2,047 research outputs found
Boundary Operators in Quantum Field Theory
The fundamental laws of physics can be derived from the requirement of
invariance under suitable classes of transformations on the one hand, and from
the need for a well-posed mathematical theory on the other hand. As a part of
this programme, the present paper shows under which conditions the introduction
of pseudo-differential boundary operators in one-loop Euclidean quantum gravity
is compatible both with their invariance under infinitesimal diffeomorphisms
and with the requirement of a strongly elliptic theory. Suitable assumptions on
the kernel of the boundary operator make it therefore possible to overcome
problems resulting from the choice of purely local boundary conditions.Comment: 23 pages, plain Tex. The revised version contains a new section, and
the presentation has been improve
Gravitational solution to the Pioneer 10/11 anomaly
A fully relativistic modified gravitational theory including a fifth force
skew symmetric field is fitted to the Pioneer 10/11 anomalous acceleration. The
theory allows for a variation with distance scales of the gravitational
constant G, the fifth force skew symmetric field coupling strength omega and
the mass of the skew symmetric field mu=1/lambda. A fit to the available
anomalous acceleration data for the Pioneer 10/11 spacecraft is obtained for a
phenomenological representation of the "running" constants and values of the
associated parameters are shown to exist that are consistent with fifth force
experimental bounds. The fit to the acceleration data is consistent with all
current satellite, laser ranging and observations for the inner planets.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. typo's were corrected at Equations (4)
and (12) and a third table including our predictions for the anomalous
perihelion advance of the planets was adde
Qualitative Analysis of Universes with Varying Alpha
Assuming a Friedmann universe which evolves with a power-law scale factor,
, we analyse the phase space of the system of equations that describes
a time-varying fine structure 'constant', , in the
Bekenstein-Sandvik-Barrow-Magueijo generalisation of general relativity. We
have classified all the possible behaviours of in ever-expanding
universes with different and find new exact solutions for . We
find the attractors points in the phase space for all . In general, will be a non-decreasing function of time that increases logarithmically in
time during a period when the expansion is dust dominated (), but
becomes constant when . This includes the case of negative-curvature
domination (). also tends rapidly to a constant when the
expansion scale factor increases exponentially. A general set of conditions is
established for to become asymptotically constant at late times in an
expanding universe.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure
Time Delay Predictions in a Modified Gravity Theory
The time delay effect for planets and spacecraft is obtained from a fully
relativistic modified gravity theory including a fifth force skew symmetric
field by fitting to the Pioneer 10/11 anomalous acceleration data. A possible
detection of the predicted time delay corrections to general relativity for the
outer planets and future spacecraft missions is considered. The time delay
correction to GR predicted by the modified gravity is consistent with the
observational limit of the Doppler tracking measurement reported by the Cassini
spacecraft on its way to Saturn, and the correction increases to a value that
could be measured for a spacecraft approaching Neptune and Pluto.Comment: 5 pages, LaTex file, no figures. Corrections to Table
Summary Report on 2018 Residue Monitoring of Irish Farmed Finfish & 2018 Border Inspection Post Fishery Product Testing undertaken at the Marine Institute
On behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM), the Marine Institute carries out monitoring of chemical residues in finfish for aquaculture sector. This monitoring is set out in the annual National Residue Control Plan, which is approved by the European Commission, and is an important component of the DAFM food safety controls and is implemented under a service contract with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Since 1999, the Marine Institute has implemented the National Residues Monitoring Programme for aquaculture. This is carried out on behalf of the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, which is the responsible organisation for residue controls on farmed finfish.
In 2018, in excess of 920 tests and a total of 2,611 measurements were carried out on 171 samples of farmed finfish for a range of residues. Implementation of the Aquaculture 2018 Plan involves taking samples at both farm and processing plant:
âą 123 target samples taken at harvest: 110 farmed salmon and 13 freshwater trout.
âą 48 target samples were taken at other stages of production: 40 salmon smolts and 8 freshwater trout.
All 2018 samples were compliant. For target sampling of farmed fish, a summary table of the residue results from 2005 - 2018 is outlined in Table 1. Overall, the outcome for aquaculture remains one of consistently low occurrence of residues in farmed finfish, with no non-compliant target residues results for the period 2006-2014, 0.11% and 0.10% non-compliant target residues results in 2015 and 2016 respectively and no non-compliant target results in 2017 and 2018
Properties of WNh stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud: evidence for homogeneous evolution
We derive the physical properties of three WNh stars in the SMC to constrain
stellar evolution beyond the main sequence at low metallicity and to
investigate the metallicity dependence of the clumping properties of massive
stars. We compute atmosphere models to derive the stellar and wind properties
of the three WNh targets. A FUV/UV/optical/near-infrared analysis gives access
to temperatures, luminosities, mass loss rates, terminal velocities and stellar
abundances. All stars still have a large hydrogen mass fraction in their
atmosphere, and show clear signs of CNO processing in their surface abundances.
One of the targets can be accounted for by normal stellar evolution. It is a
star with initial mass around 40-50 Msun in, or close to, the core He burning
phase. The other two objects must follow a peculiar evolution, governed by fast
rotation. In particular, one object is likely evolving homogeneously due to its
position blue-ward of the main sequence and its high H mass fraction. The
clumping factor of one star is found to be 0.15+/-0.05. This is comparable to
values found for Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars, indicating that within the
uncertainties, the clumping factor does not seem to depend on metallicity.Comment: 16 pages. A&A accepte
Cosmological Bounds on Spatial Variations of Physical Constants
We derive strong observational limits on any possible large-scale spatial
variation in the values of physical 'constants' whose space-time evolution is
driven by a scalar field. The limits are imposed by the isotropy of the
microwave background on large angular scales in theories which describe space
and time variations in the fine structure constant, the electron-proton mass
ratio, and the Newtonian gravitational constant, G. Large-scale spatial
fluctuations in the fine structure constant are bounded by 2x10^-9 and
1.2x10^-8 in the BSBM and VSL theories respectively, fluctuations in the
electron-proton mass ratio by 9x10^-5 in the BM theory and fluctuations in G by
3.6x10^-10 in Brans-Dicke theory. These derived bounds are significantly
stronger than any obtainable by direct observations of astrophysical objects at
the present time.Comment: 13 pages, 1 table, typos corrected, refs added. Published versio
Cosmic Acceleration Driven by Mirage Inhomogeneities
A cosmological model based on an inhomogeneous D3-brane moving in an AdS_5 X
S_5 bulk is introduced. Although there is no special points in the bulk, the
brane Universe has a center and is isotropic around it. The model has an
accelerating expansion and its effective cosmological constant is inversely
proportional to the distance from the center, giving a possible geometrical
origin for the smallness of a present-day cosmological constant. Besides, if
our model is considered as an alternative of early time acceleration, it is
shown that the early stage accelerating phase ends in a dust dominated FRW
homogeneous Universe. Mirage-driven acceleration thus provides a dark matter
component for the brane Universe final state. We finally show that the model
fulfills the current constraints on inhomogeneities.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, IOP style. v2, changed style, minor corrections,
references added, version accepted in Class. Quant. Gra
Experimental evidence of chaotic advection in a convective flow
Lagrangian chaos is experimentally investigated in a convective flow by means
of Particle Tracking Velocimetry. The Fnite Size Lyapunov Exponent analysis is
applied to quantify dispersion properties at different scales. In the range of
parameters of the experiment, Lagrangian motion is found to be chaotic.
Moreover, the Lyapunov depends on the Rayleigh number as . A
simple dimensional argument for explaining the observed power law scaling is
proposed.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figur
Clusters in the Luminous Giant HII Regions in M101
(Abridged) We have obtained HST WFPC2 observations of three very luminous but
morphologically different giant HII regions (GHRs) in M101, NGC5461, NGC5462,
and NGC5471, in order to study cluster formation in GHRs. The measured (M_F547M
- M_F675W) colors and M_F547M magnitudes are used to determine the ages and
masses of the cluster candidates with M_F547M <= -9.0. NGC5461 is dominated by
a very luminous core, and has been suggested to host a super-star cluster
(SSC). Our observations show that it contains three R136-class clusters
superposed on a bright stellar background in a small region. This tight group
of clusters may dynamically evolve into an SSC in the future, and may appear
unresolved and be identified as an SSC at large distances, but at present
NGC5461 has no SSCs. NGC5462 has loosely distributed HII regions and clusters
without a prominent core. It has the largest number of cluster candidates among
the three GHRs, but most of them are faint and older than 10 Myr. NGC5471 has
multiple bright HII regions, and contains a large number of faint clusters
younger than 5 Myr. Two of the clusters in NGC5471 are older than R136, but
just as luminous; they may be the most massive clusters in the three GHRs. The
fraction of stars formed in massive clusters is estimated from the clusters'
contribution to the total stellar continuum emission and a comparison of the
ionizing power of the clusters to the ionizing requirement of the associated
HII regions. Both estimates show that <~ 50% of massive stars are formed in
massive clusters. The cluster luminosity functions (CLFs) of the three GHRs
show different slopes. NGC5462 has the steepest CLF and the most loosely
distributed interstellar gas, qualitatively consistent with the hypothesis that
massive clusters are formed in high-pressure interstellar environments.Comment: 36 pages (figures not included), 16 figures (3 of them are color
figures). Figures are in JPEG or GIF format with a lower resolution due to
the size limit of the file. For a higher resolution version of the paper,
please download from http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~c-chen/clusters.pdf. accepted
for ApJ (scheduled for the ApJ 2005 February issue
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