3,129 research outputs found
Cosmological gravitomagnetism and Mach's principle
The spin axes of gyroscopes experimentally define local non-rotating frames.
But what physical cause governs the time-evolution of gyroscope axes? We
consider linear perturbations of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies with
k=0. We ask: Will cosmological vorticity perturbations exactly drag the spin
axes of gyroscopes relative to the directions of geodesics to quasars in the
asymptotic unperturbed FRW space? Using Cartan's formalism with local
orthonormal bases we cast the laws of linear cosmological gravitomagnetism into
a form showing the close correspondence with the laws of ordinary magnetism.
Our results, valid for any equation of state for cosmological matter, are: 1)
The dragging of a gyroscope axis by rotational perturbations of matter beyond
the Hubble-dot radius from the gyroscope is exponentially suppressed, where dot
is the derivative with respect to cosmic time. 2) If the perturbation of matter
is a homogeneous rotation inside some radius around a gyroscope, then exact
dragging of the gyroscope axis by the rotational perturbation is reached
exponentially fast as the rotation radius grows beyond the H-dot radius. 3) For
the most general linear cosmological perturbations the time-evolution of all
gyroscope spin axes exactly follow a weighted average of the energy currents of
cosmological matter. The weight function is the same as in Ampere's law except
that the inverse square law is replaced by the Yukawa force with the Hubble-dot
cutoff. Our results demonstrate (in first order perturbation theory for FRW
cosmologies with k = 0) the validity of Mach's hypothesis that axes of local
non-rotating frames precisely follow an average of the motion of cosmic matter.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure. Comments and references adde
On the stability of self-gravitating accreting flows
Analytic methods show stability of the stationary accretion of test fluids
but they are inconclusive in the case of self-gravitating stationary flows. We
investigate numerically stability of those stationary flows onto compact
objects that are transonic and rich in gas. In all studied examples solutions
appear stable. Numerical investigation suggests also that the analogy between
sonic and event horizons holds for small perturbations of compact support but
fails in the case of finite perturbations.Comment: 10 pages, accepted for publication in PR
Enhanced time response of 1-in. LaBr3(Ce) crystals by leading edge and constant fraction techniques
We have characterized in depth the time response of three detectors equipped
with cylindrical LaBr (Ce) crystals with dimensions of 1-in. in height
and 1-in. in diameter, and having nominal Ce doping concentration of 5%, 8% and
10%. Measurements were performed at Co and Na {\gamma}-ray
energies against a fast BaF reference detector. The time resolution was
optimized by the choice of the photomultiplier bias voltage and the fine tuning
of the parameters of the constant fraction discriminator, namely the
zero-crossing and the external delay. We report here on the optimal time
resolution of the three crystals. It is observed that timing properties are
influenced by the amount of Ce doping and the crystal homogeneity. For the
crystal with 8% of Ce doping the use of the ORTEC 935 CFD at very shorts delays
in addition to the Hamamatsu R9779 PMT has made it possible to improve the
LaBr(Ce) time resolution from the best literature value at 60Co photon
energies to below 100 ps.Comment: Article submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics
Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated
Equipmen
Political loyalty and career mobility in the German Democratic Republic and the People's Republic of Poland
On the difference between proton and neutron spin-orbit splittings in nuclei
The latest experimental data on nuclei at Sn permit us for the first
time to determine the spin-orbit splittings of neutrons and protons in
identical orbits in this neutron-rich doubly-magic region and compare the case
to that of Pb. Using the new results, which are now consistent for the
two neutron-rich doubly magic regions, a theoretical analysis defines the
isotopic dependence of the mean field spin-orbit potential and leads to a
simple explicit expression for the difference between the spin-orbit splittings
of neutrons and protons. The isotopic dependence is explained in the framework
of different theoretical approaches.Comment: 8 pages, revte
A Quasi-Spherical Gravitational Wave Solution in Kaluza-Klein Theory
An exact solution of the source-free Kaluza-Klein field equations is
presented. It is a 5D generalization of the Robinson-Trautman quasi-spherical
gravitational wave with a cosmological constant. The properties of the 5D
solution are briefly described.Comment: 10 pages Latex, Revtex, submitted to GR
Comment on "On Mach's critique of Newton and Copernicus"
Hartman and Nissim-Sabat have argued that Mach's idea of the relativity of
rotational motion suffers from internal inconsistencies and leads to a
contradiction that there cannot be a stationary bucket in a rotating universe.
They also claimed that non-inertial electromagnetic and stellar aberration
observations can distinguish between a rotating and a stationary universe,
whereas according to Mach there cannot be any observable way to distinguish
these two cases. We contest these objections.Comment: Six pages, to appear in AJ
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