Gauge-Dependent Cosmological "Constant"

When the cosmological constant of spacetime is derived from the 5D induced-matter theory of gravity, we show that a simple gauge transformation changes it to a variable measure of the vacuum which is infinite at the big bang and decays to an astrophysically-acceptable value at late epochs. We outline implications of this for cosmology and galaxy formation.Comment: 14 pages, no figures, expanded version to be published in Class. Quantum Gra

Exact Displacement Analysis of Four-Link Spatial Mechanisms by the Direction Cosine Matrix Method

A method of displacement analysis of the four-link spatial mechanism is developed. The results through this analysis will be exact solutions that can be obtained without Introduction A recent survey of space mechanism research [1], which covers analytical methods developed mainly since the 1950s with numerous pertinent references, serves as an extensive and informative source of background material. However, several selective references of well-known methods for the displacement analysis of spatial linkage may be mentioned. Among them are the 4x4 matrix iterative method [2, A method of displacement analysis using direction cosine matrices as transformation matrices for the four-link spatial mechanisms is developed and applied to various four-bar spatial linkages in this paper. The mathematics involved are elementary; the operations are simple without loss of geometric interpretation, and the solutions are exact. Th

Open String Tachyon in Supergravity Solution

We study the tachyon condensation of the D-\bar{D}-brane system with a constant tachyon vev in the context of classical solutions of the Type II supergravity. We find that the general solution with the symmetry ISO(1,p)xSO(9-p) (the three-parameter solution) includes the extremal black p-brane solution as an appropriate limit of the solution with fixing one of the three parameters (c_1). Furthermore, we compare the long distance behavior of the solution with the massless modes of the closed strings from the boundary state of the D-\bar{D}-brane system with a constant tachyon vev. We find that we must fix c_1 to zero and the only two parameters are needed to express the tachyon condensation of the D\={D}-brane system. This means that the parameter $c_1$ does not correspond to the tachyon vev of the D\={D}-brane system.Comment: 20 pages, no figures, LaTeX2e, typos corrected, references added and more general result presente

Entropy and universality of Cardy-Verlinde formula in dark energy universe

We study the entropy of a FRW universe filled with dark energy (cosmological constant, quintessence or phantom). For general or time-dependent equation of state $p=w\rho$ the entropy is expressed in terms of energy, Casimir energy, and $w$. The correspondent expression reminds one about 2d CFT entropy only for conformal matter. At the same time, the cosmological Cardy-Verlinde formula relating three typical FRW universe entropies remains to be universal for any type of matter. The same conclusions hold in modified gravity which represents gravitational alternative for dark energy and which contains terms growing at low curvature. It is interesting that BHs in modified gravity are more entropic than in Einstein gravity. Finally, some hydrodynamical examples testing new shear viscosity bound, which is expected to be the consequence of the holographic entropy bound, are presented for the early universe in the plasma era and for the Kasner metric. It seems that the Kasner metric provides a counterexample to the new shear viscosity bound.Comment: LaTeX file, 39 pages, references are adde

Brane-Bulk Interaction and Holographic Principle

We introduce the brane-bulk interaction to discuss a limitation of the cosmological Cardy-Verlinde formula which is useful for the holographic description of brane cosmology. In the presence of the brane-bulk interaction, we cannot find the entropy representation of the first Friedmann equation (the cosmological Cardy-Verlinde formula). In the absence of the interaction, the cosmological Cardy-Verlinde formula is established even for the time-dependent charged AdS background. Hence, if there exists a dynamic exchange of energy between the brane and the bulk (that is, if $\tilde T^t~_y \not=0$), we cannot achieve the cosmological holographic principle on the brane.Comment: 9 pages, REVTE

Closed Universe in Mirage Cosmology

We study the cosmological evolution of the closed universe on a spherical probe brane moving in the AdS$_m\times S^n$ background and the near-horizon background of the dilatonic D-branes. The Friedmann equations describing the evolution of the brane universe, and the effective energy density and pressure simulated on the probe brane due to its motion in the curved background spacetime are obtained and analyzed. We also comment on the relevance of the spherical probe brane to the giant graviton for the special value of the probe energy.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, errors in effective energy densities and pressures resulting from errors in Eq.(5) are corrected, erroneous analysis of the effective Friedmann equations for the giant graviton cases correcte

Kalb-Ramond excitations in a thick-brane scenario with dilaton

We compute the full spectrum and eigenstates of the Kalb-Ramond field in a warped non-compact Randall-Sundrum -type five-dimensional spacetime in which the ordinary four-dimensional braneworld is represented by a sine-Gordon soliton. This 3-brane solution is fully consistent with both the warped gravitational field and bulk dilaton configurations. In such a background we embed a bulk antisymmetric tensor field and obtain, after reduction, an infinite tower of normalizable Kaluza-Klein massive components along with a zero-mode. The low lying mass eigenstates of the Kalb-Ramond field may be related to the axion pseudoscalar. This yields phenomenological implications on the space of parameters, particularly on the dilaton coupling constant. Both analytical and numerical results are given.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, and 2 tables. Final version to appear in The European Physical Journal

Probing the Holography of Near-Horizon AdS(5)xS(5) Geometry

Using the AdS/CFT correspondence we study the holographic principle and the CFT/FRW relations in the near-horizon AdS(5)xS(5) geometry with a probe D3-brane playing the role of the boundary to this space. The motion of the probe D3-brane in the bulk, induces a cosmological evolution on the brane. As the brane crosses the horizon of the bulk black hole, it probes the holography of the dual CFT. We test the holographic principle and we find corrections to CFT/FRW relations in various physical cases: for radially moving, spinning and electrically charged D3-brane and for a NS/NS B-field in the bulk.Comment: LaTex file, 30 pages, no figures; major revision, new results presented, references added; to appear in JCA

Pheromone-mediated mating disruption in the millet stem borer, Coniesta ignefusalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

The millet stem borer, Coniesta ignefusalis Hampson (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is a major pest of pearl millet in the Sahelian region of Africa. The female sex pheromone has been identified and synthesised, and previous research had shown that the synthetic pheromone could cause high levels of reproductive communication disruption in small plots when released at rates of 640 mg/ha/day, using PVC resin formulation renewed every seven days to maintain efficiency. In the present research, in experiments in farmers’ fields in Niger, 86.8% (SE = 2.6%) communication disruption was achieved when polyethylene vials loaded with 0.5 mg pheromone at 400 dispensers/ha were used and replaced every 21 days. Polyethylene vials loaded with 80 mg pheromone gave uniform, zero-order release at approximately 0.05 mg/day at 27 °C. Experiments carried out on replicated 0.5 ha plots in farmers’ fields in Niger using a single application of these dispensers at 400 dispensers/ha resulted in at least 99% suppression of pheromone trap catches of male C. ignefusalis moths in treated plots relative to numbers in untreated plots for up to 3 months. However, sampling the central portions of these plots before and after harvest showed no significant differences in infestation, damage or yield loss between plots treated with pheromone and untreated plots. This may have been because of small plot size and the immigration of mated female moths into the treated plots which negated any reduction of mating of females within the treated plots. Comparisons of numbers of male C. ignefusalis moths in traps baited with the standard 0.5 mg monitoring lures and those baited with the 80 mg disruption dispensers showed catches in the latter were only 10–20% of those in the former; indicating high level communication disruptions in traps with high dose dispensers. Implications of using insect synthetic pheromones in the development of integrated management of C.ignefusalis in pearl millet cropping systems in the Sahel are discussed

Observations on factors affecting attraction and oviposition preferences of the millet head miner Heliocheilus albipunctella to pearl millet panicles

The most suitable growth stage (30, 50 and 100% panicle stage, flowering and dough-filling stage) of pearl millet cultivars 3/4HK, MBH110, ICMV IS 89305 and Chalakh for the oviposition of gravid female head miners (H. albipunctella) was determined in multi- and no-choice tests. Alongside this, the oviposition preference of the pest given the choice of whole plants or methanol extracts of pearl millet panicles, leaves and stems, and sorghum panicles. Oviposition of the head miner was highest during the 30% panicle extension stage of the crop in both multi- and no-choice tests. The number of eggs deposited by the pest was highest in whole plants and filter paper treated with extracts of pearl millet panicles