Casimir Densities for a Massive Fermionic Quantum Field in a Global Monopole Background with Spherical Boundary

We investigate the vacuum expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor associated with a massive fermionic field obeying the MIT bag boundary condition on a spherical shell in the global monopole spacetime. The asymptotic behavior of the vacuum densities is investigated near the sphere center and surface, and at large distances from the sphere. In the limit of strong gravitational field corresponding to small values of the parameter describing the solid angle deficit in global monopole geometry, the sphere-induced expectation values are exponentially suppressed.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 6th Alexander Friedmann International Seminar on Gravitation and Cosmolog

Behavior of Two Big Rockfill Dams, and Design Aims

The case histories of two major compacted embankment dams are analysed with regard to the problem most amenable to reasonings and computations of statistics of averages, the problem of deformations, discussed regarding specific laboratory testing compared with use of generalized correlations. Improved mental models for predictions are proposed. In the earthcore-compacted rockfill section the problem of crest cracking suggests the interest in a significant change of zoned section in the topmost stretch. For the concrete-face rockfill dam it is suggested that one needs a significant revision of instrumentation and monitoring orientation. Both dams behaved extraordinarily well on questions of consequence and served to show that unfavourable observations, if too indirect, lead to no benefit, but may sometimes prove the inexistence of the consequential misbehavior to be guarded against

Electronic Phase Separation Transition as the Origin of the Superconductivity and the Pseudogap Phase of Cuprates

We propose a new phase of matter, an electronic phase separation transition that starts near the upper pseudogap and segregates the holes into high and low density domains. The Cahn-Hilliard approach is used to follow quantitatively this second order transition. The resulting grain boundary potential confines the charge in domains and favors the development of intragrain superconducting amplitudes. The zero resistivity transition arises only when the intergrain Josephson coupling $E_J$ is of the order of the thermal energy and phase locking among the superconducting grains takes place. We show that this approach explains the pseudogap and superconducting phases in a natural way and reproduces some recent scanning tunneling microscopy dataComment: 4 pages and 5 eps fig

Electrostatic in Reissner-Nordstrom space-time with a conical defect

We calculate the electrostatic potential generated by a point charge in the space-time of Reissner-Nordstrom with a conical defect. An expression for the self-energy is also presented.Comment: 7 pages, LATEX fil