13,564 research outputs found
Re/Os constraint on the time-variability of the fine-structure constant
We argue that the accuracy by which the isochron parameters of the decay
are determined by dating iron meteorites may
not directly constrain the possible time-dependence of the decay rate and hence
of the fine-structure constant . From this point of view, some of the
attempts to analyze the Oklo constraint and the results of the QSO absorption
lines are re-examined.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; v2, revised top sentence on p.
Effective Potential Study of the Chiral Phase Transition in a QCD-like Theory
We construct the effective potential for a QCD-like theory using the
auxiliary field method. The chiral phase transition exhibited by the model at
finite temperature and the quark chemical potential is studied from the
viewpoint of the shape change of the potential near the critical point. We
further generalize the effective potential so as to have quark number and
scalar quark densities as independent variables near the tri-critical point.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, using PTPTeX.cl
Survival Rates of Planets in Open Clusters: the Pleiades, Hyades, and Praesepe clusters
In clustered environments, stellar encounters can liberate planets from their
host stars via close encounters. Although the detection probability of planets
suggests that the planet population in open clusters resembles that in the
field, only a few dozen planet-hosting stars have been discovered in open
clusters. We explore the survival rates of planets against stellar encounters
in open clusters similar to the Pleiades, Hyades, and Praesepe and embedded
clusters. We performed a series of N-body simulations of high-density and
low-density open clusters, open clusters that grow via mergers of subclusters,
and embedded clusters. We semi-analytically calculated the survival rate of
planets in star clusters up to 1Gyr using relative velocities, masses, and
impact parameters of intruding stars. Less than 1.5% of close-in planets within
1 AU and at most 7% of planets with 1-10 AU are ejected by stellar encounters
in clustered environments after the dynamical evolution of star clusters. If a
planet population from 0.01-100 AU in an open cluster initially follows the
probability distribution function of exoplanets with semi-major axis ()
between 0.03-3 AU in the field discovered by RV surveys, the PDF of surviving
planets beyond ~10 AU in open clusters can be slightly modified to . The production rate of free-floating planets (FFPs) per star is
0.0096-0.18, where we have assumed that all the stars initially have one giant
planet with a mass of 1--13 MJ in a circular orbit. The expected frequency of
FFPs is compatible with the upper limit on that of FFPs indicated by recent
microlensing surveys. Our survival rates of planets in open clusters suggest
that planets within 10 AU around FGKM-type stars are rich in relatively-young
(<~10-100 Myr for open clusters and ~1-10 Myr for embedded clusters), less
massive open clusters, which are promising targets for planet searches.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, A&A accepte
Lefschetz thimble structure in one-dimensional lattice Thirring model at finite density
We investigate Lefschetz thimble structure of the complexified
path-integration in the one-dimensional lattice massive Thirring model with
finite chemical potential. The lattice model is formulated with staggered
fermions and a compact auxiliary vector boson (a link field), and the whole set
of the critical points (the complex saddle points) are sorted out, where each
critical point turns out to be in a one-to-one correspondence with a singular
point of the effective action (or a zero point of the fermion determinant). For
a subset of critical point solutions in the uniform-field subspace, we examine
the upward and downward cycles and the Stokes phenomenon with varying the
chemical potential, and we identify the intersection numbers to determine the
thimbles contributing to the path-integration of the partition function. We
show that the original integration path becomes equivalent to a single
Lefschetz thimble at small and large chemical potentials, while in the
crossover region multi thimbles must contribute to the path integration.
Finally, reducing the model to a uniform field space, we study the relative
importance of multiple thimble contributions and their behavior toward
continuum and low-temperature limits quantitatively, and see how the rapid
crossover behavior is recovered by adding the multi thimble contributions at
low temperatures. Those findings will be useful for performing Monte-Carlo
simulations on the Lefschetz thimbles.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures (typo etc. corrected
Evolution of Star Clusters near the Galactic Center: Fully Self-consistent N-body Simulations
We have performed fully self-consistent -body simulations of star clusters
near the Galactic center (GC). Such simulations have not been performed because
it is difficult to perform fast and accurate simulations of such systems using
conventional methods. We used the Bridge code, which integrates the parent
galaxy using the tree algorithm and the star cluster using the fourth-order
Hermite scheme with individual timestep. The interaction between the parent
galaxy and the star cluster is calculate with the tree algorithm. Therefore,
the Bridge code can handle both the orbital and internal evolutions of star
clusters correctly at the same time. We investigated the evolution of star
clusters using the Bridge code and compared the results with previous studies.
We found that 1) the inspiral timescale of the star clusters is shorter than
that obtained with "traditional" simulations, in which the orbital evolution of
star clusters is calculated analytically using the dynamical friction formula
and 2) the core collapse of the star cluster increases the core density and
help the cluster survive. The initial conditions of star clusters is not so
severe as previously suggested.Comment: 19 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Mixed magnetic phases in (Ga,Mn)As epilayers
Two different ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transitions are detected in
(Ga,Mn)As/GaAs(001) epilayers from ac susceptibility measurements: transition
at a higher temperature results from (Ga,Mn)As cluster phases with [110]
uniaxial anisotropy and that at a lower temperature is associated with a
ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As matrix with cubic anisotropy. A change in the
magnetic easy axis from [100] to [110] with increasing temperature can be
explained by the reduced contribution of cubic anisotropy to the magnetic
properties above the transition temperature of the (Ga,Mn)As matrix
Possible link between the changing fine-structure constant and the accelerating universe via scalar-tensor theory
In 1976, Shlyakhter showed that the Sm data from Oklo results in the upper
bound on the time-variability of the fine-structure constant:
|\dot{\alpha}/\alpha| \lsim 10^{-17}{\rm y}^{-1}, which has ever been the
most stringent bound. Since the details have never been published, however, we
recently re-analyzed the latest data according to Shlyakhter's recipe. We
nearly re-confirmed his result. To be more precise, however, the Sm data gives
either an upper-bound or an "evidence" for a changing :
. A remark
is made to a similar re-analysis due to Damour and Dyson. We also compare our
result with a recent "evidence" due to Webb et al, obtained from distant QSO's.
We point out a possible connection between this time-dependence and the
behavior of a scalar field supposed to be responsible for the acceleration of
the universe, also revealed recently.Comment: 13 pages including 3 figures; delivered at First Int ASTROD School
and Symposium, Sep 13-23, 2001, Beijing, to appear in Int. J. Modern Phys. D,
as part of Proceedings. Minor changes in the reference
Quintessence, scalar-tensor theories and non-Newtonian gravity
We discuss some of the issues which we encounter when we try to invoke the
scalar-tensor theories of gravitation as a theoretical basis of quintessence.
One of the advantages of appealing to these theories is that they allow us to
implement the scenario of a ``decaying cosmological constant,'' which offers a
reasonable understanding of why the observed upper bound of the cosmological
constant is smaller than the theoretically natural value by as much as 120
orders of magnitude. In this context, the scalar field can be a candidate of
quintessence in a broader sense. We find, however, a serious drawback in the
prototype Brans-Dicke model with added; a static universe in the
physical conformal frame which is chosen to have constant particle masses. We
propose a remedy by modifying the matter coupling of the scalar field taking
advantage of scale invariance and its breakdown through quantum anomaly. By
combining this with a conjecture on another cosmological constant problem
coming from the vacuum energy of matter fields, we expect a possible link
between quintessence and non-Newtonian gravity featuring violation of Weak
Equivalence Principle and intermediate force range, likely within the
experimental constraints. A new prediction is also offered on the
time-variability of the gravitational constant.Comment: 12 pages LaTex including 1 eps figur
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