6,945 research outputs found
Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of tar compounds formed during pyrolysis of rice husks
Pyrolysis of agricultural waste to produce fuel gas involves formation of tars as noxious by-products. In this paper the qualitative analysis of tars formed during pyrolysis of rice husks is presented, based on identification by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry and interpolation of retention times on a polyaromatic hydrocarbon index scale. The influence of some reaction parameters on product formation is briefly discussed
Evaporation induced traversability of the Einstein--Rosen wormhole
Suppose, the Universe comes into existence (as classical spacetime) already
with an empty spherically symmetric macroscopic wormhole present in it.
Classically the wormhole would evolve into a part of the Schwarzschild space
and thus would not allow any signal to traverse it. I consider semiclassical
corrections to that picture and build a model of an evaporating wormhole. The
model is based on the assumption that the vacuum polarization and its
backreaction on the geometry of the wormhole are weak. The lack of information
about the era preceding the emergence of the wormhole results in appearance of
three parameters which -- along with the initial mass -- determine the
evolution of the wormhole. For some values of these parameters the wormhole
turns out to be long-lived enough to be traversed and to transform into a time
machine.Comment: v.2 A bit of discussion has been added and a few references v.3
Insignificant changes to match the published versio
Geometric structure of the generic static traversable wormhole throat
Traversable wormholes have traditionally been viewed as intrinsically
topological entities in some multiply connected spacetime. Here, we show that
topology is too limited a tool to accurately characterize a generic traversable
wormhole: in general one needs geometric information to detect the presence of
a wormhole, or more precisely to locate the wormhole throat. For an arbitrary
static spacetime we shall define the wormhole throat in terms of a
2-dimensional constant-time hypersurface of minimal area. (Zero trace for the
extrinsic curvature plus a "flare-out" condition.) This enables us to severely
constrain the geometry of spacetime at the wormhole throat and to derive
generalized theorems regarding violations of the energy conditions-theorems
that do not involve geodesic averaging but nevertheless apply to situations
much more general than the spherically symmetric Morris-Thorne traversable
wormhole. [For example: the null energy condition (NEC), when suitably weighted
and integrated over the wormhole throat, must be violated.] The major technical
limitation of the current approach is that we work in a static spacetime-this
is already a quite rich and complicated system.Comment: 25 pages; plain LaTeX; uses epsf.sty (four encapsulated postscript
figures
The Hubble series: Convergence properties and redshift variables
In cosmography, cosmokinetics, and cosmology it is quite common to encounter
physical quantities expanded as a Taylor series in the cosmological redshift z.
Perhaps the most well-known exemplar of this phenomenon is the Hubble relation
between distance and redshift. However, we now have considerable high-z data
available, for instance we have supernova data at least back to redshift
z=1.75. This opens up the theoretical question as to whether or not the Hubble
series (or more generally any series expansion based on the z-redshift)
actually converges for large redshift? Based on a combination of mathematical
and physical reasoning, we argue that the radius of convergence of any series
expansion in z is less than or equal to 1, and that z-based expansions must
break down for z>1, corresponding to a universe less than half its current
size.
Furthermore, we shall argue on theoretical grounds for the utility of an
improved parameterization y=z/(1+z). In terms of the y-redshift we again argue
that the radius of convergence of any series expansion in y is less than or
equal to 1, so that y-based expansions are likely to be good all the way back
to the big bang y=1, but that y-based expansions must break down for y<-1, now
corresponding to a universe more than twice its current size.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Classical and
Quantum Gravit
Instabilities and the null energy condition
We show that violation of the null energy condition implies instability in a
broad class of models, including classical gauge theories with scalar and
fermionic matter as well as any perfect fluid. When applied to the dark energy,
our results imply that is unlikely to be less than -1.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, revtex, presentation improved, minor change
Dirty black holes: Quasinormal modes for "squeezed" horizons
We consider the quasinormal modes for a class of black hole spacetimes that,
informally speaking, contain a closely ``squeezed'' pair of horizons. (This
scenario, where the relevant observer is presumed to be ``trapped'' between the
horizons, is operationally distinct from near-extremal black holes with an
external observer.) It is shown, by analytical means, that the spacing of the
quasinormal frequencies equals the surface gravity at the squeezed horizons.
Moreover, we can calculate the real part of these frequencies provided that the
horizons are sufficiently close together (but not necessarily degenerate or
even ``nearly degenerate''). The novelty of our analysis (which extends a
model-specific treatment by Cardoso and Lemos) is that we consider ``dirty''
black holes; that is, the observable portion of the (static and spherically
symmetric) spacetime is allowed to contain an arbitrary distribution of matter.Comment: 15 pages, uses iopart.cls and setstack.sty V2: Two references added.
Also, the appendix now relates our computation of the Regge-Wheeler potential
for gravity in a generic "dirty" black hole to the results of Karlovini
[gr-qc/0111066
Inflation with a graceful exit and entrance driven by Hawking radiation
We present a model for cosmological inflation which has a natural "turn on"
and a natural "turn off" mechanism. In our model inflation is driven by the
Hawking-like radiation that occurs in Friedman-Robertson-Walker (FRW)
space-time. This Hawking-like radiation results in an effective negative
pressure "fluid" which leads to a rapid period of expansion in the very early
Universe. As the Universe expands the FRW Hawking temperature decreases and the
inflationary expansion turns off and makes a natural transition to the power
law expansion of a radiation dominated universe. The "turn on" mechanism is
more speculative, but is based on the common hypothesis that in a quantum
theory of gravity at very high temperatures/high densities Hawking radiation
will stop. Applying this speculation to the very early Universe implies that
the Hawking-like radiation of the FRW space-time will be turned off and
therefore the inflation driven by this radiation will turn off.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures revtex, matches PRD published versio
Bounding the Hubble flow in terms of the w parameter
The last decade has seen increasing efforts to circumscribe and bound the
cosmological Hubble flow in terms of model-independent constraints on the
cosmological fluid - such as, for instance, the classical energy conditions of
general relativity. Quite a bit can certainly be said in this regard, but much
more refined bounds can be obtained by placing more precise constraints (either
theoretical or observational) on the cosmological fluid. In particular, the use
of the w-parameter (w=p/rho) has become increasingly common as a surrogate for
trying to say something about the cosmological equation of state. Herein we
explore the extent to which a constraint on the w-parameter leads to useful and
nontrivial constraints on the Hubble flow, in terms of constraints on density
rho(z), Hubble parameter H(z), density parameter Omega(z), cosmological
distances d(z), and lookback time T(z). In contrast to other partial results in
the literature, we carry out the computations for arbitrary values of the space
curvature k in [-1,0,+1], equivalently for arbitrary Omega_0 <= 1.Comment: 15 page
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