On a common misunderstanding of the Birkhoff theorem and light deflection calculation: generalized Shapiro delay and its possible laboratory test

In Newtonian gravity (NG) it is known that the gravitational field anywhere inside a spherically symmetric distribution of mass is determined only by the enclosed mass. This is also widely believed to be true in general relativity (GR), and the Birkhoff theorem is often invoked to support this analogy between NG and GR. Here we show that such an understanding of the Birkhoff theorem is incorrect and leads to erroneous calculations of light deflection and delay time through matter. The correct metric, matching continuously to the location of an external observer, is determined both by the enclosed mass and mass distribution outside. The effect of the outside mass is to make the interior clock run slower, i.e., a slower speed of light for external observer. We also discuss the relations and differences between NG and GR, in light of the results we obtained in this Lettework. Finally we discuss the Generalized Shapiro delay, caused by the outside mass, and its possible laboratory test.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, invited talk in the 2nd Galileo-Xu Guangqi Meeing, Italy, 2011, IJMPD in pres

Region of the anomalous compression under Bondi-Hoyle accretion

We investigate the properties of an axisymmetric non-magnetized gas flow without angular momentum on a small compact object, in particular, on a Schwarzschild black hole in the supersonic region near the object; the velocity of the object itself is assumed to be low compared to the speed of sound at infinity. First of all, we see that the streamlines intersect (i.e., a caustic forms) on the symmetry axis at a certain distance $r_x$ from the center on the front side if the pressure gradient is neglected. The characteristic radial size of the region, in which the streamlines emerging from the sonic surface at an angle no larger than $\theta_0$ to the axis intersect, is $\Delta r= r_x\theta^2_0/3.$ To refine the flow structure in this region, we numerically compute the system in the adiabatic approximation without ignoring the pressure. We estimate the parameters of the inferred region with anomalously high matter temperature and density accompanied by anomalously high energy release.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

A Solution to the Protostellar Accretion Problem

Accretion rates of order 10^-8 M_\odot/yr are observed in young protostars of approximately a solar mass with evidence of circumstellar disks. The accretion rate is significantly lower for protostars of smaller mass, approximately proportional to the second power of the stellar mass, \dot{M}_accr\propto M^2. The traditional view is that the observed accretion is the consequence of the angular momentum transport in isolated protostellar disks, controlled by disk turbulence or self--gravity. However, these processes are not well understood and the observed protostellar accretion, a fundamental aspect of star formation, remains an unsolved problem. In this letter we propose the protostellar accretion rate is controlled by accretion from the large scale gas distribution in the parent cloud, not by the isolated disk evolution. Describing this process as Bondi--Hoyle accretion, we obtain accretion rates comparable to the observed ones. We also reproduce the observed dependence of the accretion rate on the protostellar mass. These results are based on realistic values of the ambient gas density and velocity, as inferred from numerical simulations of star formation in self--gravitating turbulent clouds.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, ApJ Letters, in pres

A note on Dolby and Gull on radar time and the twin "paradox"

Recently a suggestion has been made that standard textbook representations of hypersurfaces of simultaneity for the travelling twin in the twin "paradox" are incorrect. This suggestion is false: the standard textbooks are in agreement with a proper understanding of the relativity of simultaneity.Comment: LaTeX, 3 pages, 2 figures. Update: added new section V and updated reference

Extended radio emission in BL Lac objects - I: the images

We have observed 28 sources selected from the 1Jy sample of BL Lac objects (Stickel et al. 1991) with the Very Large Array (VLA) in A, B and D configurations at 1.36, 1.66 and 4.85 GHz, and/or with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) at 1.40 GHz. In this paper we present high sensitivity images at arcsecond resolution of the 18 objects showing extended structure in our images, and of another source from the FIRST (Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm) survey (Becker et al. 1995). In general our high sensitivity images reveal an amount of extended emission larger than previously reported. In some objects the luminosity of the extended structure is comparable with that of FR~II radio sources. A future paper will be devoted to the interpretation of these results.Comment: 12 pages, 35 figures, to appear on A&A Supp. Ser., postscript file with figures included available at http://www.ira.noto.cnr.it/staff/carlo/ds1030.ps.g

On the stability of self-gravitating accreting flows

Analytic methods show stability of the stationary accretion of test fluids but they are inconclusive in the case of self-gravitating stationary flows. We investigate numerically stability of those stationary flows onto compact objects that are transonic and rich in gas. In all studied examples solutions appear stable. Numerical investigation suggests also that the analogy between sonic and event horizons holds for small perturbations of compact support but fails in the case of finite perturbations.Comment: 10 pages, accepted for publication in PR

Reflection and Transmission at the Apparent Horizon during Gravitational Collapse

We examine the wave-functionals describing the collapse of a self-gravitating dust ball in an exact quantization of the gravity-dust system. We show that ingoing (collapsing) dust shell modes outside the apparent horizon must necessarily be accompanied by outgoing modes inside the apparent horizon, whose amplitude is suppressed by the square root of the Boltzmann factor at the Hawking temperature. Likewise, ingoing modes in the interior must be accompanied by outgoing modes in the exterior, again with an amplitude suppressed by the same factor. A suitable superposition of the two solutions is necessary to conserve the dust probability flux across the apparent horizon, thus each region contains both ingoing and outgoing dust modes. If one restricts oneself to considering only the modes outside the apparent horizon then one should think of the apparent horizon as a partial reflector, the probability for a shell to reflect being given by the Boltzmann factor at the Hawking temperature determined by the mass contained within it. However, if one considers the entire wave function, the outgoing wave in the exterior is seen to be the transmission through the horizon of the interior outgoing wave that accompanies the collapsing shells. This transmission could allow information from the interior to be transferred to the exterior.Comment: 19 pages, no figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Hydromagnetic and gravitomagnetic crust-core coupling in a precessing neutron star

We consider two types of mechanical coupling between the crust and the core of a precessing neutron star. First, we find that a hydromagnetic (MHD) coupling between the crust and the core strongly modifies the star's precessional modes when $t_a\le\sim (T_s\times T_p)^{1/2}$; here $t_a$ is the Alfven crossing timescale, and $T_s$ and $T_p$ are the star's spin and precession periods, respectively. We argue that in a precessing pulsar PSR B1828-11 the restoring MHD stress prevents a free wobble of the crust relative to the non-precessing core. Instead, the crust and the proton-electron plasma in the core must precess in unison, and their combined ellipticity determines the period of precession. Link has recently shown that the neutron superfluid vortices in the core of PSR B1828-11 cannot be pinned to the plasma; he has also argued that this lack of pinning is expected if the proton Fermi liquid in the core is type-I superconductor. In this case, the neutron superfluid is dynamically decoupled from the precessing motion. The pulsar's precession decays due to the mutual friction between the neutron superfluid and the plasma in the core. The decay is expected to occur over tens to hundreds of precession periods and may be measurable over a human lifetime. Such a measurement would provide information about the strong n-p interaction in the neutron-star core. Second, we consider the effect of gravitomagnetic coupling between the neutron superfluid in the core and the rest of the star and show that this coupling changes the rate of precession by about 10%. The general formalism developed in this paper may be useful for other applications.Comment: 6 page

Magnetically Accreting Isolated Old Neutron Stars

Previous work on the emission from isolated old neutron stars (IONS) accreting the inter-stellar medium (ISM) focussed on gravitational capture - Bondi accretion. We propose a new class of sources which accrete via magnetic interaction with the ISM. While for the Bondi mechanism, the accretion rate decreases with increasing NS velocity, in magnetic accretors (MAGACs="magics") the accretion rate increases with increasing NS velocity. MAGACs will be produced among high velocity (~> 100 km s-1) high magnetic field (B> 1e14 G) radio pulsars - the ``magnetars'' - after they have evolved first through magnetic dipole spin-down, followed by a ``propeller'' phase (when the object sheds angular momentum on a timescale ~< 1e10 yr). The properties of MAGACS may be summarized thus: dipole magnetic fields of B~>1e14 G; minimum velocities relative to the ISM of >25-100 km s-1, depending on B, well below the median in the observed radio-pulsar population; spin-periods of >days to years; accretion luminosities of 1e28- 1e31 ergs s-1 ; and effective temperatures kT=0.3 - 2.5 keV if they accrete onto the magnetic polar cap. We find no examples of MAGACs among previously observed source classes (anomalous X-ray pulsars, soft-gamma-ray repeaters or known IONS). However, MAGACs may be more prevelant in flux-limited X-ray catalogs than their gravitationally accreting counterparts.Comment: ApJ, accepte

No news for Kerr-Schild fields

Algebraically special fields with no gravitational radiation are described. Kerr-Schild fields, which include as a concrete case the Kinnersley photon rocket, form an important subclass of them.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex