Modeling dynamical scalarization with a resummed post-Newtonian expansion

Despite stringent constraints set by astrophysical observations, there remain viable scalar-tensor theories that could be distinguished from general relativity with gravitational-wave detectors. A promising signal predicted in these alternative theories is dynamical scalarization, which can dramatically affect the evolution of neutron-star binaries near merger. Motivated by the successful treatment of spontaneous scalarization, we develop a formalism that partially resums the post-Newtonian expansion to capture dynamical scalarization in a mathematically consistent manner. We calculate the post-Newtonian order corrections to the equations of motion and scalar mass of a binary system. Through comparison with quasi-equilibrium configuration calculations, we verify that this new approximation scheme can accurately predict the onset and magnitude of dynamical scalarization.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures; recolored figures, fixed typos, added emai

Structures 2 - The response of a clamped circular plate to impulsive loads

Computer analysis of clamped circular plate response to axisymmetric impulsive loa

Structures i- the response of beams and rings to high-intensity, short-duration loading

Computer programs for determining response of beams and rings to high intensity, short duration loadin

Concentrating minds: how the Greeks designed spaces for public debate

What can we learn from ancient Greece when it comes to designing spaces for political debate? In an article for Theatrum Mundi, Richard Sennett describes how ancient Athenians used amphitheatres and the agora to debate, take decisions and participate in public life. He recalls Aristotle’s notion of how a complex urban society could reconcile differences. Modern societies – where concentrating on a political question has become ever more difficult – need public spaces conducive to focus and deliberation

Constraining nonperturbative strong-field effects in scalar-tensor gravity by combining pulsar timing and laser-interferometer gravitational-wave detectors

Pulsar timing and gravitational-wave (GW) detectors are superb laboratories to study gravity theories in the strong-field regime. Here we combine those tools to test the mono-scalar-tensor theory of Damour and Esposito-Far{\`e}se (DEF), which predicts nonperturbative scalarization phenomena for neutron stars (NSs). First, applying Markov-chain Monte Carlo techniques, we use the absence of dipolar radiation in the pulsar-timing observations of five binary systems composed of a NS and a white dwarf, and eleven equations of state (EOSs) for NSs, to derive the most stringent constraints on the two free parameters of the DEF scalar-tensor theory. Since the binary-pulsar bounds depend on the NS mass and the EOS, we find that current pulsar-timing observations leave scalarization windows, i.e., regions of parameter space where scalarization can still be prominent. Then, we investigate if these scalarization windows could be closed and if pulsar-timing constraints could be improved by laser-interferometer GW detectors, when spontaneous (or dynamical) scalarization sets in during the early (or late) stages of a binary NS (BNS) evolution. For the early inspiral of a BNS carrying constant scalar charge, we employ a Fisher matrix analysis to show that Advanced LIGO can improve pulsar-timing constraints for some EOSs, and next-generation detectors, such as the Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope, will be able to improve those bounds for all eleven EOSs. Using the late inspiral of a BNS, we estimate that for some of the EOSs under consideration the onset of dynamical scalarization can happen early enough to improve the constraints on the DEF parameters obtained by combining the five binary pulsars. Thus, in the near future the complementarity of pulsar timing and direct observations of GWs on the ground will be extremely valuable in probing gravity theories in the strong-field regime.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures; accepted by Physical Review

A preliminary investigation into the adjustment to university of first-year students at the University of Cape Town, with particular emphasis on the relative adjustment of black students

Bibliography : leaves 66-72.The change from school to university is a major life transition to which many students experience considerable difficulty in adjusting. This process of adjustment is multidimensional requiring that students develop effective strategies for adapting to a host of new demands (Baker & Siryk, 1989) including those found in the academic, social and emotional spheres of development. Yet, in addition to factors relating to individual developmental or background variables, the interactive effects of student demographics and institutional environment may also influence a student's ability to cope effectively with adjustment to university. This may be the case particularly for students of disadvantaged or minority backgrounds, of which, the literature suggests, black African students in South Africa are a likely instance

Distinguishing Boson Stars from Black Holes and Neutron Stars from Tidal Interactions in Inspiraling Binary Systems

Binary systems containing boson stars---self-gravitating configurations of a complex scalar field--- can potentially mimic black holes or neutron stars as gravitational-wave sources. We investigate the extent to which tidal effects in the gravitational-wave signal can be used to discriminate between these standard sources and boson stars. We consider spherically symmetric boson stars within two classes of scalar self-interactions: an effective-field-theoretically motivated quartic potential and a solitonic potential constructed to produce very compact stars. We compute the tidal deformability parameter characterizing the dominant tidal imprint in the gravitational-wave signals for a large span of the parameter space of each boson star model. We find that the tidal deformability for boson stars with a quartic self-interaction is bounded below by $\Lambda_{\rm min}\approx 280$ and for those with a solitonic interaction by $\Lambda_{\rm min}\approx 1.3$. Employing a Fisher matrix analysis, we estimate the precision with which Advanced LIGO and third-generation detectors can measure these tidal parameters using the inspiral portion of the signal. We discuss a new strategy to improve the distinguishability between black holes/neutrons stars and boson stars by combining deformability measurements of each compact object in a binary system, thereby eliminating the scaling ambiguities in each boson star model. Our analysis shows that current-generation detectors can potentially distinguish boson stars with quartic potentials from black holes, as well as from neutron-star binaries if they have either a large total mass or a large mass ratio. Discriminating solitonic boson stars from black holes using only tidal effects during the inspiral will be difficult with Advanced LIGO, but third-generation detectors should be able to distinguish between binary black holes and these binary boson stars.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Physical Review

The Effects of Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) on Muscle Activation and Hypertrophy in Patients with Chronic Ankle Instability (CAI): A Critically Appraised Topic

Graduate Theoretical Proposa

Hairy binary black holes in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory and their effective-one-body description

In General Relativity and many modified theories of gravity, isolated black holes (BHs) cannot source massless scalar fields. Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton (EMd) theory is an exception: through couplings both to electromagnetism and (non-minimally) to gravity, a massless scalar field can be generated by an electrically charged BH. In this work, we analytically model the dynamics of binaries comprised of such scalar-charged ("hairy") BHs. While BHs are not expected to have substantial electric charge within the Standard Model of particle physics, nearly-extremally charged BHs could occur in models of minicharged dark matter and dark photons. We begin by studying the test-body limit for a binary BH in EMd theory, and we argue that only very compact binaries of nearly-extremally charged BHs can manifest non-perturbative phenomena similar to those found in certain scalar-tensor theories. Then, we use the post-Newtonian approximation to study the dynamics of binary BHs with arbitrary mass ratios. We derive the equations governing the conservative and dissipative sectors of the dynamics at next-to-leading order, use our results to compute the Fourier-domain gravitational waveform in the stationary-phase approximation, and compute the number of useful cycles measurable by the Advanced LIGO detector. Finally, we construct two effective-one-body (EOB) Hamiltonians for binary BHs in EMd theory: one that reproduces the exact test-body limit and another whose construction more closely resembles similar models in General Relativity, and thus could be more easily integrated into existing EOB waveform models used in the data analysis of gravitational-wave events by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations.Comment: 36 pages, 12 figures, updated to match published versio