Dimensional curvature identities on pseudo-Riemannian geometry

The curvature tensor of a pseudo-Riemannian metric, and its covariant derivatives, satisfy certain identities that hold on any manifold of dimension less or equal than $n$. In this paper, we re-elaborate recent results by Gilkey-Park-Sekigawa regarding $p$-covariant dimensional curvature identities, for $p=0,2$. To this end, we use the classical theory of natural operations, that allows us to simplify some arguments and to generalize the description of Gilkey-Park-Sekigawa. Thus, our main result describes the first space of $p$-covariant dimensional curvature identities, for any even $p$.Comment: Polished version. 15 page

Lovelock's theorem revisited

Let (X, g) be an arbitrary pseudo-riemannian manifold. A celebrated result by Lovelock gives an explicit description of all second-order natural (0,2)-tensors on X, that satisfy the conditions of being symmetric and divergence-free. Apart from the dual metric, the Einstein tensor of g is the simplest example. In this paper, we give a short and self-contained proof of this theorem, simplifying the existing one by formalizing the notion of derivative of a natural tensor.Comment: 9 page

Automorphisms of classical geometries in the sense of Klein

In this note, we compute the group of automorphisms of Projective, Affine and Euclidean Geometries in the sense of Klein. As an application, we give a simple construction of the outer automorphism of S_6.Comment: 8 page

Virasoro Orbits, AdS_3 Quantum Gravity and Entropy

We analyse the canonical structure of AdS_3 gravity in terms of the coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group. There is one subset of orbits, associated to BTZ black hole solutions, that can be described by a pair of chiral free fields with a background charge. There is also a second subset of orbits, associated to point-particle solutions, that are described by two pairs of chiral free fields obeying a constraint. All these orbits admit K\"ahler quantization and generate a Hilbert space which, despite of having $\Delta_0(\bar{\Delta}_0)=0$, does not provide the right degeneracy to account for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy due to the breakdown of modular invariance. Therefore, additional degrees of freedom, reestablishing modular invariance, are necessarily required to properly account for the black hole entropy.Comment: LaTex file, 12 pages. New references adde

B\"acklund transformations in 2D dilaton gravity

We give a B\"acklund transformation connecting a generic 2D dilaton gravity theory to a generally covariant free field theory. This transformation provides an explicit canonical transformation relating both theories.Comment: LaTeX file, 7 page

A new approach to the solar oxygen abundance problem

In this work we present new data that sets strong constraints on the solar oxygen abundance. Our approach, based on the analysis of spectro-polarimetric observations, is almost model-independent and therefore extremely robust. The asymmetry of the Stokes V profile of the 6300 A [OI] and NiI blend is used as an indicator of the relative abundances of these two elements. The peculiar shape of the profile requires a value of EO = 730+/-100 ppm (parts per million), or logEO = 8.86+/-0.07 in the logarithmic scale commonly used in Astrophysics. The uncertainty range includes the model dependence as well as uncertainties in the oscillator strengths of the lines. We emphasize that the very low degree of model dependence in our analysis makes it very reliable compared to traditional determinations.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 12 pages, 3 figures, referee format. This is the replacement of a previous version of the paper. Our revised analysis takes into consideration the formation of molecules, resulting in a substantially larger value for the derived Oxygen abundanc

Extensions of system signatures to dependent lifetimes: Explicit expressions and interpretations

The concept of system signature was introduced by Samaniego for systems whose components have i.i.d. lifetimes. We consider its extension to the continuous dependent case and give an explicit expression for this extension as a difference of weighted means of the structure function values. We then derive a formula for the computation of the coefficients of these weighted means in the special case of independent continuous lifetimes. Finally, we interpret this extended concept of signature through a natural least squares approximation problem