Non-Chern-Simons Topological Mass Generation in (2+1) Dimensions

By dimensional reduction of a massive BF theory, a new topological field theory is constructed in (2+1) dimensions. Two different topological terms, one involving a scalar and a Kalb-Ramond fields and another one equivalent to the four-dimensional BF term, are present. We constructed two actions with these topological terms and show that a topological mass generation mechanism can be implemented. Using the non-Chern-Simons topological term, an action is proposed leading to a classical duality relation between Klein-Gordon and Maxwell actions. We also have shown that an action in (2+1) dimensions with the Kalb-Ramond field is related by Buscher's duality transformation to a massive gauge-invariant Stuckelberg-type theory.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, RevTE

Bopp-Podolsky black holes and the no-hair theorem

Bopp-Podolsky electrodynamics is generalized to curved space-times. The equations of motion are written for the case of static spherically symmetric black holes and their exterior solutions are analyzed using Bekenstein's method. It is shown the solutions split-up into two parts, namely a non-homogeneous (asymptotically massless) regime and a homogeneous (asymptotically massive) sector which is null outside the event horizon. In addition, in the simplest approach to Bopp-Podolsky black holes, the non-homogeneous solutions are found to be Maxwell's solutions leading to a Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole. It is also demonstrated that the only exterior solution consistent with the weak and null energy conditions is the Maxwell's one. Thus, in light of energy conditions, it is concluded that only Maxwell modes propagate outside the horizon and, therefore, the no-hair theorem is satisfied in the case of Bopp-Podolsky fields in spherically symmetric space-times.Comment: 9 pages, updated to match published versio

de Broglie-Proca and Bopp-Podolsky massive photon gases in cosmology

We investigate the influence of massive photons on the evolution of the expanding universe. Two particular models for generalized electrodynamics are considered, namely de Broglie-Proca and Bopp-Podolsky electrodynamics. We obtain the equation of state (EOS) $P=P(\varepsilon)$ for each case using dispersion relations derived from both theories. The EOS are inputted into the Friedmann equations of a homogeneous and isotropic space-time to determine the cosmic scale factor $a(t)$. It is shown that the photon non-null mass does not significantly alter the result $a\propto t^{1/2}$ valid for a massless photon gas; this is true either in de Broglie-Proca's case (where the photon mass $m$ is extremely small) or in Bopp-Podolsky theory (for which $m$ is extremely large).Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures; v2 matches the published versio

The WFCAM Multi-wavelength Variable Star Catalog

Stellar variability in the near-infrared (NIR) remains largely unexplored. The exploitation of public science archives with data-mining methods offers a perspective for the time-domain exploration of the NIR sky. We perform a comprehensive search for stellar variability using the optical-NIR multi-band photometric data in the public Calibration Database of the WFCAM Science Archive (WSA), with the aim of contributing to the general census of variable stars, and to extend the current scarce inventory of accurate NIR light curves for a number of variable star classes. We introduce new variability indices designed for multi-band data with correlated sampling, and apply them for pre-selecting variable star candidates, i.e., light curves that are dominated by correlated variations, from noise-dominated ones. Pre-selection criteria are established by robust numerical tests for evaluating the response of variability indices to colored noise characteristic to the data. We find 275 periodic variable stars and an additional 44 objects with suspected variability with uncertain periods or apparently aperiodic variation. Only 44 of these objects had been previously known, including 11 RR~Lyrae stars in the outskirts of the globular cluster M3 (NGC~5272). We provide a preliminary classification of the new variable stars that have well-measured light curves, but the variability types of a large number of objects remain ambiguous. We classify most of the new variables as contact binary stars, but we also find several pulsating stars, among which 34 are probably new field RR~Lyrae and 3 are likely Cepheids. We also identify 32 highly reddened variable objects close to previously known dark nebulae, suggesting that these are embedded young stellar objects. We publish our results and all light-curve data as the WFCAM Variable Star Catalog.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure

Extended excitons and compact heliumlike biexcitons in type-II quantum dots.

We have used magneto-photoluminescence measurements to establish that InP/GaAs quantum dots have a type-II band (staggered) alignment. The average excitonic Bohr radius and the binding energy are estimated to be 15 nm and 1.5 meV respectively. When compared to bulk InP, the excitonic binding is weaker due to the repulsive (type-II) potential at the hetero-interface. The measurements are extended to over almost six orders of magnitude of laser excitation powers and to magnetic fields of up to 50 tesla. It is shown that the excitation power can be used to tune the average hole occupancy of the quantum dots, and hence the strength of the electron-hole binding. The diamagnetic shift coe±cient is observed to drastically reduce as the quantum dot ensemble makes a gradual transition from a regime where the emission is from (hydrogen-like) two-particle excitonic states to a regime where the emission from (helium-like) four-particle biexcitonic states also become significant