Angular momentum effects in weak gravitational fields

It is shown that, contrary to what is normally expected, it is possible to have angular momentum effects on the geometry of space time at the laboratory scale, much bigger than the purely Newtonian effects. This is due to the fact that the ratio between the angular momentum of a body and its mass, expressed as a length, is easily greater than the mass itself, again expressed as a length.Comment: LATEX, 8 page

Space Time Defects as a Source of Curvature and Torsion

Space time is described as a continuum four-dimensional medium similar to ordinary elastic continua. Exploiting the analogy internal stress states are considered. The internal ''stress'' is originated by the presence of defects. The defects are described according to the typical Volterra process. The case of a point defect in an otherwise isotropic four-dimensional medium is discussed showing that the resulting metric tensor corresponds to an expanding (or contracting) universe filled up with a non-zero energy-momentum density.Comment: Presentation at the Sixth Friedman seminar in Cargese 28/6-3/7/2004. Submitted for the proceedings of the seminar to appear in the International Journal of Modern Physics

Geometric treatment of the gravitomagnetic clock effect

We have developed a general geometric treatment of the GCE valid for any stationary axisymmetric metric. The method is based on the remark that the world lines of objects rotating along spacely circular trajectories are in any case, for those kind of metrics, helices drawn on the flat bidimensional surface of a cylinder. Applying the obtained formulas to the special cases of the Kerr and weak field metric for a spinning body, known results for time delays and synchrony defects are recovered.Comment: 14 pages, LATEX, 2 figure

Numerically Modeling the First Peak of the Type IIb SN 2016gkg

Many Type IIb supernovae (SNe) show a prominent additional early peak in their light curves, which is generally thought to be due to the shock cooling of extended hydrogen-rich material surrounding the helium core of the exploding star. The recent SN 2016gkg was a nearby Type IIb SN discovered shortly after explosion, which makes it an excellent candidate for studying this first peak. We numerically explode a large grid of extended envelope models and compare these to SN 2016gkg to investigate what constraints can be derived from its light curve. This includes exploring density profiles for both a convective envelope and an optically thick steady-state wind, the latter of which has not typically been considered for Type IIb SNe models. We find that roughly $\sim0.02\,M_\odot$ of extended material with a radius of $\approx180-260\,R_\odot$ reproduces the photometric light curve data, consistent with pre-explosion imaging. These values are independent of the assumed density profile of this material, although a convective profile provides a somewhat better fit. We infer from our modeling that the explosion must have occurred within $\approx2-3\,{\rm hrs}$ of the first observed data point, demonstrating that this event was caught very close to the moment of explosion. Nevertheless, our best-fitting one-dimensional models overpredict the earliest velocity measurements, which suggests that the hydrogen-rich material is not distributed in a spherically symmetric manner. We compare this to the asymmetries seen in the SN IIb remnant Cas A, and we discuss the implications of this for Type IIb SN progenitors and explosion models.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, updated version accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Theoretical and numerical study of the phase diagram of patchy colloids: ordered and disordered patch arrangements

We report theoretical and numerical evaluations of the phase diagram for a model of patchy particles. Specifically we study hard-spheres whose surface is decorated by a small number f of identical sites ("sticky spots'') interacting via a short-range square-well attraction. We theoretically evaluate, solving the Wertheim theory, the location of the critical point and the gas-liquid coexistence line for several values of f and compare them to results of Gibbs and Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations. We study both ordered and disordered arrangements of the sites on the hard-sphere surface and confirm that patchiness has a strong effect on the phase diagram: the gas-liquid coexistence region in the temperature-density plane is significantly reduced as f decreases. We also theoretically evaluate the locus of specific heat maxima and the percolation line.Comment: preprint, 32 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, J. Chem. Phys. in pres

A STRAINED SPACE-TIME TO EXPLAIN THE LARGE SCALEPROPERTIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Space-time can be treated as a four-dimensional material continuum. The corresponding generally curved manifold can be thought of as having been obtained, by continuous deformation, from a four-dimensional Euclidean manifold. In a three-dimensional ordinary situation such a deformation process would lead to strain in the manifold. Strain in turn may be read as half the di®erence between the actual metric tensor and the Euclidean metric tensor of the initial unstrained manifold. On the other side we know that an ordinary material would react to the attempt to introduce strain giving rise to internal stresses and one would have correspondingly a deformation energy term. Assuming the conditions of linear elasticity hold, the deformation energy is easily written in terms of the strain tensor. The Einstein-Hilbert action is generalized to include the new deformation energy term. The new action for space-time has been applied to a Friedmann-Lemaitre- Robertson-Walker universe filled with dust and radiation. The accelerated expansion is recovered, then the theory has been put through four cosmological tests: primordial isotopic abundances from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis; Acoustic Scale of the CMB; Large Scale Structure formation; luminosity/redshift relation for type Ia supernovae. The result is satisfying and has allowed to evaluate the parameters of the theor

Phase diagram of patchy colloids: towards empty liquids

We report theoretical and numerical evaluations of the phase diagram for patchy colloidal particles of new generation. We show that the reduction of the number of bonded nearest neighbours offers the possibility of generating liquid states (i.e. states with temperature $T$ lower than the liquid-gas critical temperature) with a vanishing occupied packing fraction ($\phi$), a case which can not be realized with spherically interacting particles. Theoretical results suggest that such reduction is accompanied by an increase of the region of stability of the liquid phase in the ($T$-$\phi$) plane, possibly favoring the establishment of homogeneous disordered materials at small $\phi$, i.e. stable equilibrium gels.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, revised version, accepted in Phys. Rev. Let

Relativistic contraction and related effects in noninertial frames

Although there is no relative motion among different points on a rotating disc, each point belongs to a different noninertial frame. This fact, not recognized in previous approaches to the Ehrenfest paradox and related problems, is exploited to give a correct treatment of a rotating ring and a rotating disc. Tensile stresses are recovered, but, contrary to the prediction of the standard approach, it is found that an observer on the rim of the disc will see equal lengths of other differently moving objects as an inertial observer whose instantaneous position and velocity are equal to that of the observer on the rim. The rate of clocks at various positions, as seen by various observers, is also discussed. Some results are generalized for observers arbitrarily moving in a flat or a curved spacetime. The generally accepted formula for the space line element in a non-time-orthogonal frame is found inappropriate in some cases. Use of Fermi coordinates leads to the result that for any observer the velocity of light is isotropic and is equal to $c$, providing that it is measured by propagating a light beam in a small neighborhood of the observer.Comment: 15 pages, significantly revised version, title changed, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Observer with a constant proper acceleration

Relying on the equivalence principle, a first approach of the general theory of relativity is presented using the spacetime metric of an observer with a constant proper acceleration. Within this non inertial frame, the equation of motion of a freely moving object is studied and the equation of motion of a second accelerated observer with the same proper acceleration is examined. A comparison of the metric of the accelerated observer with the metric due to a gravitational field is also performed.Comment: 5 figure

A spherical model with directional interactions: I. Static properties

We introduce a simple spherical model whose structural properties are similar to the ones generated by models with directional interactions, by employing a binary mixture of large and small hard spheres, with a square-well attraction acting only between particles of different size. The small particles provide the bonds between the large ones. With a proper choice of the interaction parameters, as well as of the relative concentration of the two species, it is possible to control the effective valence. Here we focus on a specific choice of the parameters which favors tetrahedral ordering and study the equilibrium static properties of the system in a large window of densities and temperatures. Upon lowering the temperature we observe a progressive increase in local order, accompanied by the formation of a four-coordinated network of bonds. Three different density regions are observed: at low density the system phase separates into a gas and a liquid phase; at intermediate densities a network of fully bonded particles develops; at high densities -- due to the competition between excluded volume and attractive interactions -- the system forms a defective network. The very same behavior has been previously observed in numerical studies of non-spherical models for molecular liquids, such as water, and in models of patchy colloidal particles. Differently from these models, theoretical treatments devised for spherical potentials, e.g. integral equations and ideal mode coupling theory for the glass transition can be applied in the present case, opening the way for a deeper understanding of the thermodynamic and dynamic behavior of low valence molecules and particles.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure