Cosmological Perturbations in Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz Gravity

We study cosmological perturbations in Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz Gravity. We consider scalar metric fluctuations about a homogeneous and isotropic space-time. Starting from the most general metric, we work out the complete second order action for the perturbations. We then make use of the residual gauge invariance and of the constraint equations to reduce the number of dynamical degrees of freedom. After introducing the Sasaki-Mukhanov variable, the combination of spatial metric fluctuation and matter inhomogeneity for which the action in General Relativity has canonical form, we find that this variable has the standard time derivative term in the second order action, and that the extra degree of freedom is non-dynamical. The limit $\lambda \to 1$ is well-behaved, unlike what is obtained when performing incomplete analyses of cosmological fluctuations. Thus, there is no strong coupling problem for Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz gravity when considering cosmological solutions. We also compute the spectrum of cosmological perturbations. If the potential in the action is taken to be of "detailed balance" form, we find a cancelation of the highest derivative terms in the action for the curvature fluctuations. As a consequence, the initial spectrum of perturbations will not be scale-invariant in a general spacetime background. As an application, we consider fluctuations in an inflationary background and draw connections with the "trans-Planckian problem" for cosmological perturbations. In the special case in which the potential term in the action is of detailed balance form and in which $\lambda = 1$, the equation of motion for cosmological perturbations in the far UV takes the same form as in GR. However, in general the equation of motion is characterized by a modified dispersion relation.Comment: 17 pages, 2 eps figure

A universal average spectral energy distribution for quasars from optical to extreme ultraviolet

The well-known anti-correlation between the optical/ultraviolet (UV) emission line equivalent widths of active galactic nuclei and the continuum luminosity (the so-called Baldwin effect) is a long-standing puzzle. One common hypothesis is that more luminous sources have softer spectral energy distribution (SED) in the extreme UV (EUV), as revealed by some observational studies. In this work we revisit this issue through cross-matching SDSS quasars with GALEX far-UV/near-UV catalogs and correcting the effect of a severe observational bias of significant UV detection incompleteness, i.e., the more luminous in observed-frame optical, the more likely detected in observed-frame UV. We find that, for GALEX detected quasars at 1.8 < z < 2.2, the rest-frame mean UV SED (~ 500 -- 3000 Angstrom) bewilderingly shows no luminosity dependence at log(\nu L_\nu(2200 Angstrom)) > 45 (up to 47.3), contrary to the standard thin disc model predictions and the observed Baldwin effect in this luminosity range. Probably, the universal mean UV SED is the result of a local atomic-originated process, and in fainter quasars stronger disk turbulence launching more clouds is the main origin of the Baldwin effect. After correcting for the absorption of the intergalactic medium, a rest-frame intrinsic mean EUV SED is derived from a sub-sample of bright quasars and is found to be much redder in the EUV than all previous quasar composite spectra, highlighting the significance of properly accounting for the sample incompleteness. Interestingly, the global consistence between our extremely red mean EUV SED and the line-driven wind model again supports an origin of a local physical process.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, author's initial version submitted to Nature Astronom

Spittlebug genus Kanozata Matsumura (Hemiptera, Cercopoidea: Cercopidae) with a new distribution record of K. contermina (Distant) to China

Male and female genitalia of species in the spittlebug genus Kanozata Matsumura, 1940 are described and illustrated. Kanozata contermina (Distant, 1916) is reported from China for the first time. Keys to species and a distribution map are provided

Black holes in 4D Einstein-Maxwell-Gauss-Bonnet gravity coupled with scalar fields

Einstein-Maxwell-Gauss-Bonnet-axion theory in $4$-dimensional spacetime is investigated in this paper through a "Kaluza-Klein-like" process. Dual to systems at finite temperature with background magnetic field on three dimensions, the four-dimensional dyonic black hole solution coupled with higher derivative terms is obtained. After the tensor-type perturbation is added, the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio is calculated at high temperature and low temperature separately. The behaviour of shear viscosity to entropy density ratio of uncharged black holes is found to be similar with that in $5$-dimensional spacetime, violating the Kovtun-Starinets-Son bound as well when temperature becomes lower. In addition, the main feature of this ratio remains almost unchanged in $4$ dimensions, which is characterised by $(T/\Delta)^2$ at low temperature $T$, with $\Delta$ proportional to the coefficient $\beta$ from scalar fields. The difficulty in causal analysis is also discussed, which is mainly caused by the vanishing momentum term in equations of motion.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures; more detail, minor corrections, references added. Accepted in EPJ

The Metabolism of Baicalin in Rat and the Biological Activities of the Metabolites

Baicalin is one of the major bioactive constituents of Scutellariae Radix, but the biotransformation of it is poorly understood. In this paper, the metabolism of baicalin in rat was studied. Nine metabolites including one new compound were isolated and identified structurally. The plausible scheme for the biotransformation pathways of baicalin in the rats was deduced. And the main metabolites were evaluated for their antioxidation and anti-inflammation biological activities for the first time

Experiment and Simulation Investigation on the Tensile Behavior of Composite Laminate with Stitching Reinforcement

The experiments and finite element simulations of composite laminate with stitching are carried out. Firstly, the monotonous tensile experiments with and without stitching are conducted to investigate the influence of stitch reinforcement on the composite laminate. Secondly, the finite element method (FEM) is employed to simulate the tensile process of specimens, and the link element is introduced to simulate the stitching. The experiment results shows that the stitching has little influence on the damage load under monotonous tensile load, while there is a significant influence on the changing of strain. The FEM results are consistent with the experiment results, which means that the link element can be used to study the stitching of the composite laminate. The simulation results also show that the distributions of strain are changed obviously due to the existence of the stitching. Research results have a significant role on the design of the composite structures with and without stitching

Ballistic Thermal Rectification in Asymmetric Three-Terminal Mesoscopic Dielectric Systems

By coupling the asymmetric three-terminal mesoscopic dielectric system with a temperature probe, at low temperature, the ballistic heat flux flow through the other two asymmetric terminals in the nonlinear response regime is studied based on the Landauer formulation of transport theory. The thermal rectification is attained at the quantum regime. It is a purely quantum effect and is determined by the dependence of the ratio $\tau_{RC}(\omega)/\tau_{RL}(\omega)$ on $\omega$, the phonon's frequency. Where $\tau_{RC}(\omega)$ and $\tau_{RL}(\omega)$ are respectively the transmission coefficients from two asymmetric terminals to the temperature probe, which are determined by the inelastic scattering of ballistic phonons in the temperature probe. Our results are confirmed by extensive numerical simulations.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure