Parabolic dunes in north-eastern Brazil

In this work we present measurements of vegetation cover over parabolic dunes with different degree of activation along the north-eastern Brazilian coast. We are able to extend the local values of the vegetation cover density to the whole dune by correlating measurements with the gray-scale levels of a high resolution satellite image of the dune field. The empirical vegetation distribution is finally used to validate the results of a recent continuous model of dune motion coupling sand erosion and vegetation growth.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, aubmitted to Geomorpholog

Chiral String in a Curved Space: Gravitational Self-Action

We analyze the effective action describing the linearised gravitational self-action for a classical superconducting string in a curved spacetime. It is shown that the divergent part of the effective action is equal to zero for the both Nambu-Goto and chiral superconducting string.Comment: 5 pages, LaTe

Self-Forces on Electric and Magnetic Linear Sources in the Space-Time of a Cosmic String

In this paper we calculate the magnetic and electric self-forces, induced by the conical structure of a cosmic string space-time, on a long straight wire which presents either a constant current or a linear charge density. We also show how these self-forces are related by a Lorentz tranformation and, in this way, explain what two different inertial observers detect in their respective frames.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, to be published in Phys. Rev. D

Self-forces in the Spacetime of Multiple Cosmic Strings

We calculate the electromagnetic self-force on a stationary linear distribution of four-current in the spacetime of multiple cosmic strings. It is shown that if the current is infinitely thin and stretched along a line which is parallel to the strings the problem admits an explicit solution.Comment: This paper has been produced in Latex format and has 18 page

Relativistic Quantum Scattering on a Cone

We study the relativistic quantum mechanical scattering of a bosonic particle by an infinite straight cosmic string, considering the non-minimal coupling between the bosonic field and the scalar curvature. In this case, an effective two-dimensional delta-function interaction takes place besides the usual topological scattering and a renormalization procedure is necessary in order to treat the problem that appears in connection with the delta-function.Comment: 22 pages, LATEX fil