Vorton Formation

In this paper we present the first analytic model for vorton formation. We start by deriving the microscopic string equations of motion in Witten's superconducting model, and show that in the relevant chiral limit these coincide with the ones obtained from the supersonic elastic models of Carter and Peter. We then numerically study a number of solutions of these equations of motion and thereby suggest criteria for deciding whether a given superconducting loop configuration can form a vorton. Finally, using a recently developed model for the evolution of currents in superconducting strings we conjecture, by comparison with these criteria, that string networks formed at the GUT phase transition should produce no vortons. On the other hand, a network formed at the electroweak scale can produce vortons accounting for up to 6% of the critical density. Some consequences of our results are discussed.Comment: 41 pages; color figures 3-6 not included, but available from authors. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Updated constraints on spatial variations of the fine-structure constant

Recent work by Webb {\it et al.} has provided indications of spatial variations of the fine-structure constant, $\alpha$, at a level of a few parts per million. Using a dataset of 293 archival measurements, they further show that a dipole provides a statistically good fit to the data, a result subsequently confirmed by other authors. Here we show that a more recent dataset of dedicated measurements further constrains these variations: although there are only 10 such measurements, their uncertainties are considerably smaller. We find that a dipolar variation is still a good fit to the combined dataset, but the amplitude of such a dipole must be somewhat smaller: $8.1\pm1.7$ ppm for the full dataset, versus $9.4\pm2.2$ ppm for the Webb {\it et al.} data alone, both at the $68.3\%$ confidence level. Constraints on the direction on the sky of such a dipole are also significantly improved. On the other hand the data can't yet discriminate between a pure spatial dipole and one with an additional redshift dependence.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

K X-Ray Energies and Transition Probabilities for He-, Li- and Be-like Praseodymium ions

Theoretical transition energies and probabilities for He-, Li- and Be-like Praseodymium ions are calculated in the framework of the multi-configuration Dirac-Fock method (MCDF), including QED corrections. These calculated values are compared to recent experimental data obtained in the Livermore SuperEBIT electron beam ion trap facility

Clustering Properties of Dynamical Dark Energy Models

We provide a generic but physically clear discussion of the clustering properties of dark energy models. We explicitly show that in quintessence-type models the dark energy fluctuations, on scales smaller than the Hubble radius, are of the order of the perturbations to the Newtonian gravitational potential, hence necessarily small on cosmological scales. Moreover, comparable fluctuations are associated with different gauge choices. We also demonstrate that the often used homogeneous approximation is unrealistic, and that the so-called dark energy mutation is a trivial artifact of an effective, single fluid description. Finally, we discuss the particular case where the dark energy fluid is coupled to dark matter.Comment: 5 page