1,161 research outputs found
Composite fields, generalized hypergeometric functions and the symmetry in the AdS/CFT correspondence
We discuss the concept of composite fields in flat CFT as well as in the
context of AdS/CFT. Furthermore we show how to represent Green functions using
generalized hypergeometric functions and apply these techniques to four-point
functions. Finally we prove an identity of symmetry for four-point
functions.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
Fast magnetic reconnection in laser-produced plasma bubbles
Recent experiments have observed magnetic reconnection in
high-energy-density, laser-produced plasma bubbles, with reconnection rates
observed to be much higher than can be explained by classical theory. Based on
fully kinetic particle simulations we find that fast reconnection in these
strongly driven systems can be explained by magnetic flux pile-up at the
shoulder of the current sheet and subsequent fast reconnection via two-fluid,
collisionless mechanisms. In the strong drive regime with two-fluid effects, we
find that the ultimate reconnection time is insensitive to the nominal system
Alfven time.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. Let
Primordial helium recombination II: two-photon processes
Interpretation of precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background
(CMB) will require a detailed understanding of the recombination era, which
determines such quantities as the acoustic oscillation scale and the Silk
damping scale. This paper is the second in a series devoted to the subject of
helium recombination, with a focus on two-photon processes in He I. The
standard treatment of these processes includes only the spontaneous two-photon
decay from the 2^1S level. We extend this treatment by including five
additional effects, some of which have been suggested in recent papers but
whose impact on He I recombination has not been fully quantified. These are:
(i) stimulated two-photon decays; (ii) two-photon absorption of redshifted HeI
line radiation; (iii) two-photon decays from highly excited levels in HeI (n^1S
and n^1D, with n>=3); (iv) Raman scattering; and (v) the finite width of the
2^1P^o resonance. We find that effect (iii) is highly suppressed when one takes
into account destructive interference between different intermediate states
contributing to the two-photon decay amplitude. Overall, these effects are
found to be insignificant: they modify the recombination history at the level
of several parts in 10^4.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, to be submitted to PR
Absorption of Ultrashort Laser Pulses in Strongly Overdense Targets
We report on the first absorption experiments of sub-10 fs high-contrast
Ti:Sa laser pulses incident on solid targets. The very good contrast of the
laser pulse assures the formation of a very small pre-plasma and the pulse
interacts with the matter close to solid density. Experimental results indicate
that p-polarized laser pulses are absorbed up to 80 percent at 80 degrees
incidence angle. The simulation results of PSC PIC code clearly confirm the
observations and show that the collisionless absorption works efficiently in
steep density profiles
A Signature of Cosmic Strings Wakes in the CMB Polarization
We calculate a signature of cosmic strings in the polarization of the cosmic
microwave background (CMB). We find that ionization in the wakes behind moving
strings gives rise to extra polarization in a set of rectangular patches in the
sky whose length distribution is scale-invariant. The length of an individual
patch is set by the co-moving Hubble radius at the time the string is
perturbing the CMB. The polarization signal is largest for string wakes
produced at the earliest post-recombination time, and for an alignment in which
the photons cross the wake close to the time the wake is created. The maximal
amplitude of the polarization relative to the temperature quadrupole is set by
the overdensity of free electrons inside a wake which depends on the ionization
fraction inside the wake. The signal can be as high as
in degree scale polarization for a string at high redshift (near recombination)
and a string tension given by .Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Spinfoams in the holomorphic representation
We study a holomorphic representation for spinfoams. The representation is
obtained via the Ashtekar-Lewandowski-Marolf-Mour\~ao-Thiemann coherent state
transform. We derive the expression of the 4d spinfoam vertex for Euclidean and
for Lorentzian gravity in the holomorphic representation. The advantage of this
representation rests on the fact that the variables used have a clear
interpretation in terms of a classical intrinsic and extrinsic geometry of
space. We show how the peakedness on the extrinsic geometry selects a single
exponential of the Regge action in the semiclassical large-scale asymptotics of
the spinfoam vertex.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, published versio
Impact of reionization on CMB polarization tests of slow-roll inflation
Estimates of inflationary parameters from the CMB B-mode polarization
spectrum on the largest scales depend on knowledge of the reionization history,
especially at low tensor-to-scalar ratio. Assuming an incorrect reionization
history in the analysis of such polarization data can strongly bias the
inflationary parameters. One consequence is that the single-field slow-roll
consistency relation between the tensor-to-scalar ratio and tensor tilt might
be excluded with high significance even if this relation holds in reality. We
explain the origin of the bias and present case studies with various tensor
amplitudes and noise characteristics. A more model-independent approach can
account for uncertainties about reionization, and we show that parametrizing
the reionization history by a set of its principal components with respect to
E-mode polarization removes the bias in inflationary parameter measurement with
little degradation in precision.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.
Harmonics generation in electron-ion collisions in a short laser pulse
Anomalously high generation efficiency of coherent higher field-harmonics in
collisions between {\em oppositely charged particles} in the field of
femtosecond lasers is predicted. This is based on rigorous numerical solutions
of a quantum kinetic equation for dense laser plasmas which overcomes
limitations of previous investigations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps-figures include
The use of detrital mineral thermochronology to explore relationships among climate, erosion, and tectonics in the Nepal Himalaya
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2006.Includes bibliographical references.Numerical and analytical models of orogenic growth suggest that erosion can focus deformation in active convergent orogens, leading to a debate over the relative influence of climatic and tectonic forcing on erosion. In this thesis, geologic and observations, thermochronology, and thermo-kinematic numerical modeling are combined to quantify variations in long-term erosion in the Nepal Himalaya. Detrital mineral thermochronology is explored as a tool for quantifying tectonic and geomorphic process rates at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. The assumptions upon which catchment-wide erosion rate estimates based on detrital data depend are evaluated using statistical comparisons of 40Ar/39Ar ages from Nepal and catchment area-elevation distributions. Bedrock 40Ar/39Ar data indicate that erosion rate estimates from detrital thermochronology yield the same rate as the traditional approach of analyzing bedrock cooling ages over a range of elevations. Both bedrock and detrital 40Ar/39Ar data suggest a major acceleration of erosion rates at the Himalayan range front, and apatite fission-track data are used to pinpoint the timing of this acceleration to between 2.5 and 0.9 million years ago.(cont.) Three-dimensional thermal modeling indicates that the effects of topography, erosion, and rock exhumation pathways on age-elevation relationships do not compromise! this conclusion. While the time frame for this change corresponds to that of an important destabilization of global climate, there is no evidence for a change in tectonic forcing during this interval. These timing constraints support the hypothesis that climate can exert a first-order control on erosion in the evolution of orogens. If climate strongly influences long-term erosion and erosion and deformation are coupled through gravitational feedbacks, then a persistent style of deformation would be expected where monsoon precipitation and erosion have been focused at the Himalayan front for millions of years. Implications of such feedbacks for the steady-state evolution of the range are explored in a detailed analysis of the structural configuration at this position. Future studies of the strength of feedbacks among climate and tectonic forcing, erosion, and deformation are warranted. Creative applications of detrital thermochronology may be used in such studies to constrain landscape response time to climatic and tectonic perturbations.by Katharine W. Ruhl.Ph.D
The microcanonical ensemble of the ideal relativistic quantum gas with angular momentum conservation
We derive the microcanonical partition function of the ideal relativistic
quantum gas with fixed intrinsic angular momentum as an expansion over fixed
multiplicities. We developed a group theoretical approach by generalizing known
projection techniques to the Poincare' group. Our calculation is carried out in
a quantum field framework and applies to particles with any spin. It extends
known results in literature in that it does not introduce any large volume
approximation and it takes particle spin fully into account. We provide
expressions of the microcanonical partition function at fixed multiplicities in
the limiting classical case of large volumes and large angular momenta and in
the grand-canonical ensemble. We also derive the microcanonical partition
function of the ideal relativistic quantum gas with fixed parity.Comment: 38 pages; minor corrections to the formulae for the published versio
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