4,787 research outputs found
Inflationary Cosmological Perturbations of Quantum-Mechanical Origin
This review article aims at presenting the theory of inflation. We first
describe the background spacetime behavior during the slow-roll phase and
analyze how inflation ends and the Universe reheats. Then, we present the
theory of cosmological perturbations with special emphasis on their behavior
during inflation. In particular, we discuss the quantum-mechanical nature of
the fluctuations and show how the uncertainty principle fixes the amplitude of
the perturbations. In a next step, we calculate the inflationary power spectra
in the slow-roll approximation and compare these theoretical predictions to the
recent high accuracy measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation
(CMBR) anisotropy. We show how these data already constrain the underlying
inflationary high energy physics. Finally, we conclude with some speculations
about the trans-Planckian problem, arguing that this issue could allow us to
open a window on physical phenomena which have never been probed so far.Comment: Review Article, 47 pages, 3 figures. Lectures given at the 40th
Karpacz Winter School on Theoretical Physics (Poland, Feb. 2004), submitted
to Lecture Notes in Physic
The Hubble series: Convergence properties and redshift variables
In cosmography, cosmokinetics, and cosmology it is quite common to encounter
physical quantities expanded as a Taylor series in the cosmological redshift z.
Perhaps the most well-known exemplar of this phenomenon is the Hubble relation
between distance and redshift. However, we now have considerable high-z data
available, for instance we have supernova data at least back to redshift
z=1.75. This opens up the theoretical question as to whether or not the Hubble
series (or more generally any series expansion based on the z-redshift)
actually converges for large redshift? Based on a combination of mathematical
and physical reasoning, we argue that the radius of convergence of any series
expansion in z is less than or equal to 1, and that z-based expansions must
break down for z>1, corresponding to a universe less than half its current
size.
Furthermore, we shall argue on theoretical grounds for the utility of an
improved parameterization y=z/(1+z). In terms of the y-redshift we again argue
that the radius of convergence of any series expansion in y is less than or
equal to 1, so that y-based expansions are likely to be good all the way back
to the big bang y=1, but that y-based expansions must break down for y<-1, now
corresponding to a universe more than twice its current size.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Classical and
Quantum Gravit
Identification of Neutral B Mesons Using Correlated Hadrons
The identification of the flavor of a neutral meson can make use of
hadrons produced nearby in phase space. Examples include the decay of
``'' resonances or the production of hadrons as a result of the
fragmentation process. Some aspects of this method are discussed, including
time-dependent effects in neutral decays to flavor states, to eigenstates
of CP and to other states, and the effects of possible coherence between
and in the initial state. We study the behavior of the leading
hadrons in -quark jets and the expected properties of resonances.
These are extrapolated from the corresponding resonances, of whose
properties we suggest further studies.Comment: To be submitted to Phys. Rev. D. 26 pages, LaTeX, figures not
included (available upon request). Technion-PH-93-32 / EFI 93-4
The stress-energy tensor for trans-Planckian cosmology
This article presents the derivation of the stress-energy tensor of a free
scalar field with a general non-linear dispersion relation in curved spacetime.
This dispersion relation is used as a phenomelogical description of the short
distance structure of spacetime following the conventional approach of
trans-Planckian modes in black hole physics and in cosmology. This
stress-energy tensor is then used to discuss both the equation of state of
trans-Planckian modes in cosmology and the magnitude of their backreaction
during inflation. It is shown that gravitational waves of trans-Planckian
momenta but subhorizon frequencies cannot account for the form of cosmic vacuum
energy density observed at present, contrary to a recent claim. The
backreaction effects during inflation are confirmed to be important and generic
for those dispersion relations that are liable to induce changes in the power
spectrum of metric fluctuations. Finally, it is shown that in pure de Sitter
inflation there is no modification of the power spectrum except for a possible
magnification of its overall amplitude independently of the dispersion
relation.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures. Version to appear in PRD (minor modifications
Ab initio Green's function formalism for band structures
Using the Green's function formalism, an ab initio theory for band structures
of crystals is derived starting from the Hartree-Fock approximation. It is
based on the algebraic diagrammatic construction scheme for the self-energy
which is formulated for crystal orbitals (CO-ADC). In this approach, the poles
of the Green's function are determined by solving a suitable Hermitian
eigenvalue problem. The method is not only applicable to the outer valence and
conduction bands, it is also stable for inner valence bands where strong
electron correlations are effective. The key to the proposed scheme is to
evaluate the self-energy in terms of Wannier orbitals before transforming it to
a crystal momentum representation. Exploiting the fact that electron
correlations are mainly local, one can truncate the lattice summations by an
appropriate configuration selection scheme. This yields a flat configuration
space; i.e., its size scales only linearly with the number of atoms per unit
cell for large systems and, under certain conditions, the computational effort
to determine band structures also scales linearly. As a first application of
the new formalism, a lithium fluoride crystal has been chosen. A minimal basis
set description is studied, and a satisfactory agreement with previous
theoretical and experimental results for the fundamental band gap and the width
of the F 2p valence band complex is obtained.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, RevTeX4, new section on lithium
fluorid
The cosmic gravitational wave background in a cyclic universe
Inflation predicts a primordial gravitational wave spectrum that is slightly
``red,'' i.e., nearly scale-invariant with slowly increasing power at longer
wavelengths. In this paper, we compute both the amplitude and spectral form of
the primordial tensor spectrum predicted by cyclic/ekpyrotic models. The
spectrum is blue and exponentially suppressed compared to inflation on long
wavelengths. The strongest observational constraint emerges from the
requirement that the energy density in gravitational waves should not exceed
around 10 per cent of the energy density at the time of nucleosynthesis.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figuer
Inflationary Perturbations: the Cosmological Schwinger Effect
This pedagogical review aims at presenting the fundamental aspects of the
theory of inflationary cosmological perturbations of quantum-mechanical origin.
The analogy with the well-known Schwinger effect is discussed in detail and a
systematic comparison of the two physical phenomena is carried out. In
particular, it is demonstrated that the two underlying formalisms differ only
up to an irrelevant canonical transformation. Hence, the basic physical
mechanisms at play are similar in both cases and can be reduced to the
quantization of a parametric oscillator leading to particle creation due to the
interaction with a classical source: pair production in vacuum is therefore
equivalent to the appearance of a growing mode for the cosmological
fluctuations. The only difference lies in the nature of the source: an electric
field in the case of the Schwinger effect and the gravitational field in the
case of inflationary perturbations. Although, in the laboratory, it is
notoriously difficult to produce an electric field such that pairs extracted
from the vacuum can be detected, the gravitational field in the early universe
can be strong enough to lead to observable effects that ultimately reveal
themselves as temperature fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Finally, the question of how quantum cosmological perturbations can be
considered as classical is discussed at the end of the article.Comment: 49 pages, 6 figures, to appear in a LNP volume "Inflationary
Cosmology
Phenomenology of Decays
Using the QCD sum rules technique we study several aspects of the
phenomenology of the b-flavoured strange meson . In particular, we
evaluate the mass of the particle, the leptonic constant and the form factors
of the decays , , . We also calculate, in the factorization approximation, a number of
two-body non leptonic decays.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures (not included) available upon request, LaTex,
BARI-TH/93-139, UTS-DFT-93-1
Spin-drift transport and its applications
We study the generation of non-equilibrium spin currents in systems with
spatially-inhomogeneous magnetic potentials. For sufficiently high current
densities, the spin polarization can be transported over distances
significantly exceeding the intrinsic spin-diffusion length. This enables
applications that are impossible within the conventional spin-diffusion regime.
Specifically, we propose dc measurement schemes for the carrier spin relaxation
times, and , as well as demonstrate the possibility of spin species
separation by driving current through a region with an inhomogeneous magnetic
potential.Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figure
Correlated ab-initio calculations for ground-state properties of II-VI semiconductors
Correlated ab-initio ground-state calculations, using relativistic
energy-consistent pseudopotentials, are performed for six II-VI semiconductors.
Valence () correlations are evaluated using the coupled cluster approach
with single and double excitations. An incremental scheme is applied based on
correlation contributions of localized bond orbitals and of pairs and triples
of such bonds. In view of the high polarity of the bonds in II-VI compounds, we
examine both, ionic and covalent embedding schemes for the calculation of
individual bond increments. Also, a partitioning of the correlation energy
according to local ionic increments is tested. Core-valence ()
correlation effects are taken into account via a core-polarization potential.
Combining the results at the correlated level with corresponding Hartree-Fock
data we recover about 94% of the experimental cohesive energies; lattice
constants are accurate to \sim 1%; bulk moduli are on average 10% too large
compared with experiment.Comment: 10 pages, twocolumn, RevTex, 3 figures, accepted Phys. Rev.
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