Detecting premonitory seismicity patterns based on critical point dynamics

We test the hypothesis that critical point dynamics precedes strong earthquakes in a region surrounding the future hypocenter. Therefore, we search systematically for regions obeying critical point dynamics in terms of a growing spatial correlation length (GCL). The question of whether or not these spatial patterns are correlated with future seismicity is crucial for the problem of predictability. The analysis is conducted for earthquakes with <i>M</i> <u>></u> 6.5 in California. As a result, we observe that GCL patterns are correlated with the distribution of future seismicity. In particular, there are clear correlations in some cases, e.g. the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake. We claim that the critical point concept can improve the seismic hazard assessment

Properties of Foreshocks and Aftershocks of the Non-Conservative SOC Olami-Feder-Christensen Model: Triggered or Critical Earthquakes?

Following Hergarten and Neugebauer [2002] who discovered aftershock and foreshock sequences in the Olami-Feder-Christensen (OFC) discrete block-spring earthquake model, we investigate to what degree the simple toppling mechanism of this model is sufficient to account for the properties of earthquake clustering in time and space. Our main finding is that synthetic catalogs generated by the OFC model share practically all properties of real seismicity at a qualitative level, with however significant quantitative differences. We find that OFC catalogs can be in large part described by the concept of triggered seismicity but the properties of foreshocks depend on the mainshock magnitude, in qualitative agreement with the critical earthquake model and in disagreement with simple models of triggered seismicity such as the Epidemic Type Aftershock Sequence (ETAS) model [Ogata, 1988]. Many other features of OFC catalogs can be reproduced with the ETAS model with a weaker clustering than real seismicity, i.e. for a very small average number of triggered earthquakes of first generation per mother-earthquake.Comment: revtex, 19 pages, 8 eps figure

Self-organization of spatio-temporal earthquake clusters

International audienceCellular automaton versions of the Burridge-Knopoff model have been shown to reproduce the power law distribution of event sizes; that is, the Gutenberg-Richter law. However, they have failed to reproduce the occurrence of foreshock and aftershock sequences correlated with large earthquakes. We show that in the case of partial stress recovery due to transient creep occurring subsequently to earthquakes in the crust, such spring-block systems self-organize into a statistically stationary state characterized by a power law distribution of fracture sizes as well as by foreshocks and aftershocks accompanying large events. In particular, the increase of foreshock and the decrease of aftershock activity can be described by, aside from a prefactor, the same Omori law. The exponent of the Omori law depends on the relaxation time and on the spatial scale of transient creep. Further investigations concerning the number of aftershocks, the temporal variation of aftershock magnitudes, and the waiting time distribution support the conclusion that this model, even "more realistic" physics in missed, captures in some ways the origin of the size distribution as well as spatio-temporal clustering of earthquakes

Instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter equation: utmost analytic approach

The Bethe-Salpeter formalism in the instantaneous approximation for the interaction kernel entering into the Bethe-Salpeter equation represents a reasonable framework for the description of bound states within relativistic quantum field theory. In contrast to its further simplifications (like, for instance, the so-called reduced Salpeter equation), it allows also the consideration of bound states composed of "light" constituents. Every eigenvalue equation with solutions in some linear space may be (approximately) solved by conversion into an equivalent matrix eigenvalue problem. We demonstrate that the matrices arising in these representations of the instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter equation may be found, at least for a wide class of interactions, in an entirely algebraic manner. The advantages of having the involved matrices explicitly, i.e., not "contaminated" by errors induced by numerical computations, at one's disposal are obvious: problems like, for instance, questions of the stability of eigenvalues may be analyzed more rigorously; furthermore, for small matrix sizes the eigenvalues may even be calculated analytically.Comment: LaTeX, 23 pages, 2 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

The CRESST II Dark Matter Search

Direct Dark Matter detection with cryodetectors is briefly discussed, with particular mention of the possibility of the identification of the recoil nucleus. Preliminary results from the CREEST II Dark Matter search, with 730 kg-days of data, are presented. Major backgrounds and methods of identifying and dealing with them are indicated.Comment: Talk at DSU workshop, ITP Beijing, Oct. 2011. 9 figures, 2 table

Results from 730 kg days of the CRESST-II Dark Matter Search

The CRESST-II cryogenic Dark Matter search, aiming at detection of WIMPs via elastic scattering off nuclei in CaWO$_4$ crystals, completed 730 kg days of data taking in 2011. We present the data collected with eight detector modules, each with a two-channel readout; one for a phonon signal and the other for coincidently produced scintillation light. The former provides a precise measure of the energy deposited by an interaction, and the ratio of scintillation light to deposited energy can be used to discriminate different types of interacting particles and thus to distinguish possible signal events from the dominant backgrounds. Sixty-seven events are found in the acceptance region where a WIMP signal in the form of low energy nuclear recoils would be expected. We estimate background contributions to this observation from four sources: 1) "leakage" from the e/\gamma-band 2) "leakage" from the \alpha-particle band 3) neutrons and 4) Pb-206 recoils from Po-210 decay. Using a maximum likelihood analysis, we find, at a high statistical significance, that these sources alone are not sufficient to explain the data. The addition of a signal due to scattering of relatively light WIMPs could account for this discrepancy, and we determine the associated WIMP parameters.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figure

Application of Jain and Munczek's bound-state approach to gamma gamma-processes of pi0, eta_c and eta_b

We point out the problems affecting most quark--antiquark bound state approaches when they are faced with the electromagnetic processes dominated by Abelian axial anomaly. However, these problems are resolved in the consistently coupled Schwinger-Dyson and Bethe-Salpeter approach. Using one of the most successful variants of this approach, we find the dynamically dressed propagators of the light u and d quarks, as well as the heavy c and b quarks, and find the Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes for their bound states pi0, eta_c and \eta_b. Thanks to incorporating the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, the pion simultaneously appears as the (pseudo)Goldstone boson. We give the theoretical predictions for the gamma-gamma decay widths of pi0, eta_c and eta_b, and for the pi0 gamma* -> gamma transition form factor, and compare them with experiment. In the chiral limit, the axial-anomaly result for pi0->gamma-gamma is reproduced analytically in the consistently coupled Schwinger-Dyson and Bethe-Salpeter approach, provided that the quark-photon vertex is dressed consistently with the quark propagator, so that the vector Ward-Takahashi identity of QED is obeyed. On the other hand, the present approach is also capable of quantitatively describing systems of heavy quarks, concretely eta_c and possibly eta_b, and their gamma-gamma decays. We discuss the reasons for the broad phenomenological success of the bound-state approach of Jain and Munczek.Comment: RevTeX, 37 pages, 7 eps figures, submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys.

On the broken gauge, conformal and discrete symmetries in particle physics

Relationships between gauge, conformal and discrete symmetries in particle physics are analysed. We study also the effect of the electroweak mixing on the cancellation of SU(2) anomalous actions. It is shown that the relation theta_{W} = 2(theta_{12}+theta_{23}+theta_{13}) between the Weinberg angle and the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angles should be satisfied and this effect is completely defined by the mixing of Dirac fermions. We compare two mechanisms of the spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetry, discuss the renormalizability of theories, and argue for the existence of the Majorana fermions necessary to remove the SU(2) anomalous action. The fate of the majoron and the spontaneously broken lepton number is discussed. We also show the compatibility of the boson and fermion mixings with Dyson-Schwinger equations.Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX style; v2: published version, two figures adde