2,633 research outputs found
CPT symmetry and antimatter gravity in general relativity
The gravitational behavior of antimatter is still unknown. While we may be
confident that antimatter is self-attractive, the interaction between matter
and antimatter might be either attractive or repulsive. We investigate this
issue on theoretical grounds. Starting from the CPT invariance of physical
laws, we transform matter into antimatter in the equations of both
electrodynamics and gravitation. In the former case, the result is the
well-known change of sign of the electric charge. In the latter, we find that
the gravitational interaction between matter and antimatter is a mutual
repulsion, i.e. antigravity appears as a prediction of general relativity when
CPT is applied. This result supports cosmological models attempting to explain
the Universe accelerated expansion in terms of a matter-antimatter repulsive
interaction.Comment: 6 pages, to be published in EPL (http://epljournal.edpsciences.org/
On the relevance of the mathematics curriculum to young people
In this paper we draw upon focus group data from a large study of learner trajectories through 14-19 mathematics education to think about the notion of relevance in the mathematics curriculum. Drawing on data from three socially distanced sites we explore how different emphases on what might be termed practical, process and/or professional forms of relevance affect the experiences and aspirations of learners of mathematics. We consider whether an emphasis on practical relevance in schools serving relatively disadvantaged communities might aid the reproduction of students’ social position. This leads us to suggest that a fourth category of curriculum relevance – political relevance – is largely missing from classrooms
Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology
This article explores some theoretical and methodological problems concerned with scale in education research through a critique of a recent mixed-method project. The project was framed by scale metaphors drawn from the physical and earth sciences and I consider how recent thinking around scale, for example in ecosystems and human geography might offer helpful points and angles of view on the challenges of thinking spatially in education research. Working between the spatial metaphors of ecology scholars and the critiques of the human geographers, for example the hypercomplex social space in Lefebvre’s political-economic thinking and the fluid, simultaneous, multiple spatialities of Massey’s post-structuralism, I problematize space and scale in education research. Interweaving these geographical ideas with Giddens’ structuration and Bourdieu’s theory of practice, both of which employed what might be termed scale-bridging to challenge social science’s entrenched paradigms, leads me to reconsider what is possible and desirable in the study of education systems. Following the spatial turn in the social sciences generally, there is an outstanding need to theorise multi-scale methodology for education research
Combined ultraviolet studies of astronomical sources
Ultraviolet studies of astronomical sources are discussed. Some studies utilized IVE data. Non-radiative shock at the edge of the Cygnses Loop, stellar flares, local interestellar medium, hot galaxies, stellar mass ejection, contact binaries, double quasars, and stellar chromosphere and coronae are discussed
Construction of Non-Perturbative, Unitary Particle-Antiparticle Amplitudes for Finite Particle Number Scattering Formalisms
Starting from a unitary, Lorentz invariant two-particle scattering amplitude
, we show how to use an identification and replacement process to construct a
unique, unitary particle-antiparticle amplitude. This process differs from
conventional on-shell Mandelstam s,t,u crossing in that the input and
constructed amplitudes can be off-diagonal and off-energy shell. Further,
amplitudes are constructed using the invariant parameters which are appropriate
to use as driving terms in the multi-particle, multichannel non-perturbative,
cluster decomposable, relativistic scattering equations of the Faddeev-type
integral equations recently presented by Alfred, Kwizera, Lindesay and Noyes.
It is therefore anticipated that when so employed, the resulting multi-channel
solutions will also be unitary. The process preserves the usual
particle-antiparticle symmetries. To illustrate this process, we construct a
J=0 scattering length model chosen for simplicity. We also exhibit a class of
physical models which contain a finite quantum mass parameter and are Lorentz
invariant. These are constructed to reduce in the appropriate limits, and with
the proper choice of value and sign of the interaction parameter, to the
asymptotic solution of the non-relativistic Coulomb problem, including the
forward scattering singularity, the essential singularity in the phase, and the
Bohr bound-state spectrum
Three-neutron resonance trajectories for realistic interaction models
Three-neutron resonances are investigated using realistic nucleon-nucleon
interaction models. The resonance pole trajectories are explored by first
adding an additional interaction to artificially bind the three-neutron system
and then gradually removing it. The pole positions for the three-neutron states
up to J=5/2 are localized in the third energy quadrant-Im (E)<=0, Re
(E)<=0-well before the additional interaction is removed. Our study shows that
realistic nucleon-nucleon interaction models exclude any possible experimental
signature of three-neutron resonances.Comment: 13 pages ; 8 figs ; 5 table
HAT-P-4b: A metal-rich low-density transiting hot Jupiter
We describe the discovery of HAT-P-4b, a low-density extrasolar planet
transiting BD+36 2593, a V = 11.2 mag slightly evolved metal-rich late F star.
The planet's orbital period is 3.056536+/-0.000057 d with a mid-transit epoch
of 2,454,245.8154 +/- 0.0003 (HJD). Based on high-precision photometric and
spectroscopic data, and by using transit light curve modeling, spectrum
analysis and evolutionary models, we derive the following planet parameters:
Mp= 0.68 +/- 0.04 MJ, Rp= 1.27 +/- 0.05 RJ, rho = 0.41 +/- 0.06 g cm-3 and a =
0.0446 +/- 0.0012 AU. Because of its relatively large radius, together with its
assumed high metallicity of that of its parent star, this planet adds to the
theoretical challenges to explain inflated extrasolar planets.Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publication in ApJ
Investigating participation in Advanced level mathematics: a study of student drop out
There has for some years been a growing concern about participation in university-entrance level mathematics in England and across the developed world. Extensive statistical analyses present the decline but offer little to help us understand the causes. In this paper we explore a concern which cannot be explored through national datasets, namely the retention of mathematics students on Advanced level mathematics courses. Drawing on survey data from fifteen secondary schools in the Midlands of England, we examine subject differences in decisions to study, withdraw from, and continue in a range of A level subjects. Not only is the rate of attrition from mathematics higher than most other subjects, but there are substantial differences between schools. In order to explore this high rate of attrition further we consider one school – Queensbury Park - in which a large proportion of students decided not to continue with their study of mathematics from year 12 to 13. Drawing on performance data and focus group interviews we explore some of the reasons for the students’ decisions
HAT-P-3b: A heavy-element rich planet transiting a K dwarf star
We report the discovery of a Jupiter-size planet transiting a relatively
bright (V = 11.56) and metal-rich early K dwarf star with a period of about 2.9
days. On the basis of follow-up photometry and spectroscopy we determine the
mass and radius of the planet, HAT-P-3b, to be M_p = 0.599 +/- 0.026 M_Jup and
R_p = 0.890 +/- 0.046 R_Jup. The relatively small size of the object for its
mass implies the presence of about 75 Earth masses worth of heavy elements (1/3
of the total mass) based on current theories of irradiated extrasolar giant
planets, similar to the mass of the core inferred for the transiting planet HD
149026b. The bulk density of HAT-P-3b is found to be rho_p = 1.06 +/- 0.17
g/cm^3, and the planet orbits the star at a distance of 0.03894 AU. Ephemerides
for the transit centers are T_c = 2,454,218.7594 +/- 0.0029 + N (2.899703 +/-
0.000054) (HJD).Comment: To appear in ApJ
Exoplanets or Dynamic Atmospheres? The Radial Velocity and Line Shape Variations of 51 Pegasi and Tau Bootis
Because of our relatively low spectral resolution, we compare our
observations with Gray's line bisector data by fitting observed line profiles
to an expansion in terms of orthogonal (Hermite) functions. To obtain an
accurate comparison, we model the emergent line profiles from rotating and
pulsating stars, taking the instrumental point spread function into account. We
describe this modeling process in detail.
We find no evidence for line profile or strength variations at the radial
velocity period in either 51 Peg or in Tau Boo. For 51 Peg, our upper limit for
line shape variations with 4.23-day periodicity is small enough to exclude with
10 sigma confidence the bisector curvature signal reported by Gray & Hatzes;
the bisector span and relative line depth signals reported by Gray (1997) are
also not seen, but in this case with marginal (2 sigma) confidence. We cannot,
however, exclude pulsations as the source of 51 Peg's radial velocity
variation, because our models imply that line shape variations associated with
pulsations should be much smaller than those computed by Gray & Hatzes; these
smaller signals are below the detection limits both for Gray & Hatzes' data and
for our own.
Tau Boo's large radial velocity amplitude and v*sin(i) make it easier to test
for pulsations in this star. Again we find no evidence for periodic line-shape
changes, at a level that rules out pulsations as the source of the radial
velocity variability. We conclude that the planet hypothesis remains the most
likely explanation for the existing data.Comment: 44 pages, 19 figures, plain TeX, accepted to ApJS (companion to
letter astro-ph/9712279
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