3,250 research outputs found
Modified-gravity wormholes without exotic matter
A fundamental ingredient in wormhole physics is the flaring-out condition at
the throat which, in classical general relativity, entails the violation of the
null energy condition. In this work, we present the most general conditions in
the context of modified gravity, in which the matter threading the wormhole
throat satisfies all of the energy conditions, and it is the higher order
curvature terms, which may be interpreted as a gravitational fluid, that
support these nonstandard wormhole geometries. Thus, we explicitly show that
wormhole geometries can be theoretically constructed without the presence of
exotic matter, but are sustained in the context of modified gravity.Comment: 4 pages. V2: Slight change in title, discussion on the stability and
references added; version to appear in PRD. V3: reference adde
Viscous Bianchi type I universes in brane cosmology
We consider the dynamics of a viscous cosmological fluid in the generalized
Randall-Sundrum model for an anisotropic, Bianchi type I brane. To describe the
dissipative effects we use the Israel-Hiscock-Stewart full causal thermodynamic
theory. By assuming that the matter on the brane obeys a linear barotropic
equation of state, and the bulk viscous pressure has a power law dependence on
the energy density, the general solution of the field equations can be obtained
in an exact parametric form. The obtained solutions describe generally a
non-inflationary brane world. In the large time limit the brane Universe
isotropizes, ending in an isotropic and homogeneous state. The evolution of the
temperature and of the comoving entropy of the Universe is also considered, and
it is shown that due to the viscous dissipative processes a large amount of
entropy is created in the early stages of evolution of the brane world.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Class. Quantum Gra
Quintessence and cosmic acceleration
A cosmological model with perfect fluid and self-interacting quintessence
field is considered in the framework of the spatially flat
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) geometry. By assuming that all physical
quantities depend on the volume scale factor of the Universe, the general
solution of the gravitational field equations can be expressed in an exact
parametric form. The quintessence field is a free parameter. With an
appropriate choice of the scalar field a class of exact solutions is obtained,
with an exponential type scalar field potential fixed via the gravitational
field equations. The general physical behavior of the model is consistent with
the recent cosmological scenario favored by supernova Type Ia observations,
indicating an accelerated expansion of the Universe.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Multilevel blocking approach to the fermion sign problem in path-integral Monte Carlo simulations
A general algorithm toward the solution of the fermion sign problem in
finite-temperature quantum Monte Carlo simulations has been formulated for
discretized fermion path integrals with nearest-neighbor interactions in the
Trotter direction. This multilevel approach systematically implements a simple
blocking strategy in a recursive manner to synthesize the sign cancellations
among different fermionic paths throughout the whole configuration space. The
practical usefulness of the method is demonstrated for interacting electrons in
a quantum dot.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, incl. two figure
Renormalization Group Approach to Causal Viscous Cosmological Models
The renormalization group method is applied to the study of homogeneous and
flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker type Universes, filled with a causal bulk
viscous cosmological fluid. The starting point of the study is the
consideration of the scaling properties of the gravitational field equations,
of the causal evolution equation of the bulk viscous pressure and of the
equations of state. The requirement of scale invariance imposes strong
constraints on the temporal evolution of the bulk viscosity coefficient,
temperature and relaxation time, thus leading to the possibility of obtaining
the bulk viscosity coefficient-energy density dependence. For a cosmological
model with bulk viscosity coefficient proportional to the Hubble parameter, we
perform the analysis of the renormalization group flow around the scale
invariant fixed point, therefore obtaining the long time behavior of the scale
factor.Comment: 19 pages. RevTeX4. Revised version. Accepted in Classical and Quantum
Gravit
Crossover from Fermi liquid to Wigner molecule behavior in quantum dots
The crossover from weak to strong correlations in parabolic quantum dots at
zero magnetic field is studied by numerically exact path-integral Monte Carlo
simulations for up to eight electrons. By the use of a multilevel blocking
algorithm, the simulations are carried out free of the fermion sign problem. We
obtain a universal crossover only governed by the density parameter . For
, the data are consistent with a Wigner molecule description, while
for , Fermi liquid behavior is recovered. The crossover value is surprisingly small.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 3 figures, corrected Tabl
Food security, nutrition and health of food bank attendees in an English city: A cross-sectional study
Food banks in contemporary Britain are feeding record numbers of people. Little is known about attendees’ level of food insecurity, background diet quality or health. We surveyed 112 food bank attendees. Over 50% had experienced food shortage with hunger on a weekly basis or more often. Obesity and mental health problems were prevalent in women. Diet quality was poor, with energy, protein, fibre, iron and calcium intakes inadequate, while saturated fat and sugars intake were disproportionate. Women had poorer diet quality than men. Such patterns may lead to ill health
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