we denote
as is a circular orbit then also the generalized momentum of the
spinning test particle is tangent to a circular orbit even though and
are not parallel four-vectors. These orbits are shown to exist because the spin
induced tidal forces provide the required acceleration no matter what
supplementary condition we select. Of course, in the limit of a small spin the
particle's orbit is close of being a circular geodesic and the (small)
deviation of the angular velocities from the geodesic values can be of an
arbitrary sign, corresponding to the possible spin-up and spin-down alignment
to the z-axis. When two spinning particles orbit around a gravitating source in
opposite directions, they make one loop with respect to a given static observer
with different arrival times. This difference is termed clock effect. We find
that a nonzero gravitomagnetic clock effect appears for oppositely orbiting
both spin-up or spin-down particles even in the Schwarzschild spacetime. This
allows us to establish a formal analogy with the case of (spin-less) geodesics
on the equatorial plane of the Kerr spacetime. This result can be verified
experimentally.Comment: IOP macros, eps figures n. 2, to appear on Classical and Quantum
gravity, 200
On Lorentz invariance and supersymmetry of four particle scattering amplitudes in orbifold sigma model
The supersymmetric orbifold sigma model is expected to describe the
IR limit of the Matrix string theory. In the framework of the model the type
IIA string interaction is governed by a vertex which was recently proposed by
R.Dijkgraaf, E.Verlinde and H.Verlinde. By using this interaction vertex we
derive all four particle scattering amplitudes directly from the orbifold model
in the large limit.Comment: Latex, 23 page
The Dynamics of a Classical Spinning Particle in Vaidya Space-Time
Based on the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon (MPD) equations and the Vaidya
metric, the motion of a spinning point particle orbiting a non-rotating star
while undergoing radiation-induced gravitational collapse is studied in detail.
A comprehensive analysis of the orbital dynamics is performed assuming distinct
central mass functions which satisfy the weak energy condition, in order to
determine a correspondence between the choice of mass function and the spinning
particle's orbital response, as reflected in the gravitational waves emitted by
the particle. The analysis presented here is likely most beneficial for the
observation of rotating solar mass black holes or neutron stars in orbit around
intermediate-sized Schwarzschild black holes undergoing radiation collapse. The
possibility of detecting the effects of realistic mass accretion based on this
approach is considered. While it seems unlikely to observe such effects based
on present technology, they may perhaps become observable with the advent of
future detectors.Comment: REVTeX file, 20 pages, 26 figure
Iteration of Planar Amplitudes in Maximally Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory at Three Loops and Beyond
We compute the leading-color (planar) three-loop four-point amplitude of N=4
supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in 4 - 2 epsilon dimensions, as a Laurent
expansion about epsilon = 0 including the finite terms. The amplitude was
constructed previously via the unitarity method, in terms of two Feynman loop
integrals, one of which has been evaluated already. Here we use the
Mellin-Barnes integration technique to evaluate the Laurent expansion of the
second integral. Strikingly, the amplitude is expressible, through the finite
terms, in terms of the corresponding one- and two-loop amplitudes, which
provides strong evidence for a previous conjecture that higher-loop planar N =
4 amplitudes have an iterative structure. The infrared singularities of the
amplitude agree with the predictions of Sterman and Tejeda-Yeomans based on
resummation. Based on the four-point result and the exponentiation of infrared
singularities, we give an exponentiated ansatz for the maximally
helicity-violating n-point amplitudes to all loop orders. The 1/epsilon^2 pole
in the four-point amplitude determines the soft, or cusp, anomalous dimension
at three loops in N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. The result confirms a
prediction by Kotikov, Lipatov, Onishchenko and Velizhanin, which utilizes the
leading-twist anomalous dimensions in QCD computed by Moch, Vermaseren and
Vogt. Following similar logic, we are able to predict a term in the three-loop
quark and gluon form factors in QCD.Comment: 54 pages, 7 figures. v2: Added references, a few additional words
about large spin limit of anomalous dimensions. v3: Expanded Sect. IV.A on
multiloop ansatz; remark that form-factor prediction is now confirmed by
other work; minor typos correcte
Innermost Stable Circular Orbit of a Spinning Particle in Kerr Spacetime
We study stability of a circular orbit of a spinning test particle in a Kerr
spacetime. We find that some of the circular orbits become unstable in the
direction perpendicular to the equatorial plane, although the orbits are still
stable in the radial direction. Then for the large spin case ($S < \sim O(1)),
the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) appears before the minimum of the
effective potential in the equatorial plane disappears. This changes the radius
of ISCO and then the frequency of the last circular orbit.Comment: 25 pages including 8 figure
Evidence for Cosmic Acceleration is Robust to Observed Correlations Between Type Ia Supernova Luminosity and Stellar Age
Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) are powerful standardizable candles for
constraining cosmological models and provided the first evidence of the
accelerated expansion of the universe. Their precision derives from empirical
correlations, now measured from SNe Ia, between their luminosities,
light-curve shapes, colors and most recently with the stellar mass of their
host galaxy. As mass correlates with other galaxy properties, alternative
parameters have been investigated to improve SN Ia standardization though none
have been shown to significantly alter the determination of cosmological
parameters. We re-examine a recent claim, based on 34 SN Ia in nearby passive
host galaxies, of a 0.05 mag/Gyr dependence of standardized SN Ia luminosity on
host age which if extrapolated to higher redshifts, would be a bias up to 0.25
mag, challenging the inference of dark energy. We reanalyze this sample of
hosts using both the original method and a Bayesian hierarchical model and find
after a fuller accounting of the uncertainties the significance of a dependence
on age to be and after the removal of a single
poorly-sampled SN Ia. To test the claim that a trend seen in old stellar
populations can be applied to younger ages, we extend our analysis to a larger
sample which includes young hosts. We find the residual dependence of host age
(after all standardization typically employed for cosmological measurements) to
be consistent with zero for 254 SNe Ia from the Pantheon sample, ruling out the
large but low significance trend seen in passive hosts.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ
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