124 research outputs found
Modified gravity without dark matter
On an empirical level, the most successful alternative to dark matter in
bound gravitational systems is the modified Newtonian dynamics, or MOND,
proposed by Milgrom. Here I discuss the attempts to formulate MOND as a
modification of General Relativity. I begin with a summary of the
phenomenological successes of MOND and then discuss the various covariant
theories that have been proposed as a basis for the idea. I show why these
proposals have led inevitably to a multi-field theory. I describe in some
detail TeVeS, the tensor-vector-scalar theory proposed by Bekenstein, and
discuss its successes and shortcomings. This lecture is primarily pedagogical
and directed to those with some, but not a deep, background in General
RelativityComment: 28 pages, 10 figures, lecture given at Third Aegean Summer School,
The Invisible Universe: Dark Matter and Dark Energy, minor errors corrected,
references update
An audit of uncertainty in multi-scale cardiac electrophysiology models
Models of electrical activation and recovery in cardiac cells and tissue have become valuable research tools, and are beginning to be used in safety-critical applications including guidance for clinical procedures and for drug safety assessment. As a consequence, there is an urgent need for a more detailed and quantitative understanding of the ways that uncertainty and variability influence model predictions. In this paper, we review the sources of uncertainty in these models at different spatial scales, discuss how uncertainties are communicated across scales, and begin to assess their relative importance. We conclude by highlighting important challenges that continue to face the cardiac modelling community, identifying open questions, and making recommendations for future studies.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Uncertainty quantification in cardiac and cardiovascular modelling and simulation’
Can the Pioneer anomaly be of gravitational origin? A phenomenological answer
In order to satisfy the equivalence principle, any non-conventional mechanism
proposed to gravitationally explain the Pioneer anomaly, in the form in which
it is presently known from the so-far analyzed Pioneer 10/11 data, cannot leave
out of consideration its impact on the motion of the planets of the Solar
System as well, especially those orbiting in the regions in which the anomalous
behavior of the Pioneer probes manifested itself. In this paper we, first,
discuss the residuals of the right ascension \alpha and declination \delta of
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto obtained by processing various data sets with
different, well established dynamical theories (JPL DE, IAA EPM, VSOP). Second,
we use the latest determinations of the perihelion secular advances of some
planets in order to put on the test two gravitational mechanisms recently
proposed to accommodate the Pioneer anomaly based on two models of modified
gravity. Finally, we adopt the ranging data to Voyager 2 when it encountered
Uranus and Neptune to perform a further, independent test of the hypothesis
that a Pioneer-like acceleration can also affect the motion of the outer
planets of the Solar System. The obtained answers are negative.Comment: Latex2e, 26 pages, 6 tables, 2 figure, 47 references. It is the
merging of gr-qc/0608127, gr-qc/0608068, gr-qc/0608101 and gr-qc/0611081.
Final version to appear in Foundations of Physic
Geometric Entanglement of Symmetric States and the Majorana Representation
Permutation-symmetric quantum states appear in a variety of physical
situations, and they have been proposed for quantum information tasks. This
article builds upon the results of [New J. Phys. 12, 073025 (2010)], where the
maximally entangled symmetric states of up to twelve qubits were explored, and
their amount of geometric entanglement determined by numeric and analytic
means. For this the Majorana representation, a generalization of the Bloch
sphere representation, can be employed to represent symmetric n qubit states by
n points on the surface of a unit sphere. Symmetries of this point distribution
simplify the determination of the entanglement, and enable the study of quantum
states in novel ways. Here it is shown that the duality relationship of
Platonic solids has a counterpart in the Majorana representation, and that in
general maximally entangled symmetric states neither correspond to anticoherent
spin states nor to spherical designs. The usability of symmetric states as
resources for measurement-based quantum computing is also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; submitted to Lecture Notes in Computer Science
(LNCS
Low-temperature co-sintering for fabrication of zirconia/ceria bi-layer electrolyte via tape casting using a Fe2O3 sintering aid
Bilayer electrolytes have potential in solid oxide cells to improve ionic conduction whilst blocking electronic
conduction. GDC/YSZ bilayer electrolyte processinghas provenproblematic due to thermochemical
instability at high sintering temperatures. We first match the shrinkage profile of the two bulk materials
using a Fe2O3 sintering additive. Additions of 5 mol% of Fe2O3 in the GDC layer and 2 mol% of Fe2O3 in
the YSZ layer prevents delamination during co-sintering. The addition of Fe2O3 promotes densification,
enabling achievement of a dense bilayer at a reduced sintering temperature of 1300 ◦C; ∼150 ◦C below
conventional sintering temperatures. Elemental analysis showed the compositional distribution curves
across the bilayer interface to be asymmetric when Fe2O3 is employed. The Fe2O3 increases the total
conductivity of the bilayer electrolyte by an order of magnitude; this is explained by the effect of Fe2O3
on reducing the resistive solid solution interlayer at YSZ/GDC interface from ∼15 to ∼5 m
A spatially-VSL gravity model with 1-PN limit of GRT
A scalar gravity model is developed according the 'geometric conventionalist'
approach introduced by Poincare (Einstein 1921, Poincare 1905, Reichenbach
1957, Gruenbaum1973). In principle this approach allows an alternative
interpretation and formulation of General Relativity Theory (GRT), with
distinct i) physical congruence standard, and ii) gravitation dynamics
according Hamilton-Lagrange mechanics, while iii) retaining empirical
indistinguishability with GRT. In this scalar model the congruence standards
have been expressed as gravitationally modified Lorentz Transformations
(Broekaert 2002). The first type of these transformations relate quantities
observed by gravitationally 'affected' (natural geometry) and 'unaffected'
(coordinate geometry) observers and explicitly reveal a spatially variable
speed of light (VSL). The second type shunts the unaffected perspective and
relates affected observers, recovering i) the invariance of the locally
observed velocity of light, and ii) the local Minkowski metric (Broekaert
2003). In the case of a static gravitation field the model retrieves the
phenomenology implied by the Schwarzschild metric. The case with proper source
kinematics is now described by introduction of a 'sweep velocity' field w: The
model then provides a hamiltonian description for particles and photons in full
accordance with the first Post-Newtonian approximation of GRT (Weinberg 1972,
Will 1993).Comment: v1: 11 pages, GR17 conf. paper, Dublin 2004, v2: WEP issue solved,
section on acceleration transformation added, text improved, more references,
same results, v3: typos removed, footnotes, added and references updated, v4:
appendix added, improved tex
High-field phase-diagram of Fe arsenide superconductors
Here, we report an overview of the phase diagram of single layered and double
layered Fe arsenide superconductors at high magnetic fields. Our systematic
magnetotransport measurements of polycrystalline SmFeAsOF at
different doping levels confirm the upward curvature of the upper critical
magnetic field as a function of temperature defining the phase
boundary between the superconducting and metallic states for crystallites with
the ab planes oriented nearly perpendicular to the magnetic field. We further
show from measurements on single crystals that this feature, which was
interpreted in terms of the existence of two superconducting gaps, is
ubiquitous among both series of single and double layered compounds. In all
compounds explored by us the zero temperature upper critical field ,
estimated either through the Ginzburg-Landau or the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg
single gap theories, strongly surpasses the weak coupling Pauli paramagnetic
limiting field. This clearly indicates the strong coupling nature of the
superconducting state and the importance of magnetic correlations for these
materials. Our measurements indicate that the superconducting anisotropy, as
estimated through the ratio of the effective masses for carriers moving along the c-axis and the ab planes,
respectively, is relatively modest as compared to the high- cuprates, but
it is temperature, field and even doping dependent. Finally, our preliminary
estimations of the irreversibility field , separating the vortex-solid
from the vortex-liquid phase in the single layered compounds, indicates that it
is well described by the melting of a vortex lattice in a moderately
anisotropic uniaxial superconductor.Comment: 12 pages, for Physica C, special issue on the Fe oxypnictides
(revised version
Determination of Superconducting Gap of SmFeAsFxO1-x Superconductors by Andreev Reflection Spectroscopy
The superconducting gap in FeAs-based superconductor SmFeAs(O1-xFx) (x = 0.15
and 0.30) and the temperature dependence of the sample with x = 0.15 have been
measured by Andreev reflection spectroscopy. The intrinsic superconducting gap
is independent of contacts while many other "gap-like" features vary
appreciably for different contacts. The determined gap value of 2D = 13.34
+/-0.47 meV for SmFeAs(O0.85F0.15) gives 2D/kBTC = 3.68, close to the BCS
prediction of 3.53. The superconducting gap decreases with temperature and
vanishes at TC, in a manner similar to the BCS behavior but dramatically
different from that of the nodal pseudogap behavior in cuprate superconductors.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, Special Issue of Physica C on Superconducting
Pnictide
Direct Simulation of a Solidification Benchmark Experiment
International audienceA solidification benchmark experiment is simulated using a three-dimensional cellular automaton-finite element solidification model. The experiment consists of a rectangular cavity containing a Sn-3 wt pct Pb alloy. The alloy is first melted and then solidified in the cavity. A dense array of thermocouples permits monitoring of temperatures in the cavity and in the heat exchangers surrounding the cavity. After solidification, the grain structure is revealed by metallography. X-ray radiography and inductively coupled plasma spectrometry are also conducted to access a distribution map of Pb, or macrosegregation map. The solidification model consists of solutions for heat, solute mass, and momentum conservations using the finite element method. It is coupled with a description of the development of grain structure using the cellular automaton method. A careful and direct comparison with experimental results is possible thanks to boundary conditions deduced from the temperature measurements, as well as a careful choice of the values of the material properties for simulation. Results show that the temperature maps and the macrosegregation map can only be approached with a three-dimensional simulation that includes the description of the grain structure
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