283 research outputs found
Classical Cepheids: Yet another version of the Baade-Becker-Wesselink method
We propose a new version of the Baade--Becker--Wesselink technique, which
allows one to independently determine the colour excess and the intrinsic
colour of a radially pulsating star, in addition to its radius, luminosity, and
distance. It is considered to be a generalization of the Balona approach. The
method also allows the function F(CI) = BC + 10 log (Teff) for the class of
pulsating stars considered to be calibrated. We apply this technique to a
number of classical Cepheids with very accurate light and radial-velocity
curves and with bona fide membership in open clusters (SZ Tau, CF Cas, U Sgr,
DL Cas, GY Sge), and find the results to agree well with the reddening
estimates of the host open clusters. The new technique can also be applied to
other pulsating variables, e.g. RR Lyrae and RV Tauri.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; Submitted to Astrophysical Bulletin,
201
Superconformal mechanics and nonlinear supersymmetry
We show that a simple change of the classical boson-fermion coupling
constant, , , in the superconformal mechanics
model gives rise to a radical change of a symmetry: the modified classical and
quantum systems are characterized by the nonlinear superconformal symmetry. It
is generated by the four bosonic integrals which form the so(1,2) x u(1)
subalgebra, and by the 2(n+1) fermionic integrals constituting the two spin-n/2
so(1,2)-representations and anticommuting for the order n polynomials of the
even generators. We find that the modified quantum system with an integer value
of the parameter is described simultaneously by the two nonlinear
superconformal symmetries of the orders relatively shifted in odd number. For
the original quantum model with , , this means the
presence of the order 2p nonlinear superconformal symmetry in addition to the
osp(2|2) supersymmetry.Comment: 16 pages; misprints corrected, note and ref added, to appear in JHE
Problems with Time-Varying Extra Dimensions or "Cardassian Expansion" as Alternatives to Dark Energy
It has recently been proposed that the Universe might be accelerating as a
consequence of extra dimensions with time varying size. We show that although
these scenarios can lead to acceleration, they run into serious difficulty when
taking into account limits on the time variation of the four dimensional
Newton's constant. On the other hand, models of ``Cardassian'' expansion based
on extra dimensions which have been constructed so far violate the weak energy
condition for the bulk stress energy, for parameters that give an accelerating
universe.Comment: 8 pages, minor changes. To appear in Physical Review
Genesis of Dark Energy: Dark Energy as Consequence of Release and Two-stage Tracking Cosmological Nuclear Energy
Recent observations on Type-Ia supernovae and low density () measurement of matter including dark matter suggest that the present-day
universe consists mainly of repulsive-gravity type `exotic matter' with
negative-pressure often said `dark energy' (). But the nature
of dark energy is mysterious and its puzzling questions, such as why, how,
where and when about the dark energy, are intriguing. In the present paper the
authors attempt to answer these questions while making an effort to reveal the
genesis of dark energy and suggest that `the cosmological nuclear binding
energy liberated during primordial nucleo-synthesis remains trapped for a long
time and then is released free which manifests itself as dark energy in the
universe'. It is also explained why for dark energy the parameter . Noting that for stiff matter and for radiation; is for dark energy because is due to `deficiency of
stiff-nuclear-matter' and that this binding energy is ultimately released as
`radiation' contributing , making . When
dark energy is released free at , . But as on present day
at when radiation strength has diminished to , . This, thus almost solves the dark-energy mystery of
negative pressure and repulsive-gravity. The proposed theory makes several
estimates /predictions which agree reasonably well with the astrophysical
constraints and observations. Though there are many candidate-theories, the
proposed model of this paper presents an entirely new approach (cosmological
nuclear energy) as a possible candidate for dark energy.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, minor correction
Large-scale magnetic fields from inflation in dilaton electromagnetism
The generation of large-scale magnetic fields is studied in dilaton
electromagnetism in inflationary cosmology, taking into account the dilaton's
evolution throughout inflation and reheating until it is stabilized with
possible entropy production. It is shown that large-scale magnetic fields with
observationally interesting strength at the present time could be generated if
the conformal invariance of the Maxwell theory is broken through the coupling
between the dilaton and electromagnetic fields in such a way that the resultant
quantum fluctuations in the magnetic field has a nearly scale-invariant
spectrum. If this condition is met, the amplitude of the generated magnetic
field could be sufficiently large even in the case huge amount of entropy is
produced with the dilution factor as the dilaton decays.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, the version accepted for publication in Phys.
Rev. D; some references are adde
Constraints on accelerating universe using ESSENCE and Gold supernovae data combined with other cosmological probes
We use recently observed data: the 192 ESSENCE type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia),
the 182 Gold SNe Ia, the 3-year WMAP, the SDSS baryon acoustic peak, the X-ray
gas mass fraction in clusters and the observational data to constrain
models of the accelerating universe. Combining the 192 ESSENCE data with the
observational data to constrain a parameterized deceleration parameter,
we obtain the best fit values of transition redshift and current deceleration
parameter , .
Furthermore, using CDM model and two model-independent equation of
state of dark energy, we find that the combined constraint from the 192 ESSENCE
data and other four cosmological observations gives smaller values of
and , but a larger value of than the combined
constraint from the 182 Gold data with other four observations. Finally,
according to the Akaike information criterion it is shown that the recently
observed data equally supports three dark energy models: CDM,
and .Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure
Weathering the Storm: Managing Older Adults With Breast Cancer Amid COVID-19 and Beyond
Caring for older patients with breast cancer presents unique clinical considerations because of preexisting and competing comorbidity, the potential for treatment-related toxicity, and the consequent impact on functional status. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, treatment decision making for older patients is especially challenging and encourages us to refocus our treatment priorities. While we work to avoid treatment delays and maintain therapeutic benefit, we also need to minimize the risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exposures, myelosuppression, general chemotherapy toxicity, and functional decline. Herein, we propose multidisciplinary care considerations for the aging patient with breast cancer, with the goal to promote a team-based, multidisciplinary treatment approach during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. These considerations remain relevant as we navigate the "new normal" for the approximately 30% of breast cancer patients aged 70 years and older who are diagnosed in the United States annually and for the thousands of older patients living with recurrent and/or metastatic disease
Age constraints and fine tuning in variable-mass particle models
VAMP (variable-mass particles) scenarios, in which the mass of the cold dark
matter particles is a function of the scalar field responsible for the present
acceleration of the Universe, have been proposed as a solution to the cosmic
coincidence problem, since in the attractor regime both dark energy and dark
matter scale in the same way. We find that only a narrow region in parameter
space leads to models with viable values for the Hubble constant and dark
energy density today. In the allowed region, the dark energy density starts to
dominate around the present epoch and consequently such models cannot solve the
coincidence problem. We show that the age of the Universe in this scenario is
considerably higher than the age for noncoupled dark energy models, and
conclude that more precise independent measurements of the age of the Universe
would be useful in distinguishing between coupled and noncoupled dark energy
models.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, matches the Phys. Rev. D published versio
Observational constraints on the curvaton model of inflation
Simple curvaton models can generate a mixture of of correlated primordial
adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations. The baryon and cold dark matter
isocurvature modes differ only by an observationally null mode in which the two
perturbations almost exactly compensate, and therefore have proportional
effects at linear order. We discuss the CMB anisotropy in general mixed models,
and give a simple approximate analytic result for the large scale CMB
anisotropy. Working numerically we use the latest WMAP observations and a
variety of other data to constrain the curvaton model. We find that models with
an isocurvature contribution are not favored relative to simple purely
adiabatic models. However a significant primordial totally correlated baryon
isocurvature perturbation is not ruled out. Certain classes of curvaton model
are thereby ruled out, other classes predict enough non-Gaussianity to be
detectable by the Planck satellite. In the appendices we review the relevant
equations in the covariant formulation and give series solutions for the
radiation dominated era.Comment: Minor changes and corrections to match version accepted by PR
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