Time Dependent Quark Masses and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Revisited

We reinvestigate the constraints from primordial nucleosynthesis on a possible time-dependent quark mass. The limits on such quark-mass variations are particularly sensitive to the adopted observational abundance constraints. Hence, in the present study we have considered updated light-element abundances and uncertainties deduced from observations. We also consider new nuclear reaction rates and an independent analysis of the influence of such quark-mass variations on the resonance properties of the important 3He(d,p)4He reaction. We find that the updated abundance and resonance constraints imply a narrower range on the possible quark-mass variations in the early universe. We also find that, contrary to previous investigations, the optimum concordance region reduces to a (95% C.L.) value of -0.005 < delta m_q/m_q < 0.007 consistent with no variation in the averaged quark mass.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, analytic formulae of D and 4He abundances as well as standard BBN prediction added, discussion on the 6Li production added, minor errors fixed, accepted for publication in PR

Stability of f(R) black holes

We investigate the stability of $f(R)$ (Schwarzschild) black hole obtained from the $f(R)$ gravity. It is difficult to carry out the perturbation analysis around the black hole because the linearized Einstein equation is fourth order in $f(R)$ gravity. In order to resolve this difficulty, we transform $f(R)$ gravity into the scalar-tensor theory by introducing two auxiliary scalars. In this case, the linearized curvature scalar becomes a scalaron, showing that all linearized equations are second order, which are the same equations for the massive Brans-Dicke theory. It turns out that the $f(R)$ black hole is stable against the external perturbations if the scalaron does not have a tachyonic mass.Comment: 16 pages, no figures, version to appear in Physical Review

Radio/X-ray Offsets of Large Scale Jets Caused by Synchrotron Time Lags

In the internal shock scenario, we argue that electrons in most kpc (or even larger) scale jets can be accelerated to energies high enough to emit synchrotron X-rays, if shocks exist on these scales. These high energy electrons emit synchrotron radiation at high frequencies and cool as they propagate downstream along the jet, emitting at progressively lower frequencies and resulting in time lags and hence radio/X-ray (and optical/X-ray if the optical knot is detectable) offsets at bright knots, with the centroids of X-ray knots being closer to the core. Taking into account strong effects of jet expansion, the behaviour of radio/X-ray and optical/X-ray offsets at bright knots in M87, Cen A, 3C 66B, 3C 31, 3C 273, and PKS 1127-145 is consistent with that of synchrotron time lags due to radiative losses. This suggests that the large scale X-ray and optical jets in these sources are due to synchrotron emission.Comment: 4 pages, Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Quasinormal frequencies and thermodynamic quantities for the Lifshitz black holes

We find the connection between thermodynamic quantities and quasinormal frequencies in Lifshitz black holes. It is shown that the globally stable Lifshitz black holes have pure imaginary quasinormal frequencies. We also show that by employing the Maggiore's method, both the horizon area and the entropy can be quantized for these black holes.Comment: 21 pages, no figures, version to appear in PR