1,544 research outputs found
Time Measurement in Quantum Gravity
We discuss time measurement in quantum gravity. Using general relativity for
large distances and the uncertainty principle we find a minimum time interval
of the order of the Planck time, therefore the uncertainty in time measurment
is bounded from below.Comment: 4 pages, TAUP-2087-9
Unveiling GRB hard X-ray afterglow emission with Simbol-X
Despite the enormous progress occurred in the last 10 years, the Gamma-Ray
Bursts (GRB) phenomenon is still far to be fully understood. One of the most
important open issues that have still to be settled is the afterglow emission
above 10 keV, which is almost completely unexplored. This is due to the lack of
sensitive enough detectors operating in this energy band. The only detection,
by the BeppoSAX/PDS instrument (15-200 keV), of hard X-ray emission from a GRB
(the very bright GRB 990123), combined with optical and radio observations,
seriously challenged the standard scenario in which the dominant mechanism is
synchrotron radiation produced in the shock of a ultra-relativistic fireball
with the ISM, showing the need of a substantial revision of present models. In
this respect, thanks to its unprecedented sensitivity in the 10-80 keV energy
band, Simbol-X, through follow-up observations of bright GRBs detected and
localized by GRB dedicated experiments that will fly in the >2010 time frame,
will provide an important breakthrough in the GRB field.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Paper presented at "Simbol-X: the hard X-ray
universe in focus", held in Bologna, Italy, on 14-16 May 2007. To be
published in Memorie della Societa' Astronomica Italian
Exact Gravitational Shockwaves and Planckian Scattering on Branes
We obtain a solution describing a gravitational shockwave propagating along a
Randall-Sundrum brane. The interest of such a solution is twofold: on the one
hand, it is the first exact solution for a localized source on a
Randall-Sundrum three-brane. On the other hand, one can use it to study forward
scattering at Planckian energies, including the effects of the continuum of
Kaluza-Klein modes. We map out the different regimes for the scattering
obtained by varying the center-of-mass energy and the impact parameter. We also
discuss exact shockwaves in ADD scenarios with compact extra dimensions.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures. v2: references added, minor improvements and
small errors correcte
The Connection between Gamma-Ray Bursts and Extremely Metal-Poor Stars as Nucleosynthetic Probes of the Early Universe
The connection between the long GRBs and Type Ic Supernovae (SNe) has
revealed the interesting diversity: (i) GRB-SNe, (ii) Non-GRB Hypernovae (HNe),
(iii) X-Ray Flash (XRF)-SNe, and (iv) Non-SN GRBs (or dark HNe). We show that
nucleosynthetic properties found in the above diversity are connected to the
variation of the abundance patterns of extremely-metal-poor (EMP) stars, such
as the excess of C, Co, Zn relative to Fe. We explain such a connection in a
unified manner as nucleosynthesis of hyper-aspherical (jet-induced) explosions
Pop III core-collapse SNe. We show that (1) the explosions with large energy
deposition rate, , are observed as GRB-HNe and their yields
can explain the abundances of normal EMP stars, and (2) the explosions with
small are observed as GRBs without bright SNe and can be
responsible for the formation of the C-rich EMP (CEMP) and the hyper metal-poor
(HMP) stars. We thus propose that GRB-HNe and the Non-SN GRBs (dark HNe) belong
to a continuous series of BH-forming stellar deaths with the relativistic jets
of different .Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. To appear in "Massive Stars as Cosmic Engines",
Proceedings of IAU Symposium 250 (December 2007, Kauai), eds. F. Bresolin,
P.A. Crowther, & J. Puls (Cambridge Univ. Press
Symmetry Properties of the Effective Action for High-Energy Scattering in QCD
We study the effective action describing high-energy scattering processes in
the multi-Regge limit of QCD, which should provide the starting point for a new
attempt to overcome the limitations of the leading logarithmic and the eikonal
approximations. The action can be obtained via simple graphical rules or by
integrating in the QCD functional integral over momentum modes of gluon and
quark fields that do not appear explicitely as scattering or exchanged
particles in the considered processes. The supersymmetry is used to obtain the
terms in the action involving quarks fields from the pure gluonic ones. We
observe a Weizs\"acker - Williams type relations between terms describing
scattering and production of particles.Comment: 37 pages LATEX, 1 Table and 7 figures using package FEYNMA
D-Brane Interactions in a Gravitational Shock Wave Background
We study D-branes in the background of a gravitational shock wave. We
consider the case of parallel D-branes located on opposite sides with respect
to the shock wave. Their interaction is studied by evaluating the cylinder
diagram using the boundary states technique. Boundary states are defined at
each D-brane and their scalar product is evaluated after propagation through
the shock wave. Taking the limit where the gravitational shock wave vanishes we
show that the amplitude evaluated is consistent with the flat space-time
result.Comment: To be published in Modern Physics Letters A, revised version with
references added, 12 page
UV-Completion by Classicalization
We suggest a novel approach to UV-completion of a class of non-renormalizable
theories, according to which the high-energy scattering amplitudes get
unitarized by production of extended classical objects (classicalons), playing
a role analogous to black holes, in the case of non-gravitational theories. The
key property of classicalization is the existence of a classicalizer field that
couples to energy-momentum sources. Such localized sources are excited in
high-energy scattering processes and lead to the formation of classicalons. Two
kinds of natural classicalizers are Nambu-Goldstone bosons (or, equivalently,
longitudinal polarizations of massive gauge fields) and scalars coupled to
energy-momentum type sources. Classicalization has interesting phenomenological
applications for the UV-completion of the Standard Model both with or without
the Higgs. In the Higgless Standard Model the high-energy scattering amplitudes
of longitudinal -bosons self-unitarize via classicalization, without the
help of any new weakly-coupled physics. Alternatively, in the presence of a
Higgs boson, classicalization could explain the stabilization of the hierarchy.
In both scenarios the high-energy scatterings are dominated by the formation of
classicalons, which subsequently decay into many particle states. The
experimental signatures at the LHC are quite distinctive, with sharp
differences in the two cases.Comment: 37 page
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