3,012 research outputs found

    f(R)f(R) gravity theories in the Palatini Formalism constrained from strong lensing

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    f(R)f(R) gravity, capable of driving the late-time acceleration of the universe, is emerging as a promising alternative to dark energy. Various f(R)f(R) gravity models have been intensively tested against probes of the expansion history, including type Ia supernovae (SNIa), the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). In this paper we propose to use the statistical lens sample from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search Data Release 3 (SQLS DR3) to constrain f(R)f(R) gravity models. This sample can probe the expansion history up to z∼2.2z\sim2.2, higher than what probed by current SNIa and BAO data. We adopt a typical parameterization of the form f(R)=R−αH02(−RH02)βf(R)=R-\alpha H^2_0(-\frac{R}{H^2_0})^\beta with α\alpha and β\beta constants. For β=0\beta=0 (Λ\LambdaCDM), we obtain the best-fit value of the parameter α=−4.193\alpha=-4.193, for which the 95% confidence interval that is [-4.633, -3.754]. This best-fit value of α\alpha corresponds to the matter density parameter Ωm0=0.301\Omega_{m0}=0.301, consistent with constraints from other probes. Allowing β\beta to be free, the best-fit parameters are (α,β)=(−3.777,0.06195)(\alpha, \beta)=(-3.777, 0.06195). Consequently, we give Ωm0=0.285\Omega_{m0}=0.285 and the deceleration parameter q0=−0.544q_0=-0.544. At the 95% confidence level, α\alpha and β\beta are constrained to [-4.67, -2.89] and [-0.078, 0.202] respectively. Clearly, given the currently limited sample size, we can only constrain β\beta within the accuracy of Δβ∼0.1\Delta\beta\sim 0.1 and thus can not distinguish between Λ\LambdaCDM and f(R)f(R) gravity with high significance, and actually, the former lies in the 68% confidence contour. We expect that the extension of the SQLS DR3 lens sample to the SDSS DR5 and SDSS-II will make constraints on the model more stringent.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

    Intermediate-pressure phases of cerium studied by an LDA + Gutzwiller method

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    The thermodynamic stable phase of cerium metal in the intermediate pressure regime (5.0--13.0 GPa) is studied in detail by the newly developed local-density approximation (LDA)+ Gutzwiller method, which can include the strong correlation effect among the 4\textit{f} electrons in cerium metal properly. Our numerical results show that the α"\alpha" phase, which has the distorted body-centered-tetragonal structure, is the thermodynamic stable phase in the intermediate pressure regime and all the other phases including the α′\alpha' phase (α\alpha-U structure), α\alpha phase (fcc structure), and bct phases are either metastable or unstable. Our results are quite consistent with the most recent experimental data.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
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