Dequantisation of the Dirac Monopole

Using a sheaf-theoretic extension of conventional principal bundle theory, the Dirac monopole is formulated as a spherically symmetric model free of singularities outside the origin such that the charge may assume arbitrary real values. For integral charges, the construction effectively coincides with the usual model. Spin structures and Dirac operators are also generalised by the same technique.Comment: 22 pages. Version to appear in Proc. R. Soc. London

A note on the consensus time of mean-field majority-rule dynamics

In this work, it is pointed out that in the mean-field version of majority-rule opinion dynamics, the dependence of the consensus time on the population size exhibits two regimes. This is determined by the size distribution of the groups that, at each evolution step, gather to reach agreement. When the group size distribution has a finite mean value, the previously known logarithmic dependence on the population size holds. On the other hand, when the mean group size diverges, the consensus time and the population size are related through a power law. Numerical simulations validate this semi-quantitative analytical prediction.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Commentary and Reply available in Papers in Physic

Negative forms and path space forms

We present an account of negative differential forms within a natural algebraic framework of differential graded algebras, and explain their relationship with forms on path spaces.Comment: 12 pp.; the Introduction has been rewritten and mention of cohomology dropped in Proposition 3.2; material slightly reorganize

Gauge Group and Topology Change

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of topology change in the initial universe. In this study, the concept of $G$-cobordism is introduced to argue about the topology change of the manifold on which a transformation group acts. This $G$-manifold has a fiber bundle structure if the group action is free and is related to the spacetime in Kaluza-Klein theory or Einstein-Yang-Mills system. Our results revealed that fundamental processes of compactification in $G$-manifolds. In these processes, the initial high symmetry and multidimensional universe changes to present universe by the mechanism which lowers the dimensions and symmetries.Comment: 8 page

A nonaspherical cell-like 2-dimensional simply connected continuum and related constructions

We prove the existence of a 2-dimensional nonaspherical simply connected cell-like Peano continuum (the space itself was constructed in one of our earlier papers). We also indicate some relations between this space and the well-known Griffiths' space from the 1950's

On the homology of the Harmonic Archipelago

We calculate the singular homology and \v{C}ech cohomology groups of the Harmonic archipelago. As a corollary, we prove that this space is not homotopy equivalent to the Griffiths space. This is interesting in view of Eda's proof that the first singular homology groups of these spaces are isomorphic

Transform of Riccati equation of constant coefficients through fractional procedure

We use a particular fractional generalization of the ordinary differential equations that we apply to the Riccati equation of constant coefficients. By this means the latter is transformed into a modified Riccati equation with the free term expressed as a power of the independent variable which is of the same order as the order of the applied fractional derivative. We provide the solutions of the modified equation and employ the results for the case of the cosmological Riccati equation of FRW barotropic cosmologies that has been recently introduced by FaraoniComment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Future asymptotic expansions of Bianchi VIII vacuum metrics

Bianchi VIII vacuum solutions to Einstein's equations are causally geodesically complete to the future, given an appropriate time orientation, and the objective of this article is to analyze the asymptotic behaviour of solutions in this time direction. For the Bianchi class A spacetimes, there is a formulation of the field equations that was presented in an article by Wainwright and Hsu, and in a previous article we analyzed the asymptotic behaviour of solutions in these variables. One objective of this paper is to give an asymptotic expansion for the metric. Furthermore, we relate this expansion to the topology of the compactified spatial hypersurfaces of homogeneity. The compactified spatial hypersurfaces have the topology of Seifert fibred spaces and we prove that in the case of NUT Bianchi VIII spacetimes, the length of a circle fibre converges to a positive constant but that in the case of general Bianchi VIII solutions, the length tends to infinity at a rate we determine.Comment: 50 pages, no figures. Erronous definition of Seifert fibred spaces correcte

The Non-Trapping Degree of Scattering

We consider classical potential scattering. If no orbit is trapped at energy E, the Hamiltonian dynamics defines an integer-valued topological degree. This can be calculated explicitly and be used for symbolic dynamics of multi-obstacle scattering. If the potential is bounded, then in the non-trapping case the boundary of Hill's Region is empty or homeomorphic to a sphere. We consider classical potential scattering. If at energy E no orbit is trapped, the Hamiltonian dynamics defines an integer-valued topological degree deg(E) < 2. This is calculated explicitly for all potentials, and exactly the integers < 2 are shown to occur for suitable potentials. The non-trapping condition is restrictive in the sense that for a bounded potential it is shown to imply that the boundary of Hill's Region in configuration space is either empty or homeomorphic to a sphere. However, in many situations one can decompose a potential into a sum of non-trapping potentials with non-trivial degree and embed symbolic dynamics of multi-obstacle scattering. This comprises a large number of earlier results, obtained by different authors on multi-obstacle scattering.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure Revised and enlarged version, containing more detailed proofs and remark