14,215 research outputs found
Spontaneous breaking of conformal invariance, solitons and gravitational waves in theories of conformally invariant gravitation
We study conformal gravity as an alternative theory of gravitation. For
conformal gravity to be phenomenologically viable requires that the conformal
symmetry is not manifest at the energy scales of the other known physical
forces. Hence we require a mechanism for the spontaneous breaking of conformal
invariance. In this paper we study the possibility that conformal invariance is
spontaneously broken due to interactions with conformally coupled matter
fields. The vacuum of the theory admits conformally non-invariant solutions
corresponding to maximally symmetric space-times and variants thereof. These
are either de Sitter space-time or anti-de Sitter space-time in the full four
space-time dimensions or in a lower dimensional sub-space. We consider in
particular normalizable, linearized gravitational perturbations around the
anti-de Sitter background. Exploiting the conformal flatness of this
space-time, we show to second order, that these gravitational fluctuations,
that are taken to be fourier decomposable, carry zero energy-momentum. This
squares well with the theorem that asymptotically flat space-times conformal
gravity contain zero energy and momentum \cite{bhs}. We also show the
possibility of domain wall solitons interpolating between the ground states of
spontaneously broken conformal symmetry that we have found. These solitons
necessarily require the vanishing of the scalar field, repudiating the recent
suggestion \cite{f} that the conformal symmetry could be quarantined to a
sterile sector of the theory by choosing an appropriate field redefinition.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, colour viewing helpful, version to be published
in PR
A Magellanic Origin for the Warp of the Galaxy
We show that a Magellanic Cloud origin for the warp of the Milky Way can
explain most quantitative features of the outer HI layer recently identified by
Levine, Blitz & Heiles (2005). We construct a model similar to that of Weinberg
(1998) that produces distortions in the dark matter halo, and we calculate the
combined effect of these dark-halo distortions and the direct tidal forcing by
the Magellanic Clouds on the disk warp in the linear regime. The interaction of
the dark matter halo with the disk and resonances between the orbit of the
Clouds and the disk account for the large amplitudes observed for the vertical
m=0,1,2 harmonics. The observations lead to six constraints on warp forcing
mechanisms and our model reasonably approximates all six. The disk is shown to
be very dynamic, constantly changing its shape as the Clouds proceed along
their orbit. We discuss the challenges to MOND placed by the observations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJ Letters. Additional graphics, 3d
visualizations and movies available at
http://www.astro.umass.edu/~weinberg/lm
Non-rotating and rotating neutron stars in the extended field theoretical model
We study the properties of non-rotating and rotating neutron stars for a new
set of equations of state (EOSs) with different high density behaviour obtained
using the extended field theoretical model. The high density behaviour for
these EOSs are varied by varying the meson self-coupling and
hyperon-meson couplings in such a way that the quality of fit to the bulk
nuclear observables, nuclear matter incompressibility coefficient and
hyperon-nucleon potential depths remain practically unaffected. We find that
the largest value for maximum mass for the non-rotating neutron star is
. The radius for the neutron star with canonical mass is km provided only those EOSs are considered for which maximum mass is
larger than as it is the lower bound on the maximum mass measured
so far. Our results for the very recently discovered fastest rotating neutron
star indicate that this star is supra massive with mass and
circumferential equatorial radius km.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures. Phys. Rev. C (in press
How higher-spin gravity surpasses the spin two barrier: no-go theorems versus yes-go examples
Aiming at non-experts, we explain the key mechanisms of higher-spin
extensions of ordinary gravity. We first overview various no-go theorems for
low-energy scattering of massless particles in flat spacetime. In doing so we
dress a dictionary between the S-matrix and the Lagrangian approaches,
exhibiting their relative advantages and weaknesses, after which we high-light
potential loop-holes for non-trivial massless dynamics. We then review positive
yes-go results for non-abelian cubic higher-derivative vertices in constantly
curved backgrounds. Finally we outline how higher-spin symmetry can be
reconciled with the equivalence principle in the presence of a cosmological
constant leading to the Fradkin--Vasiliev vertices and Vasiliev's higher-spin
gravity with its double perturbative expansion (in terms of numbers of fields
and derivatives).Comment: LaTeX, 50 pages, minor changes, many refs added; version accepted for
publication in Reviews of Modern Physic
Graviton localization and Newton's law for brane models with a non-minimally coupled bulk scalar field
Brane world models with a non-minimally coupled bulk scalar field have been
studied recently. In this paper we consider metric fluctuations around an
arbitrary gravity-scalar background solution, and we show that the
corresponding spectrum includes a localized zero mode which strongly depends on
the profile of the background scalar field. For a special class of solutions,
with a warp factor of the RS form, we solve the linearized Einstein equations,
for a point-like mass source on the brane, by using the brane bending
formalism. We see that general relativity on the brane is recovered only if we
impose restrictions on the parameter space of the models under consideration.Comment: 17 pages, revised versio
Associated tW production at LHC: a complete calculation of electroweak supersymmetric effects at one loop
We compute, in the MSSM framework, the total electroweak contributions at one
loop for the process pp -> tW+X, initiated by the parton process bg -> tW. The
supersymmetric effect is analyzed for various choices of the SUSY benchmark
points. Choosing realistic unpolarized and polarized experimental quantities,
we show the size of the various effects and discuss their dependence on the
MSSM parameters.Comment: 32 pages, 9 eps figure
The gravitational analogue to the hydrogen atom (A summer study at the borders of quantum mechanics and general relativity)
This article reports on a student summer project performed in 2006 at the
University of Frankfurt. It is addressed to undergraduate students familiar
with the basic principles of relativistic quantum mechanics and general
relativity. The aim of the project was to study the Dirac equation in curved
space time. To obtain the general relativistic Dirac equation we use the
formulation of gravity as a gauge theory in the first part. After these general
considerations we restrict the further discussion to the special case of the
Schwarzschild metric. This setting corresponds to the hydrogen atom, with the
electromagnetic field replaced by gravity. Although there is a singularity at
the event horizon it turns out that a regular solution of the time independent
Dirac equation exists. Finally the Dirac equation is solved numerically using
suitable boundary conditions.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure
Performance of high resistivity n+pp+ silicon solar cells under 1 MeV electron irradiation
High resistivity (1250 and 84 ohm-cm) n(+)pp(+) silicon solar cells were irradiated and their performance evaluated as a function of fluence. The greatest degradation in power occurred for the higher resistivity cell. The data were analyzed under open circuit conditions, and the components of V sub oc determined as a function of fluence. It was found that the voltage contributions from the front and back junctions decreased while the base component (V sub B) increased with fluence. The anomalous behavior of V sub B was attributed to an increase in the base minority carrier gradient with fluence. An argument that the increased power degradation in the 1250 ohm-cm cells was attributable to an increased voltage drop in the base is presented. Diffusion lengths calculated under high injection conditions were significantly greater than those determined under low injection. This was attributed to a saturation of recombination centers under high injection conditions
Feshbach Resonances and Limiting Thermodynamics of Strongly Correlated Nucleons
A finite temperature model of strongly correlated nucleons with underlying
isospin symmetries is developed. The model can be used to study the role of
bound states and Feshbach resonances on the thermal properties of a spin 1/2,
isospin 1/2 system of protons and neutrons by varying the proton fraction. An
analysis of features associated with a universal thermodynamic limit or unitary
limit is given. In the limit of very large scattering length, the effective
range to quantum thermal wavelength appears as a limiting scale in an
interaction energy and equation of state.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
- …