598 research outputs found
Relativistic analysis of the LISA long range optical links
The joint ESA/NASA LISA mission consists in three spacecraft on heliocentric
orbits, flying in a triangular formation of 5 Mkm each side, linked by infrared
optical beams. The aim of the mission is to detect gravitational waves in a low
frequency band. For properly processing the science data, the propagation
delays between spacecraft must be accurately known. We thus analyse the
propagation of light between spacecraft in order to systematically derive the
relativistic effects due to the static curvature of the Schwarzschild spacetime
in which the spacecraft are orbiting with time-varying light-distances. In
particular, our analysis allows to evaluate rigorously the Sagnac effect, and
the gravitational (Einstein) redshift.Comment: 6 figures; accepted for publication in PR
Gravitational waves about curved backgrounds: a consistency analysis in de Sitter spacetime
Gravitational waves are considered as metric perturbations about a curved
background metric, rather than the flat Minkowski metric since several
situations of physical interest can be discussed by this generalization. In
this case, when the de Donder gauge is imposed, its preservation under
infinitesimal spacetime diffeomorphisms is guaranteed if and only if the
associated covector is ruled by a second-order hyperbolic operator which is the
classical counterpart of the ghost operator in quantum gravity. In such a wave
equation, the Ricci term has opposite sign with respect to the wave equation
for Maxwell theory in the Lorenz gauge. We are, nevertheless, able to relate
the solutions of the two problems, and the algorithm is applied to the case
when the curved background geometry is the de Sitter spacetime. Such vector
wave equations are studied in two different ways: i) an integral
representation, ii) through a solution by factorization of the hyperbolic
equation. The latter method is extended to the wave equation of metric
perturbations in the de Sitter spacetime. This approach is a step towards a
general discussion of gravitational waves in the de Sitter spacetime and might
assume relevance in cosmology in order to study the stochastic background
emerging from inflation.Comment: 17 pages. Misprints amended in Eqs. 50, 54, 55, 75, 7
Heat Kernel Asymptotics on Homogeneous Bundles
We consider Laplacians acting on sections of homogeneous vector bundles over
symmetric spaces. By using an integral representation of the heat semi-group we
find a formal solution for the heat kernel diagonal that gives a generating
function for the whole sequence of heat invariants. We argue that the obtained
formal solution correctly reproduces the exact heat kernel diagonal after a
suitable regularization and analytical continuation.Comment: 29 pages, Proceedings of the 2007 Midwest Geometry Conference in
Honor of Thomas P. Branso
Complex Kerr Geometry and Nonstationary Kerr Solutions
In the frame of the Kerr-Schild approach, we consider the complex structure
of Kerr geometry which is determined by a complex world line of a complex
source. The real Kerr geometry is represented as a real slice of this complex
structure. The Kerr geometry is generalized to the nonstationary case when the
current geometry is determined by a retarded time and is defined by a
retarded-time construction via a given complex world line of source. A general
exact solution corresponding to arbitrary motion of a spinning source is
obtained. The acceleration of the source is accompanied by a lightlike
radiation along the principal null congruence. It generalizes to the rotating
case the known Kinnersley class of "photon rocket" solutions.Comment: v.3, revtex, 16 pages, one eps-figure, final version (to appear in
PRD), added the relation to twistors and algorithm of numerical computations,
English is correcte
Accurate proteome-wide protein quantification from high-resolution 15N mass spectra
In quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics, the metabolic incorporation of a single source of 15N-labeled nitrogen has many advantages over using stable isotope-labeled amino acids. However, the lack of a robust computational framework for analyzing the resulting spectra has impeded wide use of this approach. We have addressed this challenge by introducing a new computational methodology for analyzing 15N spectra in which quantification is integrated with identification. Application of this method to an Escherichia coli growth transition reveals significant improvement in quantification accuracy over previous methods
Parting with illusions in evolutionary ethics
I offer a critical analysis of a view that has become a dominant aspect of recent thought on the relationship between evolution and morality, and propose an alternative. An ingredient in Michael Ruse's 'error theory' (Ruse 1995) is that belief in moral (prescriptive, universal, and nonsubjective) guidelines arose in humans because such belief results in the performance of adaptive cooperative behaviors. This statement relies on two particular connections: between ostensible and intentional types of altruism, and between intentional altruism and morality. The latter connection is problematic because it makes morality redundant, its role having already been fulfilled by the psychological dispositions that constitute intentional altruism. Both behavioral ecology and moral psychology support this criticism, and neither human behavioral flexibility nor the self-regard / other-regard distinction can provide a defense of the error theory. I conclude that morality did not evolve to curb rampant selfishness; instead, the evolutionarily recent 'universal law' aspect of morality may function to update behavioral strategies which were adaptive in the paleolithic environment of our ancestors (to which our psychological dispositions are best adapted), by means of norms more appropriate to our novel social environment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42482/1/10539_2004_Article_5102509.pd
A Mean-Value Laplacian For Finsler Spaces
Part I of this thesis defines a Laplacian A for a Finsler space; we obtain A by requiring that ( A f) ( x) for a function f measures the infinitesimal average of f around x. This A is a linear, elliptic, 2nd-order differential operator. Furthermore, Af can be written in a divergence form, like the Riemannian Laplacian, but with respect to a canonical osculating Riemannian metric and Busemann's intrinsic volume form. We interpret divergence form as the result of minimizing a certain energy functional on Finsler space, and further use this approach to define harmonic forms, and harmonic mappings between Finsler manifolds. As a byprod-uct of the Laplacian, in Part I1 we derive a simple volume-form inequality which characterizes Riemannian manifolds, and define a scalar invariant V ( x) for Finsler spaces. We show that, on a Berwald space, the met-ric's first derivatives vanish in normal co-ordinates, and use that result t
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