344 research outputs found
Trapped surfaces in spherical expanding open universes
Consider spherically symmetric initial data for a cosmology which, in the
large, approximates an open Friedmann-Lema{\^\i}tre
universe. Further assume that the data is chosen so that the trace of the
extrinsic curvature is a constant and that the matter field is at rest at this
instant of time. One expects that no trapped surfaces appear in the data if no
significant clump of excess matter is to be found. This letter confirms this
belief by displaying a necessary condition for the existence of trapped
surfaces.This necessary condition, simply stated, says that a relatively large
amount of excess matter must be concentrated in a small volume for trapped
surfaces to appear.Comment: 8 pages, Late
Optical scalars in spherical spacetimes
Consider a spherically symmetric spacelike slice through a spherically
symmetric spacetime. One can derive a universal bound for the optical scalars
on any such slice. The only requirement is that the matter sources satisfy the
dominant energy condition and that the slice be asymptotically flat and regular
at the origin. This bound can be used to derive new conditions for the
formation of apparent horizons. The bounds hold even when the matter has a
distribution on a shell or blows up at the origin so as to give a conical
singularity
Transport in Graphene Tunnel Junctions
We present a technique to fabricate tunnel junctions between graphene and Al
and Cu, with a Si back gate, as well as a simple theory of tunneling between a
metal and graphene. We map the differential conductance of our junctions versus
probe and back gate voltage, and observe fluctuations in the conductance that
are directly related to the graphene density of states. The conventional
strong-suppression of the conductance at the graphene Dirac point can not be
clearly demonstrated, but a more robust signature of the Dirac point is found:
the inflection in the conductance map caused by the electrostatic gating of
graphene by the tunnel probe. We present numerical simulations of our
conductance maps, confirming the measurement results. In addition, Al causes
strong n-doping of graphene, Cu causes a moderate p-doping, and in high
resistance junctions, phonon resonances are observed, as in STM studies.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure
Can Schwarzschildean gravitational fields suppress gravitational waves?
Gravitational waves in the linear approximation propagate in the
Schwarzschild spacetime similarly as electromagnetic waves. A fraction of the
radiation scatters off the curvature of the geometry. The energy of the
backscattered part of an initially outgoing pulse of the quadrupole
gravitational radiation is estimated by compact formulas depending on the
initial energy, the Schwarzschild radius, and the location and width of the
pulse. The backscatter becomes negligible in the short wavelength regime.Comment: 18 pages, Revtex. Added three references; a new comment in Sec. 7;
several misprints corrected. To appear in the Phys. Rev.
The Constraints in Spherically Symmetric General Relativity II --- Identifying the Configuration Space: A Moment of Time Symmetry
We continue our investigation of the configuration space of general
relativity begun in I (gr-qc/9411009). Here we examine the Hamiltonian
constraint when the spatial geometry is momentarily static (MS). We show that
MS configurations satisfy both the positive quasi-local mass (QLM) theorem and
its converse. We derive an analytical expression for the spatial metric in the
neighborhood of a generic singularity. The corresponding curvature singularity
shows up in the traceless component of the Ricci tensor. We show that if the
energy density of matter is monotonically decreasing, the geometry cannot be
singular. A supermetric on the configuration space which distinguishes between
singular geometries and non-singular ones is constructed explicitly. Global
necessary and sufficient criteria for the formation of trapped surfaces and
singularities are framed in terms of inequalities which relate appropriate
measures of the material energy content on a given support to a measure of its
volume. The strength of these inequalities is gauged by exploiting the exactly
solvable piece-wise constant density star as a template.Comment: 50 pages, Plain Tex, 1 figure available from the authors
Collapsing Shells and the Isoperimetric Inequality for Black Holes
Recent results of Trudinger on Isoperimetric Inequalities for non-convex
bodies are applied to the gravitational collapse of a lightlike shell of matter
to form a black hole. Using some integral identities for co-dimension two
surfaces in Minkowski spacetime, the area of the apparent horizon is shown
to be bounded above in terms of the mass by the , which is
consistent with the Cosmic Censorship Hypothesis. The results hold in four
spacetime dimensions and above.Comment: 16 pages plain TE
First constraint on cosmological variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio from two independent telescopes
A high signal-to-noise spectrum covering the largest number of hydrogen lines
(90 H2 lines and 6 HD lines) in a high redshift object was analyzed from an
observation along the sight-line to the bright quasar source J2123005 with
the UVES spectrograph on the ESO Very Large Telescope (Paranal, Chile). This
delivers a constraint on a possible variation of the proton-to-electron mass
ratio of Dmu/mu = (8.5 \pm 3.6_{stat} \pm 2.2_{syst}) x 10^{-6} at redshift
z=2.059$, which agrees well with a recently published result on the same system
observed at the Keck telescope yielding Dmu/mu = (5.6 \pm 5.5_{stat} \pm
2.9_{syst}) x 10^{-6}. Both analyses used the same robust absorption line
fitting procedures with detailed consideration of systematic errors.Comment: Accepte
Waves in Schwarzschild spacetimes: How strong can imprints of the spacetime curvature be
Misprints corrected, two references added. To appear in the Phys. Rev. D
Influence of the continuous casting process of TIN-ZINC-LEAD bronze on the wear of the graphite crystallizer
The research conducted in this paper concerns the influence of the continuous casting process of tin-zinc-lead bronze on the wear of the graphite crystallizer. Observations and testing of the external surface of the cast rods indicate their good quality, without casting defects. No excessive surface degradation was observed on the inner surface of the crystallizers after casting. It was assessed that the surface quality of the crystallizer would be acceptable for further use, despite stuck residue, mainly in the crystallization zone
On the Definition of Averagely Trapped Surfaces
Previously suggested definitions of averagely trapped surfaces are not
well-defined properties of 2-surfaces, and can include surfaces in flat
space-time. A natural definition of averagely trapped surfaces is that the
product of the null expansions be positive on average. A surface is averagely
trapped in the latter sense if and only if its area and Hawking mass
satisfy the isoperimetric inequality , with similar inequalities
existing for other definitions of quasi-local energy.Comment: 4 page
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