The Quantum Echo of the Early Universe

We show that the fluctuations of quantum fields as seen by late comoving observers are significantly influenced by the history of the early Universe, and therefore they transmit information about the nature of spacetime in timescales when quantum gravitational effects were non-negligible. We discuss how this may be observable even nowadays, and thus used to build falsifiability tests of quantum gravity theories.Comment: 3 pages. 2 Figures. Proceedings Theory Canada 9. Published in Canadian Journal of Physics. (http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjp-2014-0567

Violation of the strong Huygen's principle and timelike signals from the early Universe

We analyze the implications of the violations of the strong Huygens principle in the transmission of information from the early universe to the current era via massless fields. We show that much more information reaches us through timelike channels (not mediated by real photons) than it is carried by rays of light, which are usually regarded as the only carriers of information.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. RevTeX 4.1. V2: Updated to match published version. Previous title "A glimpse of the early universe without real light" modified to match Physical Review Letters published versio

Diffuse interstellar bands {\lambda}5780 and {\lambda}5797 in the Antennae Galaxy as seen by MUSE

ABRIDGED: Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are faint spectral absorption features of unknown origin. Research on DIBs beyond the Local Group (LG) will surely blossom in the era of the ELTs. A possibility that needs to be explored is the use of integral field spectrographs. We do so by using MUSE data for the Antennae Galaxy, the closest major galaxy merger. High S-to-N spectra were created by co-adding the signal of many spatial elements. The emission of the underlying stellar population was modeled using STARLIGHT. To our knowledge, we have derived the first maps for the DIBs at l5780 and l5797 in galaxies outside the LG. The l5780 DIB was detected in an area of ~0.6 arcmin2, corresponding to a linear scale of ~25 kpc2. This region was sampled using >200 independent lines of sight. The DIB l5797 was detected in >100 independent lines of sight. Both DIBs are associated with a region with high emission in the HI 21 cm line, implying a connection between atomic gas and DIBs, as the correlations for the Milky Way also suggest. Conversely, there is mild spatial association between the two DIBs and the molecular gas, in agreement with results for our Galaxy that indicate a lack of correlation between DIBs and molecular gas. The overall structure for the DIB strength distribution and extinction are comparable. Within the system, the l5780 DIB clearly correlates with the extinction. Both DIBs follow the relationship between equivalent width and reddening when data for several galaxies are considered. Unidentified Infrared emission Bands (UIBs, likely caused by PAHs) and the l5780 and l5797 DIBs show similar but not identical spatial distributions. We attribute the differences to extinction effects without necessarily implying a radically different nature of the respective carriers. The results illustrate the enormous potential of integral field spectrographs for extragalactic DIB research.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics; version corrected by English edito

On the strategic choice of spatial price policy: the role of the pricing game rules.

The strategic choice of spatial price policy under duopoly crucially depends on the rules of price competition. We show that under simultaneous price competition and under leader-follower price competition (with the discriminatory firm being the leader), the pricing policy game is not, as stated by Thisse and Vives (1988), a Prisoner's Dilemma.

Global fit to b→cτνb \to c \tau \nu transitions

We perform a general model-independent analysis of $b \to c \tau \bar{\nu}_\tau$ transitions, including measurements of $\mathcal{R}_D$, $\mathcal{R}_{D^*}$, their $q^2$ differential distributions, the recently measured longitudinal $D^*$ polarization $F_L^{D^*}$, and constraints from the $B_c \to \tau \bar{\nu}_\tau$ lifetime, each of which has significant impact on the fit. A global fit to a general set of Wilson coefficients of an effective low-energy Hamiltonian is presented, the solutions of which are interpreted in terms of hypothetical new-physics mediators. From the obtained results we predict selected $b \to c\tau\bar\nu_\tau$ observables, such as the baryonic transition $\Lambda_b \to \Lambda_c \tau \bar{\nu}_\tau$, the ratio $\mathcal{R}_{J/\psi}$, the forward-backward asymmetries ${\cal A}_\text{FB}^{D^{(*)}}$, the $\tau$ polarization asymmetries $\mathcal{P}_\tau^{D^{(*)}}$, and the longitudinal $D^*$ polarization fraction $F_L^{D^*}$. The latter shows presently a slight tension with any new-physics model, such that an improved measurement could have an important impact. We also discuss the potential change due the very recently announced preliminary $\mathcal{R}_{D^{(*)}}$ measurement by the Belle collaboration.Comment: 47 pages, 12 figures. Version published at JHE