126 research outputs found
A summary of the ECAS performance and cost results for MHD systems
The potential is examined of various advanced power plant concepts using coal and coal-derived fuel. The results indicate that open cycle coal fired direct preheat MHD systems have potentially one of the highest coal-pile-to-bus-bar efficiencies and also one of the lowest costs of electricity (COE) of the systems studied. Closed cycle MHD systems may have the potential to approach the efficiency and COE of open cycle MHD. The 1200-1500 F liquid metal MHD systems studied do not appear to have the potential of exceeding the efficiency or competing with the COE of advanced steam plants
How strong is the evidence for accelerated expansion?
We test the present expansion of the universe using supernova type Ia data
without making any assumptions about the matter and energy content of the
universe or about the parameterization of the deceleration parameter. We assume
the cosmological principle to apply in a strict sense. The result strongly
depends on the data set, the light-curve fitting method and the calibration of
the absolute magnitude used for the test, indicating strong systematic errors.
Nevertheless, in a spatially flat universe there is at least a 5 sigma evidence
for acceleration which drops to 1.8 sigma in an open universe.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure
Cosmodynamics: Energy conditions, Hubble bounds, density bounds, time and distance bounds
We refine and extend a programme initiated by one of the current authors
[Science 276 (1997) 88; Phys. Rev. D56 (1997) 7578] advocating the use of the
classical energy conditions of general relativity in a cosmological setting to
place very general bounds on various cosmological parameters. We show how the
energy conditions can be used to bound the Hubble parameter H(z), Omega
parameter Omega(z), density rho(z), distance d(z), and lookback time T(z) as
(relatively) simple functions of the redshift z, present-epoch Hubble parameter
H_0, and present-epoch Omega parameter Omega_0. We compare these results with
related observations in the literature, and confront the bounds with the recent
supernova data.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure
Light propagation in statistically homogeneous and isotropic universes with general matter content
We derive the relationship of the redshift and the angular diameter distance
to the average expansion rate for universes which are statistically homogeneous
and isotropic and where the distribution evolves slowly, but which have
otherwise arbitrary geometry and matter content. The relevant average expansion
rate is selected by the observable redshift and the assumed symmetry properties
of the spacetime. We show why light deflection and shear remain small. We write
down the evolution equations for the average expansion rate and discuss the
validity of the dust approximation.Comment: 42 pages, no figures. v2: Corrected one detail about the angular
diameter distance and two typos. No change in result
Dark energy as a mirage
Motivated by the observed cosmic matter distribution, we present the
following conjecture: due to the formation of voids and opaque structures, the
average matter density on the path of the light from the well-observed objects
changes from Omega_M ~ 1 in the homogeneous early universe to Omega_M ~ 0 in
the clumpy late universe, so that the average expansion rate increases along
our line of sight from EdS expansion Ht ~ 2/3 at high redshifts to free
expansion Ht ~ 1 at low redshifts. To calculate the modified observable
distance-redshift relations, we introduce a generalized Dyer-Roeder method that
allows for two crucial physical properties of the universe: inhomogeneities in
the expansion rate and the growth of the nonlinear structures. By treating the
transition redshift to the void-dominated era as a free parameter, we find a
phenomenological fit to the observations from the CMB anisotropy, the position
of the baryon oscillation peak, the magnitude-redshift relations of type Ia
supernovae, the local Hubble flow and the nucleosynthesis, resulting in a
concordant model of the universe with 90% dark matter, 10% baryons, no dark
energy, 15 Gyr as the age of the universe and a natural value for the
transition redshift z_0=0.35. Unlike a large local void, the model respects the
cosmological principle, further offering an explanation for the late onset of
the perceived acceleration as a consequence of the forming nonlinear
structures. Additional tests, such as quantitative predictions for angular
deviations due to an anisotropic void distribution and a theoretical derivation
of the model, can vindicate or falsify the interpretation that light
propagation in voids is responsible for the perceived acceleration.Comment: 33 pages, 2 figs; v2: minor clarifications, results unchanged; v3:
matches the version published in General Relativity and Gravitatio
Light propagation in statistically homogeneous and isotropic dust universes
We derive the redshift and the angular diameter distance in rotationless dust
universes which are statistically homogeneous and isotropic, but have otherwise
arbitrary geometry. The calculation from first principles shows that the
Dyer-Roeder approximation does not correctly describe the effect of clumping.
Instead, the redshift and the distance are determined by the average expansion
rate, the matter density today and the null geodesic shear. In particular, the
position of the CMB peaks is consistent with significant spatial curvature
provided the expansion history is sufficiently close to the spatially flat
LambdaCDM model.Comment: 33 pages. v2: Published version. Corrected typo
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