Lookback time bounds from energy conditions

In general relativity, the energy conditions are invoked to restrict general energy-momentum tensors on physical grounds. We show that in the standard Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) approach to cosmological modeling, where the energy and matter components of the cosmic fluid are unknown, the energy conditions provide model-independent bounds on the behavior of the lookback time of cosmic sources as a function of the redshift for any value of the spatial curvature. We also confront such bounds with a lookback time sample which is built from the age estimates of 32 galaxies lying in the interval $0.11 \lesssim z \lesssim 1.84$ and by assuming the total expanding age of the Universe to be $13.7 \pm 0.2$ Gyr, as obtained from current cosmic microwave background experiments. In agreement with previous results, we show that all energy conditions seem to have been violated at some point of the recent past of cosmic evolution.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. v2: Minor changes, published in Phys.Rev.D in the present for

Energy Conditions and Cosmic Acceleration

In general relativity, the energy conditions are invoked to restrict general energy-momentum tensors $T_{\mu\nu}$ in different frameworks, and to derive general results that hold in a variety of general contexts on physical grounds. We show that in the standard Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) approach, where the equation of state of the cosmological fluid is unknown, the energy conditions provide model-independent bounds on the behavior of the distance modulus of cosmic sources as a function of the redshift for any spatial curvature. We use the most recent type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) observations, which include the new Hubble Space Telescope SNe Ia events, to carry out a model-independent analysis of the energy conditions violation in the context of the standard cosmology. We show that both the null (NEC), weak (WEC) and dominant (DEC) conditions, which are associated with the existence of the so-called phantom fields, seem to have been violated only recently ($z \lesssim 0.2$), whereas the condition for attractive gravity, i.e., the strong energy condition (SEC) was firstly violated billions of years ago, at $z \gtrsim 1$.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. v2: References added, misprints corrected, published in Phys.Rev.D in the present for

Generalized Hermite-Gauss decomposition of the two-photon state produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We provide a general decomposition of the two-photon state produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion in Hermite-Gaussian modes, in the case that the pump beam is described by a Hermite-Gaussian beam of any order. We show that the spatial correlations depend explicitly on the order of the pump beam, as well as other experimental parameters. We use the decomposition to demonstrate a few interesting cases. Our results are applicable to the engineering of two-photon spatial entanglement, in particular for non-Gaussian states.Comment: 14 page draft, 5 figure

Tolerância de hibridos de milho ao herbicida nicosulfuron.

Como objetivo de avaliar a tolerância dos híbridos de milho BRS 3060, 3101, 2114 e 2110 a doses crescentes do herbicida nicosulfuron. foi instalado um ensaio de campo na área experimental do Centro de Pesquisa da Embrapa Milho e Sorgo, município de Sete Lagoas-MG. durante o ano agrícola 1998/1999. A densidade de plantio foi de 50.000 plantas por hectare, e as doses do nicosulfuron foram de 50, 60 e 70 g ta. ha' -1, mais um tratamento testemunha que não recebeu aplicação do produto. mas que permaneceu limpo durante todo o ciclo da cultura. O delineamento experimental adotado foi em blocos ao acaso com três repetições, em esquema fatorial 4 x 4. A aplicação do produto foi realizada quando as plantas de milho se encontravam no estádio de quatro a seis folhas, ou seja, 20 dias após emergência das plantas. As avaliações de fitotoxicidade foram feitas aos 7, 14 e 21 dias após aplicação dos tratamentos herbicida. Somente o BRS 3060 permaneceu com efeito fitotóxico muito leve nas avaliações realizadas aos 14 e 21 dias após aplicação, sem comprometer o rendimento de grãos. Os resultados indicam que o herbicida nicosulfuron pode ser aplicado para o controle de plantas daninhas em híbridos de milho BRS 3060, 3101. 2114 e 2110 nas doses de 50 a 70 g ta. ha -1, sem causar danos significativos ao desenvolvimento e à produção da cultura