Cosmological constant constraints from observation-derived energy condition bounds and their application to bimetric massive gravity

Among the various possibilities to probe the theory behind the recent accelerated expansion of the universe, the energy conditions (ECs) are of particular interest, since it is possible to confront and constrain the many models, including different theories of gravity, with observational data. In this context, we use the ECs to probe any alternative theory whose extra term acts as a cosmological constant. For this purpose, we apply a model-independent approach to reconstruct the recent expansion of the universe. Using Type Ia supernova, baryon acoustic oscillations and cosmic-chronometer data, we perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis to put constraints on the effective cosmological constant $\Omega^0_{\rm eff}$. By imposing that the cosmological constant is the only component that possibly violates the ECs, we derive lower and upper bounds for its value. For instance, we obtain that $0.59 < \Omega^0_{\rm eff} < 0.91$ and $0.40 < \Omega^0_{\rm eff} < 0.93$ within, respectively, $1\sigma$ and $3\sigma$ confidence levels. In addition, about 30\% of the posterior distribution is incompatible with a cosmological constant, showing that this method can potentially rule it out as a mechanism for the accelerated expansion. We also study the consequence of these constraints for two particular formulations of the bimetric massive gravity. Namely, we consider the Visser's theory and the Hassan and Roses's massive gravity by choosing a background metric such that both theories mimic General Relativity with a cosmological constant. Using the $\Omega^0_{\rm eff}$ observational bounds along with the upper bounds on the graviton mass we obtain constraints on the parameter spaces of both theories.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

The extended gaussian ensemble and metastabilities in the Blume-Capel model

The Blume-Capel model with infinite-range interactions presents analytical solutions in both canonical and microcanonical ensembles and therefore, its phase diagram is known in both ensembles. This model exhibits nonequivalent solutions and the microcanonical thermodynamical features present peculiar behaviors like nonconcave entropy, negative specific heat, and a jump in the thermodynamical temperature. Examples of nonequivalent ensembles are in general related to systems with long-range interactions that undergo canonical first-order phase transitions. Recently, the extended gaussian ensemble (EGE) solution was obtained for this model. The gaussian ensemble and its extended version can be considered as a regularization of the microcanonical ensemble. They are known to play the role of an interpolating ensemble between the microcanonical and the canonical ones. Here, we explicitly show how the microcanonical energy equilibrium states related to the metastable and unstable canonical solutions for the Blume-Capel model are recovered from EGE, which presents a concave "extended" entropy as a function of energy.Comment: 6 pages, 5 eps figures. Presented at the XI Latin American Workshop on Nonlinear Phenomena, October 05-09 (2009), B\'uzios (RJ), Brazil. To appear in JPC

Extra polarization states of cosmological gravitational waves in alternative theories of gravity

Cosmological Gravitational Waves (GWs) are usually associated with the transverse-traceless part of the metric perturbations in the context of the theory of cosmological perturbations. These modes are just the usual polarizations `+' and `x' which appear in the general relativity theory. However, in the majority of the alternative theories of gravity, GWs can present more than these two polarization states. In this context, the Newman-Penrose formalism is particularly suitable for evaluating the number of non-null GW modes. In the present work we intend to take into account these extra polarization states for cosmological GWs in alternative theories of gravity. As an application, we derive the dynamical equations for cosmological GWs for two specific theories, namely, a general scalar-tensor theory which presents four polarization states and a massive bimetric theory which is in the most general case with six polarization states for GWs. The mathematical tool presented here is quite general, so it can be used to study cosmological perturbations in all metric theories of gravity.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravity

Intensified bioprocess for the anaerobic conversion of syngas to biofuels

Este resumo faz parte de: Book of abstracts of the Meeting of the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2, Braga, Portugal, 2010. A versão completa do livro de atas está disponível em: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/1096

Otimização de protocolos de extração de RNA em diferentes tecidos de milho.

Neste trabalho, foram testados cinco métodos de extração de RNA (CTAB microextração, Concert? Invitrogen, Concert? Adaptado, TRI Reagente® Sigma e TRI Reagente® Adaptado), em dois diferentes tecidos de milho (mesocótilo e raiz), com o objetivo de estabelecer um método eficiente de extração de RNA, visando posteriormente estudos de expressão gênica. Observou-se que o método Concert,utilizando o protocolo adaptado, foi o mais eficiente para a extração de RNA de ambos os tecidos de plântulas de milho, originando 2351,35 ?g por 100 mg de tecido para mesocótilo e 893,75 ?g por 100 mg de tecido para raiz, considerando tanto a quantidade como a qualidade das amostras, podendo ser submetidas às etapas posteriores de tratamento com DNAse e construção de cDNA para estudos de expressão gênica. Pôde-se observar que pequenas modificações nos protocolos, como, por exemplo, mudança no tempo e na posição dos tubos durante a incubação e o incremento de duas lavagens com clorofórmio, podem melhorar muito tanto a qualidade quanto a quantidade do RNA extraído

Bioconversion of cellulosic biomass wastes by Azorean hot spring bacterial consortia

ECO-BIO 2016Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose is a fundamental step in the carbon cycle and in the industrial bioconversion of biomass to biofuels. In nature cellulose hydrolysis is often catalysed by enzymes from complex microbial communities, nevertheless these studies are limited to a few isolates. Actually the production of biofuels from biomass became a necessity and novel pre-treatments are mandatory to be discovered. Thereby the study of cellulose hydrolysing bacterial communities is a step in achieving a sustainable future in biofuels development. We propose the stabilization of an aerobic thermophilic bacterial consortia (BC) with the ability to adapt and hydrolyse different cellulose-rich wastes. Decaying cellulosic residues were sampled inside Azorean hot springs. Samples were enriched in cellulosic selective medium at 60ºC with growth monitored quantifying DNA. Hydrolysis efficiency was monitored and enzymatic activity was detected using xylan and carboxymetylcellulose (CMC). 16S rRNA hypervariable regions V3/V4 were amplified for phylogenetic characterization of BC using 454 pyrosequencing. Selected BC was able to hydrolyse 50% of cellulose-rich plant mix material in 4 days. Besides hydrolysing low content lignin material as non-wood plants, newspaper and cardboard, the consortia was able to hydrolyse high lignin content material, with lower efficiency. Celulase and xylanase were present in BC and reducing sugars were shown to be higher, compared with control. The phylogenetic results showed a large diversity in the BC with Thermobacillus representing 44% of the consortia, followed by Symbiobacterium 25%, Brevibacillus 16%, Geobacillus 12% and Hipomicrobium 3%. Three Geobacillus species were identified; G. stearothermophilus, G.thermodenitrificans and G.debilis. Further work will comply the isolation of enzyme producing bacteria isolates from the consortia for the construction of new consortia taking in consideration the efficiency of cellulose rich wastes. These results suggest that bacterial communities can be an alternative pre-treatment method of green wastes to obtain molecules to biofuels production.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Observational Constraints on Visser's Cosmological Model

Theories of gravity for which gravitons can be treated as massive particles have presently been studied as realistic modifications of General Relativity, and can be tested with cosmological observations. In this work, we study the ability of a recently proposed theory with massive gravitons, the so-called Visser theory, to explain the measurements of luminosity distance from the Union2 compilation, the most recent Type-Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) dataset, adopting the current ratio of the total density of non-relativistic matter to the critical density ($\Omega_m$) as a free parameter. We also combine the SNe Ia data with constraints from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and CMB measurements. We find that, for the allowed interval of values for $\Omega_m$, a model based on Visser's theory can produce an accelerated expansion period without any dark energy component, but the combined analysis (SNe Ia + BAO + CMB) shows that the model is disfavored when compared with $\Lambda$CDM model.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure