168 research outputs found
A relativistic positioning system exploiting pulsating sources for navigation across the Solar System and beyond
We introduce an operational approach to the use of pulsating sources, located at spatial infinity, for defining a relativistic positioning and navigation system, based on the use of null four-vectors in a flatMinkowskian spacetime. We describe our approach and discuss the validity of it and of the other approximations we have considered in actual physical situations. As a prototypical case, we show how pulsars can be used to define such a positioning system: the reception of the pulses for a set of different sources whose positions in the sky and periods are assumed to be known allows the
determination of the user’s coordinates and spacetime trajectory, in the reference frame where the sources are at rest. In order to confirm the viability of the method, we
consider an application example reconstructing the world-line of an idealized Earth in the reference frame of distant pulsars: in particular we have simulated the arrival times
of the signals fromfour pulsars at the location of the Parkes radiotelescope in Australia.
After pointing out the simplifications we have made, we discuss the accuracy of the method. Eventually, we suggest that the method could actually be used for navigation
across the Solar System and be based on artificial sources, rather than pulsars
Gravitomagnetic time-varying effects on the motion of a test particle
We study the effects of a time-varying gravitomagnetic field on the motion of
test particles. Starting from recent results, we consider the gravitomagnetic
field of a source whose spin angular momentum has a linearly time-varying
magnitude. The acceleration due to such a time-varying gravitomagnetic field is
considered as a perturbation of the Newtonian motion, and we explicitly
evaluate the effects of this perturbation on the Keplerian elements of a closed
orbit. The theoretical predictions are compared with actual astronomical and
astrophysical scenarios, both in the solar system and in binary pulsars
systems, in order to evaluate the impact of these effects on real systems.Comment: 8 pages, RevTeX; revised to match the version accepted for
publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio
The Sagnac Effect in curved space-times from an analogy with the Aharonov-Bohm Effect
In the context of the natural splitting, the standard relative dynamics can
be expressed in terms of gravito-electromagnetic fields, which allow to
formally introduce a gravito-magnetic Aharonov-Bohm effect. We showed elsewhere
that this formal analogy can be used to derive the Sagnac effect in flat
space-time as a gravito-magnetic Aharonov-Bohm effect. Here, we generalize
those results to study the General Relativistic corrections to the Sagnac
effect in some stationary and axially symmetric geometries, such as the
space-time around a weakly gravitating and rotating source, Kerr space-time,
G\"{odel} universe and Schwarzschild space-time.Comment: 14 pages, 1 EPS figure, LaTeX, accepted for publication in General
Relativity and Gravitatio
Will the recently approved LARES mission be able to measure the Lense-Thirring effect at 1%?
After the approval by the Italian Space Agency of the LARES satellite, which
should be launched at the end of 2009 with a VEGA rocket and whose claimed goal
is a about 1% measurement of the general relativistic gravitomagnetic
Lense-Thirring effect in the gravitational field of the spinning Earth, it is
of the utmost importance to reliably assess the total realistic accuracy that
can be reached by such a mission. The observable is a linear combination of the
nodes of the existing LAGEOS and LAGEOS II satellites and of LARES able to
cancel out the impact of the first two even zonal harmonic coefficients of the
multipolar expansion of the classical part of the terrestrial gravitational
potential representing a major source of systematic error. While LAGEOS and
LAGEOS II fly at altitudes of about 6000 km, LARES will be placed at an
altitude of 1450 km. Thus, it will be sensitive to much more even zonals than
LAGEOS and LAGEOS II. Their corrupting impact \delta\mu has been evaluated by
using the standard Kaula's approach up to degree L=70 along with the sigmas of
the covariance matrices of eight different global gravity solutions
(EIGEN-GRACE02S, EIGEN-CG03C, GGM02S, GGM03S, JEM01-RL03B, ITG-Grace02s,
ITG-Grace03, EGM2008) obtained by five institutions (GFZ, CSR, JPL, IGG, NGA)
with different techniques from long data sets of the dedicated GRACE mission.
It turns out \delta\mu about 100-1000% of the Lense-Thirring effect. An
improvement of 2-3 orders of magnitude in the determination of the high degree
even zonals would be required to constrain the bias to about 1-10%.Comment: Latex, 15 pages, 1 table, no figures. Final version matching the
published one in General Relativity and Gravitation (GRG
Non-Relativistic Limit of Dirac Equations in Gravitational Field and Quantum Effects of Gravity
Based on unified theory of electromagnetic interactions and gravitational
interactions, the non-relativistic limit of the equation of motion of a charged
Dirac particle in gravitational field is studied. From the Schrodinger equation
obtained from this non-relativistic limit, we could see that the classical
Newtonian gravitational potential appears as a part of the potential in the
Schrodinger equation, which can explain the gravitational phase effects found
in COW experiments. And because of this Newtonian gravitational potential, a
quantum particle in earth's gravitational field may form a gravitationally
bound quantized state, which had already been detected in experiments. Three
different kinds of phase effects related to gravitational interactions are
discussed in this paper, and these phase effects should be observable in some
astrophysical processes. Besides, there exists direct coupling between
gravitomagnetic field and quantum spin, radiation caused by this coupling can
be used to directly determine the gravitomagnetic field on the surface of a
star.Comment: 12 pages, no figur
Measurement of lipocalin-2 and syndecan-4 levels to differentiate bacterial from viral infection in children with community-acquired pneumonia
BACKGROUND:
In this study, we evaluated the lipocalin-2 (LIP2) and syndecan-4 (SYN4) levels in children who were hospitalized for radiologically confirmed CAP in order to differentiate bacterial from viral infection. The results regarding the LIP2 and SYN4 diagnostic outcomes were compared with the white blood cell (WBC) count and C reactive protein (CRP) levels.
METHODS:
A total of 110 children <14 years old who were hospitalized for radiologically confirmed CAP were enrolled. Serum samples were obtained upon admission and on day 5 to measure the levels of LIP2, SYN4, and CRP as well as the WBC. Polymerase chain reaction of the respiratory secretions and tests on blood samples were performed to detect respiratory viruses, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae.
RESULTS:
CAP was considered to be due to a probable bacterial infection in 74 children (67.3 %) and due to a probable viral infection in 16 children (14.5 %). Overall, 84 children (76.4 %) were diagnosed with severe CAP. The mean values of the WBC count and the LIP2 and SYN4 levels did not differ among the probable bacterial, probable viral, and undetermined cases. However, the CRP serum concentrations were significantly higher in children with probable bacterial CAP than in those with probable viral disease (32.2\u2009\ub1\u200955.5 mg/L vs 9.4\u2009\ub1\u200917.0 mg/L, p\u2009<\u20090.05). The WBC count was the best predictor of severe CAP, but the differences among the studied variables were marginal. The WBC count was significantly lower on day 5 in children with probable bacterial CAP (p\u2009<\u20090.01) and in those with an undetermined etiology (p\u2009<\u20090.01). The CRP and LIP2 levels were significantly lower 5 days after enrollment in all of the studied groups, independent of the supposed etiology of CAP (p\u2009<\u20090.01 for all comparisons). No statistically significant variation was observed for SYN4.
CONCLUSIONS:
Measuring the LIP2 and SYN4 levels does not appear to solve the problem of the poor reliability of routine laboratory tests in defining the etiology and severity of pediatric CAP. Currently, the CRP levels and WBC, when combined with evaluation of clinical data, can be used to limit the overuse of antibiotics as much as possible and to provide the best treatment to the patient
Thermodynamics in gravity in the Palatini formalism
We investigate thermodynamics of the apparent horizon in gravity in
the Palatini formalism with non-equilibrium and equilibrium descriptions. We
demonstrate that it is more transparent to understand the horizon entropy in
the equilibrium framework than that in the non-equilibrium one. Furthermore, we
show that the second law of thermodynamics can be explicitly verified in both
phantom and non-phantom phases for the same temperature of the universe outside
and inside the apparent horizon.Comment: 20 pages, no figure, accepted in JCA
An assessment of Evans' unified field theory I
Evans developed a classical unified field theory of gravitation and
electromagnetism on the background of a spacetime obeying a Riemann-Cartan
geometry. This geometry can be characterized by an orthonormal coframe theta
and a (metric compatible) Lorentz connection Gamma. These two potentials yield
the field strengths torsion T and curvature R. Evans tried to infuse
electromagnetic properties into this geometrical framework by putting the
coframe theta to be proportional to four extended electromagnetic potentials A;
these are assumed to encompass the conventional Maxwellian potential in a
suitable limit. The viable Einstein-Cartan(-Sciama-Kibble) theory of gravity
was adopted by Evans to describe the gravitational sector of his theory.
Including also the results of an accompanying paper by Obukhov and the author,
we show that Evans' ansatz for electromagnetism is untenable beyond repair both
from a geometrical as well as from a physical point of view. As a consequence,
his unified theory is obsolete.Comment: 39 pages of latex, modified because of referee report, mistakes and
typos removed, partly reformulated, taken care of M.W.Evans' rebutta
The relativistic Sagnac Effect: two derivations
The phase shift due to the Sagnac Effect, for relativistic matter and
electromagnetic beams, counter-propagating in a rotating interferometer, is
deduced using two different approaches. From one hand, we show that the
relativistic law of velocity addition leads to the well known Sagnac time
difference, which is the same independently of the physical nature of the
interfering beams, evidencing in this way the universality of the effect.
Another derivation is based on a formal analogy with the phase shift induced by
the magnetic potential for charged particles travelling in a region where a
constant vector potential is present: this is the so called Aharonov-Bohm
effect. Both derivations are carried out in a fully relativistic context, using
a suitable 1+3 splitting that allows us to recognize and define the space where
electromagnetic and matter waves propagate: this is an extended 3-space, which
we call "relative space". It is recognized as the only space having an actual
physical meaning from an operational point of view, and it is identified as the
'physical space of the rotating platform': the geometry of this space turns out
to be non Euclidean, according to Einstein's early intuition.Comment: 49 pages, LaTeX, 3 EPS figures. Revised (final) version, minor
corrections; to appear in "Relativity in Rotating Frames", ed. G. Rizzi and
M.L. Ruggiero, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, (2003). See also
http://digilander.libero.it/solciclo
Cartan's spiral staircase in physics and, in particular, in the gauge theory of dislocations
In 1922, Cartan introduced in differential geometry, besides the Riemannian
curvature, the new concept of torsion. He visualized a homogeneous and
isotropic distribution of torsion in three dimensions (3d) by the "helical
staircase", which he constructed by starting from a 3d Euclidean space and by
defining a new connection via helical motions. We describe this geometric
procedure in detail and define the corresponding connection and the torsion.
The interdisciplinary nature of this subject is already evident from Cartan's
discussion, since he argued - but never proved - that the helical staircase
should correspond to a continuum with constant pressure and constant internal
torque. We discuss where in physics the helical staircase is realized: (i) In
the continuum mechanics of Cosserat media, (ii) in (fairly speculative) 3d
theories of gravity, namely a) in 3d Einstein-Cartan gravity - this is Cartan's
case of constant pressure and constant intrinsic torque - and b) in 3d Poincare
gauge theory with the Mielke-Baekler Lagrangian, and, eventually, (iii) in the
gauge field theory of dislocations of Lazar et al., as we prove for the first
time by arranging a suitable distribution of screw dislocations. Our main
emphasis is on the discussion of dislocation field theory.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figure
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