721 research outputs found
Lorenz-like systems and classical dynamical equations with memory forcing: a new point of view for singling out the origin of chaos
A novel view for the emergence of chaos in Lorenz-like systems is presented.
For such purpose, the Lorenz problem is reformulated in a classical mechanical
form and it turns out to be equivalent to the problem of a damped and forced
one dimensional motion of a particle in a two-well potential, with a forcing
term depending on the ``memory'' of the particle past motion. The dynamics of
the original Lorenz system in the new particle phase space can then be
rewritten in terms of an one-dimensional first-exit-time problem. The emergence
of chaos turns out to be due to the discontinuous solutions of the
transcendental equation ruling the time for the particle to cross the
intermediate potential wall. The whole problem is tackled analytically deriving
a piecewise linearized Lorenz-like system which preserves all the essential
properties of the original model.Comment: 48 pages, 25 figure
Stress tensor fluctuations in de Sitter spacetime
The two-point function of the stress tensor operator of a quantum field in de
Sitter spacetime is calculated for an arbitrary number of dimensions. We assume
the field to be in the Bunch-Davies vacuum, and formulate our calculation in
terms of de Sitter-invariant bitensors. Explicit results for free minimally
coupled scalar fields with arbitrary mass are provided. We find long-range
stress tensor correlations for sufficiently light fields (with mass m much
smaller than the Hubble scale H), namely, the two-point function decays at
large separations like an inverse power of the physical distance with an
exponent proportional to m^2/H^2. In contrast, we show that for the massless
case it decays at large separations like the fourth power of the physical
distance. There is thus a discontinuity in the massless limit. As a byproduct
of our work, we present a novel and simple geometric interpretation of de
Sitter-invariant bitensors for pairs of points which cannot be connected by
geodesics.Comment: 35 pages, 4 figure
How to Stop (Worrying and Love) the Bubble: Boundary Changing Solutions
We discover that a class of bubbles of nothing are embedded as time dependent
scaling limits of previous spacelike-brane solutions. With the right initial
conditions, a near-bubble solution can relax its expansion and open the compact
circle. Thermodynamics of the new class of solutions is discussed and the
relationships between brane/flux transitions, tachyon condensation and
imaginary D-branes are outlined. Finally, a related class of simultaneous
connected S-branes are also examined.Comment: 47 pages; v2 introduction to Weyl cards added, comments added,
references added, typos corrected, matches JHEP versio
D3/D7 Inflationary Model and M-theory
A proposal is made for a cosmological D3/D7 model with a constant magnetic
flux along the D7 world-volume. It describes an N=2 gauge model with
Fayet-Iliopoulos terms and the potential of the hybrid P-term inflation. The
motion of the D3-brane towards D7 in a phase with spontaneously broken
supersymmetry provides a period of slow-roll inflation in the de Sitter valley,
the role of the inflaton being played by the distance between D3 and D7-branes.
After tachyon condensation a supersymmetric ground state is formed: a D3/D7
bound state corresponding to an Abelian non-linear (non-commutative) instanton.
In this model the existence of a non-vanishing cosmological constant is
associated with the resolution of the instanton singularity. We discuss a
possible embedding of this model into a compactified M-theory setup.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX; v2, minor typos corrected, one reference
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Exposure Assessment Techniques Applied to the Highly Censored Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill Personal Measurements
The GuLF Long-term Follow-up Study (GuLF STUDY) is investigating potential adverse health effects of workers involved in the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill response and cleanup (OSRC). Over 93% of the 160 000 personal air measurements taken on OSRC workers were below the limit of detection (LOD), as reported by the analytic labs. At this high level of censoring, our ability to develop exposure estimates was limited. The primary objective here was to reduce the number of measurements below the labs' reported LODs to reflect the analytic methods' true LODs, thereby facilitating the use of a relatively unbiased and precise Bayesian method to develop exposure estimates for study exposure groups (EGs). The estimates informed a job-exposure matrix to characterize exposure of study participants. A second objective was to develop descriptive statistics for relevant EGs that did not meet the Bayesian criteria of sample size ≥5 and censoring ≤80% to achieve the aforementioned level of bias and precision. One of the analytic labs recalculated the measurements using the analytic method's LOD; the second lab provided raw analytical data, allowing us to recalculate the data values that fell between the originally reported LOD and the analytical method's LOD. We developed rules for developing Bayesian estimates for EGs with >80% censoring. The remaining EGs were 100% censored. An order-based statistical method (OBSM) was developed to estimate exposures that considered the number of measurements, geometric standard deviation, and average LOD of the censored samples for N ≥ 20. For N 80% but enough non-censored measurements to apply Bayesian methods. We used the OBSM for 3% of the estimates and the simple substitution method for 11%. The methods presented here substantially reduced the degree of censoring in the dataset and increased the number of EGs meeting our Bayesian method's desired performance goal. The OBSM allowed for a systematic and consistent approach impacting only the lowest of the exposure estimates. This approach should be considered when dealing with highly censored datasets
Brane-Antibrane Inflation in Orbifold and Orientifold Models
We analyse the cosmological implications of brane-antibrane systems in
string-theoretic orbifold and orientifold models. In a class of realistic
models, consistency conditions require branes and antibranes to be stuck at
different fixed points, and so their mutual attraction generates a potential
for one of the radii of the underlying torus or the 4D string dilaton. Assuming
that all other moduli have been fixed by string effects, we find that this
potential leads naturally to a period of cosmic inflation with the radion or
dilaton field as the inflaton. The slow-roll conditions are satisfied more
generically than if the branes were free to move within the space. The
appearance of tachyon fields at certain points in moduli space indicates the
onset of phase transitions to different non-BPS brane systems, providing ways
of ending inflation and reheating the corresponding observable brane universe.
In each case we find relations between the inflationary parameters and the
string scale to get the correct spectrum of density perturbations. In some
examples the small numbers required as inputs are no smaller than 0.01, and are
the same small quantities which are required to explain the gauge hierarchy.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures. Substantial changes on version 1. New
cosmological scenarios proposed including the dilaton as the inflaton. Main
conclusions unchange
Spin-Glass State in
Magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, specific heat and positive muon spin
relaxation (\musr) measurements have been used to characterize the magnetic
ground-state of the spinel compound . We observe a spin-glass
transition of the S=1/2 spins below characterized
by a cusp in the susceptibility curve which suppressed when a magnetic field is
applied. We show that the magnetization of depends on the
magnetic histo Well below , the muon signal resembles the dynamical
Kubo-Toyabe expression reflecting that the spin freezing process in results Gaussian distribution of the magnetic moments. By means of
Monte-Carlo simulati we obtain the relevant exchange integrals between the spins in this compound.Comment: 6 pages, 16 figure
D-terms and D-strings in open string models
We study the Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) D-terms on D-branes in type II Calabi-Yau
backgrounds. We provide a simple worldsheet proof of the fact that, at tree
level, these terms only couple to scalars in closed string hypermultiplets. At
the one-loop level, the D-terms get corrections only if the gauge group has an
anomalous spectrum, with the anomaly cancelled by a Green-Schwarz mechanism. We
study the local type IIA model of D6-branes at SU(3) angles and show that, as
in field theory, the one-loop correction suffers from a quadratic divergence in
the open string channel. By studying the closed string channel, we show that
this divergence is related to a closed string tadpole, and is cancelled when
the tadpole is cancelled. Next, we study the cosmic strings that arise in the
supersymmetric phases of these systems in light of recent work of Dvali et. al.
In the type IIA intersecting D6-brane examples, we identify the D-term strings
as D4-branes ending on the D6-branes. Finally, we use N=1 dualities to relate
these results to previous work on the FI D-term of heterotic strings.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures; v2: improved referencin
Primeval Corrections to the CMB Anisotropies
We show that deviations of the quantum state of the inflaton from the thermal
vacuum of inflation may leave an imprint in the CMB anisotropies. The quantum
dynamics of the inflaton in such a state produces corrections to the
inflationary fluctuations, which may be observable. Because these effects
originate from IR physics below the Planck scale, they will dominate over any
trans-Planckian imprints in any theory which obeys decoupling. Inflation sweeps
away these initial deviations and forces its quantum state closer to the
thermal vacuum. We view this as the quantum version of the cosmic no-hair
theorem. Such imprints in the CMB may be a useful, independent test of the
duration of inflation, or of significant features in the inflaton potential
about 60 e-folds before inflation ended, instead of an unlikely discovery of
the signatures of quantum gravity. The absence of any such substructure would
suggest that inflation lasted uninterrupted much longer than
e-folds.Comment: 17 pages, latex, no figures; v3: added references and comments, final
version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Modeled Air Pollution from In Situ Burning and Flaring of Oil and Gas Released Following the Deepwater Horizon Disaster
The GuLF STUDY, initiated by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, is investigating the health effects among workers involved in the oil spill response and clean-up (OSRC) after the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) explosion in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. Clean-up included in situ burning of oil on the water surface and flaring of gas and oil captured near the seabed and brought to the surface. We estimated emissions of PM2.5 and related pollutants resulting from these activities, as well as from engines of vessels working on the OSRC. PM2.5 emissions ranged from 30 to 1.33e6 kg per day and were generally uniform over time for the flares but highly episodic for the in situ burns. Hourly emissions from each source on every burn/flare day were used as inputs to the AERMOD model to develop average and maximum concentrations for 1-, 12-, and 24-h time periods. The highest predicted 24-h average concentrations sometimes exceeded 5000 ÎĽg m-3 in the first 500 m downwind of flaring and reached 71 ÎĽg m-3 within a kilometer of some in situ burns. Beyond 40 km from the DWH site, plumes appeared to be well mixed, and the predicted 24-h average concentrations from the flares and in situ burns were similar, usually below 10 ÎĽg m-3. Structured averaging of model output gave potential PM2.5 exposure estimates for OSRC workers located in various areas across the Gulf. Workers located nearest the wellhead (hot zone/source workers) were estimated to have a potential maximum 12-h exposure of 97 ÎĽg m-3 over the 2-month flaring period. The potential maximum 12-h exposure for workers who participated in in situ burns was estimated at 10 ÎĽg m-3 over the ~3-month burn period. The results suggest that burning of oil and gas during the DWH clean-up may have resulted in PM2.5 concentrations substantially above the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2.5 (24-h average = 35 ÎĽg m-3). These results are being used to investigate possible adverse health effects in the GuLF STUDY epidemiologic analysis of PM2.5 exposures
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