Outgoing gravitational shock-wave at the inner horizon: The late-time limit of black hole interiors

We investigate the interiors of 3+1 dimensional asymptotically flat charged and rotating black holes as described by observers who fall into the black holes at late times, long after any perturbations of the exterior region have decayed. In the strict limit of late infall times, the initial experiences of such observers are precisely described by the region of the limiting stationary geometry to the past of its inner horizon. However, we argue that late infall-time observers encounter a null shockwave at the location of the would-be outgoing inner horizon. In particular, for spherically symmetric black hole spacetimes we demonstrate that freely-falling observers experience a metric discontinuity across this shock, that is, a gravitational shock-wave. Furthermore, the magnitude of this shock is at least of order unity. A similar phenomenon of metric discontinuity appears to take place at the inner horizon of a generically-perturbed spinning black hole. We compare the properties of this null shockwave singularity with those of the null weak singularity that forms at the Cauchy horizon.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, minor change

Amino acid classes and the protein folding problem

We present and implement a distance-based clustering of amino acids within the framework of a statistically derived interaction matrix and show that the resulting groups faithfully reproduce, for well-designed sequences, thermodynamic stability in and kinetic accessibility to the native state. A simple interpretation of the groups is obtained by eigenanalysis of the interaction matrix.Comment: REVTeX, 11 pages, 4 figures, To appear in J. Chem. Phy

High Energy Hadron-Nucleus Cross Sections and Their Extrapolation to Cosmic Ray Energies

Old models of the scattering of composite systems based on the Glauber model of multiple diffraction are applied to hadron-nucleus scattering. We obtain an excellent fit with only two free parameters to the highest energy hadron-nucleus data available. Because of the quality of the fit and the simplicity of the model it is argued that it should continue to be reliable up to the highest cosmic ray energies. Logarithmic extrapolations of proton-proton and proton-antiproton data are used to calculate the proton-air cross sections at very high energy. Finally, it is observed that if the exponential behavior of the proton-antiproton diffraction peak continues into the few TeV energy range it will violate partial wave unitarity. We propose a simple modification that will guarantee unitarity throughout the cosmic ray energy region.Comment: 8 pages, 9 postscript figures. This manuscript replaces a partial manuscript incorrectly submitte

Formation of closed timelike curves in a composite vacuum/dust asymptotically-flat spacetime

We present a new asymptotically-flat time-machine model made solely of vacuum and dust. The spacetime evolves from a regular spacelike initial hypersurface S and subsequently develops closed timelike curves. The initial hypersurface S is asymptotically flat and topologically trivial. The chronology violation occurs in a compact manner; namely the first closed causal curves form at the boundary of the future domain of dependence of a compact region in S (the core). This central core is empty, and so is the external asymptotically flat region. The intermediate region surrounding the core (the envelope) is made of dust with positive energy density. This model trivially satisfies the weak, dominant, and strong energy conditions. Furthermore it is governed by a well-defined system of field equations which possesses a well-posed initial-value problem.Comment: 15 pages; accepted to Phys. Rev. D (no modifications

Trends and Regional Variation in Hip, Knee and Shoulder Replacement

Analyzes patterns in underuse or overuse of joint replacements among Medicare beneficiaries by geographic regions and race/ethnicity. Explores underlying factors and highlights the need for physician and patient education and shared decision making

Evaluation of diffusive gradients in thin-films using a Diphonix® resin for monitoring dissolved uranium in natural waters

Commercially available Diphonix® resin (TrisKem International) was evaluated as a receiving phase for use with the diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) passive sampler for measuring uranium. This resin has a high partition coefficient for actinides and is used in the nuclear industry. Other resins used as receiving phases with DGT for measuring uranium have been prone to saturation and significant chemical interferences. The performance of the device was evaluated in the laboratory and in field trials. In laboratory experiments uptake of uranium (all 100% efficiency) by the resin was unaffected by varying pH (4–9), ionic strength (0.01–1.00 M, as NaNO3) and varying aqueous concentrations of Ca2+ (100–500 mg L−1) and HCO3− (100–500 mg L−1). Due to the high partition coefficient of Diphonex®, several elution techniques for uranium were evaluated. The optimal eluent mixture was 1 M NaOH/1 M H2O2, eluting 90% of the uranium from the resin. Uptake of uranium was linear (R2 = 0.99) over time (5 days) in laboratory experiments using artificial freshwater showing no saturation effects of the resin. In field deployments (River Lambourn, UK) the devices quantitatively accumulated uranium for up to 7 days. In both studies uptake of uranium matched that theoretically predicted for the DGT. Similar experiments in seawater did not follow the DGT theoretical uptake and the Diphonix® appeared to be capacity limited and also affected by matrix interferences. Isotopes of uranium (U235/U238) were measured in both environments with a precision and accuracy of 1.6–2.2% and 1.2–1.4%, respectively. This initial study shows the potential of using Diphonix®-DGT for monitoring of uranium in the aquatic environment