Cylindrical thin-shell wormholes and energy conditions

We prove the impossibility of cylindrical thin-shell wormholes supported by matter satisfying the energy conditions everywhere, under reasonable assumptions about the asymptotic behaviour of the - in general different - metrics at each side of the throat. In particular, we reproduce for singular sources previous results corresponding to flat and conical asymptotics, and extend them to a more general asymptotic behaviour. Besides, we establish necessary conditions for the possibility of non exotic cylindrical thin-shell wormholes.Comment: 9 pages; slightly improved version of the article accepted in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Traversable wormholes in a string cloud

We study spherically symmetric thin-shell wormholes in a string cloud background in (3+1)-dimensional spacetime. The amount of exotic matter required for the construction, the traversability and the stability under radial perturbations, are analyzed as functions of the parameters of the model. Besides, in the Appendices a non perturbative approach to the dynamics and a possible extension of the analysis to a related model are briefly discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Brans-Dicke cylindrical wormholes

Static axisymmetric thin-shell wormholes are constructed within the framework of the Brans-Dicke scalar-tensor theory of gravity. Examples of wormholes associated with vacuum and electromagnetic fields are studied. All constructions must be threaded by exotic matter, except in the case of geometries with a singularity of finite radius, associated with an electric field, which can have a throat supported by ordinary matter. These results are achieved with any of the two definitions of the flare-out condition considered.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures; v3: corrected version, conclusions unchange

Thin-shell wormholes in dilaton gravity

In this work we construct charged thin-shell Lorentzian wormholes in dilaton gravity. The exotic matter required for the construction is localized in the shell and the energy conditions are satisfied outside the shell. The total amount of exotic matter is calculated and its dependence with the parameters of the model is analysed.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure; v2: shortened and improved. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Stability of Chaplygin gas thin-shell wormholes

In this paper we construct spherical thin-shell wormholes supported by a Chaplygin gas. For a rather general class of geometries we introduce a new approach for the stability analysis of static solutions under perturbations preserving the symmetry. We apply this to wormholes constructed from Schwarzschild, Schwarzschild-de Sitter, Schwarzschild-anti de Sitter and Reissner-Nordstrom metrics. In the last two cases, we find that there are values of the parameters for which stable static solutions exist.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures; v2: minor changes and new references added. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Mental health interest and its prediction during the covid-19 pandemic using google trends

This study aimed to analyze and predict interest in mental health-related queries created in Google Trends (GT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Google Trends tool collected data on the Google search engine interest and provided real-time surveillance. Five key phrases: “depression”, “insomnia”, ”loneliness”, “psychologist”, and “psychiatrist”, were studied for the period from 25 September 2016 to 19 September 2021. The predictions for the upcoming trend were carried out for the period from September 2021 to September 2023 and were estimated by a hybrid five-component model. The results show a decrease of interest in the search queries “depression” and “loneliness” by 15.3% and 7.2%, respectively. Compared to the period under review, an increase of 5.2% in “insomnia” expression and 8.4% in the “psychiatrist” phrase were predicted. The expression “psychologist” is expected to show an almost unchanged interest. The upcoming changes in the expressions connected with mental health might be explained by vaccination and the gradual removal of social distancing rules. Finally, the analysis of GT can provide a timely insight into the mental health interest of a population and give a forecast for a short period trend

A Nonsingular Brans Wormhole: An Analogue to Naked Black Holes

In a recent paper, we showed the Jordan frame vacuum Brans Class I solution provided a wormhole analogue to Horowitz-Ross naked black hole in the wormhole range -3/2<{\omega}<-4/3. Thereafter, the solution has been criticized by some authors that, because of the presence of singularity in that solution within this range, a wormhole interpretation of it is untenable. While the criticism is correct, we show here that (i) a singularity-free wormhole can actually be obtained from Class I solution by performing a kind of Wick rotation on it, resulting into what Brans listed as his independent Class II solution (ii) the Class II solution has all the necessary properties of a regular wormhole in a revised range -2<{\omega}<-3/2 and finally, (iii) naked black holes, as described by Horowitz and Ross, are spacetimes where the tidal forces attain their maxima above the black hole horizon. We show that in the non-singular Class II spacetime this maxima is attained above the throat and thus can be treated as a wormhole analogue. Some related issues are also addressed.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

Adiabatic renormalization in theories with modified dispersion relations

We generalize the adiabatic renormalization to theories with dispersion relations modified at energies higher than a new scale $M_C$. We obtain explicit expressions for the mean value of the stress tensor in the adiabatic vacuum, up to the second adiabatic order. We show that for any dispersion relation the divergences can be absorbed into the bare gravitational constants of the theory. We also point out that, depending on the renormalization prescription, the renormalized stress tensor may contain finite trans-Planckian corrections even in the limit $M_C\to\infty$.Comment: Typos corrected; to appear in the Proceedings of IRGAC 06, Journal of Physics

Adenosine has two faces: Regionally dichotomous adenosine tone in a model of epilepsy with comorbid sleep disorders

Objective: Adenosine participates in maintaining the excitatory/inhibitory balance in neuronal circuits. Studies indicate that adenosine levels in the cortex and hippocampus increase and exert sleep pressure in sleep-deprived and control animals, whereas in epilepsy reduced adenosine tone promotes hyperexcitability. To date, the role of adenosine in pathological conditions that result in both seizures and sleep disorders is unknown. Here, we determined adenosine tone in sleep and seizure regulating brain regions of Kv1.1 knockout (KO) mice, a model of temporal epilepsy with comorbid sleep disorders. Methods: 1) Reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was performed on brain tissue to determine levels of adenosine and adenine nucleotides. 2) Multi-electrode array extracellular electrophysiology was used to determine adenosine tone in the hippocampal CA1 region and the lateral hypothalamus (LH). Results: RP-HPLC indicated a non-significant decrease in adenosine (~50%, p = 0.23) in whole brain homogenates of KO mice. Regional examination of relative levels of adenine nucleotides indicated decreased ATP and increased AMP in the cortex and hippocampus and increased adenosine in cortical tissue. Using electrophysiological and pharmacological techniques, estimated adenosine levels were ~35% lower in the KO hippocampal CA1 region, and 1–2 fold higher in the KO LH. Moreover, the increased adenosine in KO LH contributed to lower spontaneous firing rates of putative wake-promoting orexin/hypocretin neurons. Interpretation: This is the first study to demonstrate a direct correlation of regionally distinct dichotomous adenosine levels in a single model with both epilepsy and comorbid sleep disorders. The weaker inhibitory tone in the dorsal hippocampus is consistent with lower seizure threshold, whereas increased adenosine in the LH is consistent with chronic partial sleep deprivation. This work furthers our understanding of how adenosine may contribute to pathological conditions that underlie sleep disorders within the epileptic brain

Optical Properties of Ar Ions Irradiated Nanocrystalline ZrC and ZrN Thin Films

Thin nanocrystalline ZrC and ZrN films (less than 400 nanometers), grown on (100) Si substrates at a substrate temperature of 500 degrees Centigrade by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique, were irradiated by 800 kiloelectronvolts Ar ion irradiation with fluences from 1 times 10(sup 14) atoms per square centimeter up to 2 times 10(sup 15) atoms per square centimeter. Optical reflectance data, acquired from as-deposited and irradiated films, in the range of 500-50000 per centimeter (0.066 electronvolts), was used to assess the effect of irradiation on the optical and electronic properties. Both in ZrC and ZrN films we observed that irradiation affects the optical properties of the films mostly at low frequencies, which is dominated by the free carriers response. In both materials, we found a significant reduction in the free carriers scattering rate, i.e. possible increase in mobility, at higher irradiation flux. This is consistent with our previous findings that irradiation affects the crystallite size and the micro-strain, but it does not induce major structural changes