6,305 research outputs found
Legendre expansion of the neutrino-antineutrino annihilation kernel: Influence of high order terms
We calculate the Legendre expansion of the rate of the process up to 3rd order extending previous results
of other authors which only consider the 0th and 1st order terms. Using
different closure relations for the moment equations of the radiative transfer
equation we discuss the physical implications of taking into account quadratic
and cubic terms on the energy deposition outside the neutrinosphere in a
simplified model. The main conclusion is that 2nd order is necessary in the
semi-transparent region and gives good results if an appropriate closure
relation is used.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. To be published in A&A Supplement Serie
Generally covariant theories: the Noether obstruction for realizing certain space-time diffeomorphisms in phase space
Relying on known results of the Noether theory of symmetries extended to
constrained systems, it is shown that there exists an obstruction that prevents
certain tangent-space diffeomorphisms to be projectable to phase-space, for
generally covariant theories. This main result throws new light on the old fact
that the algebra of gauge generators in the phase space of General Relativity,
or other generally covariant theories, only closes as a soft algebra and not a
a Lie algebra.
The deep relationship between these two issues is clarified. In particular,
we see that the second one may be understood as a side effect of the procedure
to solve the first. It is explicitly shown how the adoption of specific
metric-dependent diffeomorphisms, as a way to achieve projectability, causes
the algebra of gauge generators (constraints) in phase space not to be a Lie
algebra --with structure constants-- but a soft algebra --with structure {\it
functions}.Comment: 22 pages, version to be published in Classical & Quantum Gravit
Faddeev-Jackiw approach to gauge theories and ineffective constraints
The general conditions for the applicability of the Faddeev-Jackiw approach
to gauge theories are studied. When the constraints are effective a new proof
in the Lagrangian framework of the equivalence between this method and the
Dirac approach is given. We find, however, that the two methods may give
different descriptions for the reduced phase space when ineffective constraints
are present. In some cases the Faddeev-Jackiw approach may lose some
constraints or some equations of motion. We believe that this inequivalence can
be related to the failure of the Dirac conjecture (that says that the Dirac
Hamiltonian can be enlarged to an Extended Hamiltonian including all first
class constraints, without changes in the dynamics) and we suggest that when
the Dirac conjecture fails the Faddeev-Jackiw approach fails to give the
correct dynamics. Finally we present some examples that illustrate this
inequivalence.Comment: 21 pages, Latex. To be published in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Local rectification of heat flux
We present a chain-of-atoms model where heat is rectified, with different
fluxes from the hot to the cold baths located at the chain boundaries when the
temperature bias is reversed. The chain is homogeneous except for boundary
effects and a local modification of the interactions at one site, the
"impurity". The rectification mechanism is due here to the localized impurity,
the only asymmetrical element of the structure, apart from the externally
imposed temperature bias, and does not rely on putting in contact different
materials or other known mechanisms such as grading or long-range interactions.
The effect survives if all interaction forces are linear except the ones for
the impurity.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Proceedings of the 2nd Iberian Nuclear Astrophysics Meeting on Compact Stars
This volume contains most of the links to the presentations delivered at this
international workshop. This meeting was the second in the series following the
previous I Encuentro Ib\'erico de Compstar, held at the University of Coimbra,
Portugal in 2010. The main purpose of this meeting was to strengthen the
scientific collaboration between the participants of the Iberian and the rest
of the southern European branches of the European Nuclear Astrophysics network,
formerly, COMPSTAR. This ESF (European Science Foundation) supported network
has been crucial in helping to make a broader audience for the the most
interesting and relevant research lines being developed currently in Nuclear
Astrophysics, especially related to the physics of neutron stars. The program
of the meeting was tailored to theoretical descriptions of the physics of
neutron stars although some input from experimental observers and other
condensed matter and optics areas of interest was also included.Comment: Journal of Physics: Conference Series Volume 342 (2012), Proceedings
of the 2nd Iberian Nuclear Astrophysics Meeting on Compact Stars, 22-23
September 2011, Salamanca-Spain. Editors, M. A. Perez-Garcia, J. Pons and C.
Albertus Editor
Evolutionary Laws, Initial Conditions, and Gauge Fixing in Constrained Systems
We describe in detail how to eliminate nonphysical degrees of freedom in the
Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of a constrained system. Two important
and distinct steps in our method are the fixing of ambiguities in the dynamics
and the determination of inequivalent initial data. The Lagrangian discussion
is novel, and a proof is given that the final number of degrees of freedom in
the two formulations agrees. We give applications to reparameterization
invariant theories, where we prove that one of the constraints must be
explicitly time dependent. We illustrate our procedure with the examples of
trajectories in spacetime and with spatially homogeneous cosmological models.
Finally, we comment briefly on Dirac's extended Hamiltonian technique.Comment: 23 pages; plain TeX. To appear: Classical & Quantum Gravit
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