7,048 research outputs found
The role of dissipation in biasing the vacuum selection in quantum field theory at finite temperature
We study the symmetry breaking pattern of an O(4) symmetric model of scalar
fields, with both charged and neutral fields, interacting with a photon bath.
Nagasawa and Brandenberger argued that in favourable circumstances the vacuum
manifold would be reduced from S^3 to S^1. Here it is shown that a selective
condensation of the neutral fields, that are not directly coupled to photons,
can be achieved in the presence of a minimal ``external'' dissipation, i.e. not
related to interactions with a bath. This should be relevant in the early
universe or in heavy-ion collisions where dissipation occurs due to expansion.Comment: Final version to appear in Phys. Rev. D, 2 figures added, 2 new
sub-section
Predicting the critical density of topological defects in O(N) scalar field theories
O(N) symmetric field theories describe many critical
phenomena in the laboratory and in the early Universe. Given N and ,
the dimension of space, these models exhibit topological defect classical
solutions that in some cases fully determine their critical behavior. For N=2,
D=3 it has been observed that the defect density is seemingly a universal
quantity at T_c. We prove this conjecture and show how to predict its value
based on the universal critical exponents of the field theory. Analogously, for
general N and D we predict the universal critical densities of domain walls and
monopoles, for which no detailed thermodynamic study exists. This procedure can
also be inverted, producing an algorithm for generating typical defect networks
at criticality, in contrast to the canonical procedure, which applies only in
the unphysical limit of infinite temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, uses RevTex, typos in Eq.(11) and (14) correcte
Elastic properties of carbon nanotubes and their heterojunctions
Comprehensive studies on the modelling and numerical simulation of the mechanical behaviour under tension, bending and torsion of single-walled carbon nanotubes and their heterojunctions are performed. It is proposed to deduce the mechanical properties of the carbon nanotubes heterojunctions from the knowledge of the mechanical properties of the single-walled carbon nanotubes, which are their constituent key unit
Modelação geoquĂmica: uma ferramenta de gestĂŁo ambiental
Comunicação oral da qual sĂł está disponĂvel o resumo.Modelação GeoquĂmica: Uma ferramenta de gestĂŁo ambiental
Cumulative incidence estimates in the presence of competing risks
This study was funded by FEDER through the Operational Program Competitiveness and Internationalization and national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) under the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia—Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006862; Ref. UID/DTP/04750/2013). An individual PhD grant attributed to S.M. (SFRH/BD/102585/2014) was funded by FCT and the “Programa Operacional Capital Humano” (POCH/FSE). The funding sources had no involvement in the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the commentary
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