6,822 research outputs found
Turbulent thermal diffusion of aerosols in geophysics and laboratory experiments
We discuss a new phenomenon of turbulent thermal diffusion associated with
turbulent transport of aerosols in the atmosphere and in laboratory
experiments. The essence of this phenomenon is the appearance of a nondiffusive
mean flux of particles in the direction of the mean heat flux, which results in
the formation of large-scale inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution of
aerosols that accumulate in regions of minimum mean temperature of the
surrounding fluid. This effect of turbulent thermal diffusion was detected
experimentally. In experiments turbulence was generated by two oscillating
grids in two directions of the imposed vertical mean temperature gradient. We
used Particle Image Velocimetry to determine the turbulent velocity field, and
an Image Processing Technique based on an analysis of the intensity of Mie
scattering to determine the spatial distribution of aerosols. Analysis of the
intensity of laser light Mie scattering by aerosols showed that aerosols
accumulate in the vicinity of the minimum mean temperature due to the effect of
turbulent thermal diffusion. Geophysical applications of the obtained results
are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, revtex
Stable quantum systems in anti-de Sitter space: Causality, independence and spectral properties
If a state is passive for uniformly accelerated observers in n-dimensional
anti-de Sitter space-time (i.e. cannot be used by them to operate a perpetuum
mobile), they will (a) register a universal value of the Unruh temperature, (b)
discover a PCT symmetry, and (c) find that observables in complementary
wedge-shaped regions necessarily commute with each other in this state. The
stability properties of such a passive state induce a "geodesic causal
structure" on AdS and concommitant locality relations. It is shown that
observables in these complementary wedge-shaped regions fulfill strong
additional independence conditions. In two-dimensional AdS these even suffice
to enable the derivation of a nontrivial, local, covariant net indexed by
bounded spacetime regions. All these results are model-independent and hold in
any theory which is compatible with a weak notion of space-time localization.
Examples are provided of models satisfying the hypotheses of these theorems.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure: dedicated to Jacques Bros on the occasion of his
70th birthday. Revised version: typos corrected; as to appear in J. Math.
Phy
Towards a construction of inclusive collision cross-sections in the massless Nelson model
The conventional approach to the infrared problem in perturbative quantum
electrodynamics relies on the concept of inclusive collision cross-sections. A
non-perturbative variant of this notion was introduced in algebraic quantum
field theory. Relying on these insights, we take first steps towards a
non-perturbative construction of inclusive collision cross-sections in the
massless Nelson model. We show that our proposal is consistent with the
standard scattering theory in the absence of the infrared problem and discuss
its status in the infrared-singular case.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX. As appeared in Ann. Henri Poincar\'
Quantum Field Theory: Where We Are
We comment on the present status, the concepts and their limitations, and the
successes and open problems of the various approaches to a relativistic quantum
theory of elementary particles, with a hindsight to questions concerning
quantum gravity and string theory.Comment: To appear in: An Assessment of Current Paradigms in the Physics of
Fundamental Phenomena, to be published by Springer Verlag (2006
Continuous Spectrum of Automorphism Groups and the Infraparticle Problem
This paper presents a general framework for a refined spectral analysis of a
group of isometries acting on a Banach space, which extends the spectral theory
of Arveson. The concept of continuous Arveson spectrum is introduced and the
corresponding spectral subspace is defined. The absolutely continuous and
singular-continuous parts of this spectrum are specified. Conditions are given,
in terms of the transposed action of the group of isometries, which guarantee
that the pure-point and continuous subspaces span the entire Banach space. In
the case of a unitarily implemented group of automorphisms, acting on a
-algebra, relations between the continuous spectrum of the automorphisms
and the spectrum of the implementing group of unitaries are found. The group of
spacetime translation automorphisms in quantum field theory is analyzed in
detail. In particular, it is shown that the structure of its continuous
spectrum is relevant to the problem of existence of (infra-)particles in a
given theory.Comment: 31 pages, LaTeX. As appeared in Communications in Mathematical
Physic
Computing Inferences for Large-Scale Continuous-Time Markov Chains by Combining Lumping with Imprecision
If the state space of a homogeneous continuous-time Markov chain is too
large, making inferences - here limited to determining marginal or limit
expectations - becomes computationally infeasible. Fortunately, the state space
of such a chain is usually too detailed for the inferences we are interested
in, in the sense that a less detailed - smaller - state space suffices to
unambiguously formalise the inference. However, in general this so-called
lumped state space inhibits computing exact inferences because the
corresponding dynamics are unknown and/or intractable to obtain. We address
this issue by considering an imprecise continuous-time Markov chain. In this
way, we are able to provide guaranteed lower and upper bounds for the
inferences of interest, without suffering from the curse of dimensionality.Comment: 9th International Conference on Soft Methods in Probability and
Statistics (SMPS 2018
Infraparticles with superselected direction of motion in two-dimensional conformal field theory
Particle aspects of two-dimensional conformal field theories are
investigated, using methods from algebraic quantum field theory. The results
include asymptotic completeness in terms of (counterparts of) Wigner particles
in any vacuum representation and the existence of (counterparts of)
infraparticles in any charged irreducible product representation of a given
chiral conformal field theory. Moreover, an interesting interplay between the
infraparticle's direction of motion and the superselection structure is
demonstrated in a large class of examples. This phenomenon resembles the
electron's momentum superselection expected in quantum electrodynamics.Comment: 34 pages, no figure. The final version is available under Open
Access. CC-B
Local covariant quantum field theory over spectral geometries
A framework which combines ideas from Connes' noncommutative geometry, or
spectral geometry, with recent ideas on generally covariant quantum field
theory, is proposed in the present work. A certain type of spectral geometries
modelling (possibly noncommutative) globally hyperbolic spacetimes is
introduced in terms of so-called globally hyperbolic spectral triples. The
concept is further generalized to a category of globally hyperbolic spectral
geometries whose morphisms describe the generalization of isometric embeddings.
Then a local generally covariant quantum field theory is introduced as a
covariant functor between such a category of globally hyperbolic spectral
geometries and the category of involutive algebras (or *-algebras). Thus, a
local covariant quantum field theory over spectral geometries assigns quantum
fields not just to a single noncommutative geometry (or noncommutative
spacetime), but simultaneously to ``all'' spectral geometries, while respecting
the covariance principle demanding that quantum field theories over isomorphic
spectral geometries should also be isomorphic. It is suggested that in a
quantum theory of gravity a particular class of globally hyperbolic spectral
geometries is selected through a dynamical coupling of geometry and matter
compatible with the covariance principle.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure
New Concepts in Particle Physics from Solution of an Old Problem
Recent ideas on modular localization in local quantum physics are used to
clarify the relation between on- and off-shell quantities in particle physics;
in particular the relation between on-shell crossing symmetry and off-shell
Einstein causality. Among the collateral results of this new nonperturbative
approach are profound relations between crossing symmetry of particle physics
and Hawking-Unruh like thermal aspects (KMS property, entropy attached to
horizons) of quantum matter behind causal horizons, aspects which hitherto were
exclusively related with Killing horizons in curved spacetime rather than with
localization aspects in Minkowski space particle physics. The scope of this
modular framework is amazingly wide and ranges from providing a conceptual
basis for the d=1+1 bootstrap-formfactor program for factorizable d=1+1 models
to a decomposition theory of QFT's in terms of a finite collection of unitarily
equivalent chiral conformal theories placed a specified relative position
within a common Hilbert space (in d=1+1 a holographic relation and in higher
dimensions more like a scanning). The new framework gives a spacetime
interpretation to the Zamolodchikov-Faddeev algebra and explains its thermal
aspects.Comment: In this form it will appear in JPA Math Gen, 47 pages tcilate
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