68,312 research outputs found
Neutrinos and Electromagnetic Gauge Invariance
It is discussed a recently proposed connection among U(1)
electromagnetic gauge invariance and the nature of the neutrino mass terms in
the framework of \mbox {SU(3)}_C\otimes G_W \otimes {\mbox U(1)}_N, =
SU(3), extensions of the Standard Model. The impossibility of that
connection, also in the extended case = SU(4), is demonstrated.Comment: 10 pages, Revtex 3.0, no figure
A monopole solution from noncommutative multi-instantons
We extend the relation between instanton and monopole solutions of the
selfduality equations in SU(2) gauge theory to noncommutative space-times.
Using this approach and starting from a noncommutative multi-instanton solution
we construct a U(2) monopole configuration which lives in 3 dimensional
ordinary space. This configuration resembles the Wu-Yang monopole and satisfies
the selfduality (Bogomol'nyi) equations for a U(2) Yang-Mills-Higgs system.Comment: 19 pages; title and abstract changed, brane interpretation corrected.
Version to appear in JHE
Pulsation Period Changes as a Tool to Identify Pre-Zero Age Horizontal Branch Stars
One of the most dramatic events in the life of a low-mass star is the He
flash, which takes place at the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) and is
followed by a series of secondary flashes before the star settles into the
zero-age horizontal branch (ZAHB). Yet, no stars have been positively
identified in this key evolutionary phase, mainly for two reasons: first, this
pre-ZAHB phase is very short compared to other major evolutionary phases in the
life of a star; and second, these pre-ZAHB stars are expected to overlap the
loci occupied by asymptotic giant branch (AGB), HB and RGB stars observed in
the color-magnitude diagram (CMD). We investigate the possibility of detecting
these stars through stellar pulsations, since some of them are expected to
rapidly cross the Cepheid/RR Lyrae instability strip in their route from the
RGB tip to the ZAHB, thus becoming pulsating stars along the way. As a
consequence of their very high evolutionary speed, some of these stars may
present anomalously large period change rates. We constructed an extensive grid
of stellar models and produced pre-ZAHB Monte Carlo simulations appropriate for
the case of the Galactic globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272), where a number of RR
Lyrae stars with high period change rates are found. Our results suggest that
some -- but certainly not all -- of the RR Lyrae stars in M3 with large period
change rates are in fact pre-ZAHB pulsators.Comment: Conference Proceedings HELAS Workshop on 'Synergies between solar and
stellar modelling', Rome, June 2009, Astrophys. Space Sci., in the pres
Probing ferroelectricity in highly conducting materials through their elastic response: persistence of ferroelectricity in metallic BaTiO3-d
The question whether ferroelectricity (FE) may coexist with a metallic or
highly conducting state, or rather it must be suppressed by the screening from
the free charges, is the focus of a rapidly increasing number of theoretical
studies and is finally receiving positive experimental responses. The issue is
closely related to the thermoelectric and multiferroic (also magnetic)
applications of FE materials, where the electrical conductivity is required or
spurious. In these circumstances, the traditional methods for probing
ferroelectricity are hampered or made totally ineffective by the free charges,
which screen the polar response to an external electric field. This fact may
explain why more than 40 years passed between the first proposals of FE metals
and the present experimental and theoretical activity. The measurement of the
elastic moduli, Young's modulus in the present case, versus temperature is an
effective method for studying the influence of doping on a FE transition
because the elastic properties are unaffected by electrical conductivity. In
this manner, it is shown that the FE transitions of BaTiO3-d are not suppressed
by electron doping through O vacancies; only the onset temperatures are
depressed, but the magnitudes of the softenings, and hence of the piezoelectric
activity, are initially even increased
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