20,712 research outputs found
Causality in Time-Neutral Cosmologies
Gell-Mann and Hartle (GMH) have recently considered time-neutral cosmological
models in which the initial and final conditions are independently specified,
and several authors have investigated experimental tests of such models.
We point out here that GMH time-neutral models can allow superluminal
signalling, in the sense that it can be possible for observers in those
cosmologies, by detecting and exploiting regularities in the final state, to
construct devices which send and receive signals between space-like separated
points. In suitable cosmologies, any single superluminal message can be
transmitted with probability arbitrarily close to one by the use of redundant
signals. However, the outcome probabilities of quantum measurements generally
depend on precisely which past {\it and future} measurements take place. As the
transmission of any signal relies on quantum measurements, its transmission
probability is similarly context-dependent. As a result, the standard
superluminal signalling paradoxes do not apply. Despite their unusual features,
the models are internally consistent.
These results illustrate an interesting conceptual point. The standard view
of Minkowski causality is not an absolutely indispensable part of the
mathematical formalism of relativistic quantum theory. It is contingent on the
empirical observation that naturally occurring ensembles can be naturally
pre-selected but not post-selected.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX. Published version -- minor typos correcte
Cosmological Models in Two Spacetime Dimensions
Various physical properties of cosmological models in (1+1) dimensions are
investigated. We demonstrate how a hot big bang and a hot big crunch can arise
in some models. In particular, we examine why particle horizons do not occur in
matter and radiation models. We also discuss under what circumstances
exponential inflation and matter/radiation decoupling can happen. Finally,
without assuming any particular equation of state, we show that physical
singularities can occur in both untilted and tilted universe models if certain
assumptions are satisfied, similar to the (3+1)-dimensional cases.Comment: 22 pgs., 2 figs. (available on request) (revised version contains
`paper.tex' macro file which was omitted in earlier version
Exact Solutions of Relativistic Two-Body Motion in Lineal Gravity
We develop the canonical formalism for a system of bodies in lineal
gravity and obtain exact solutions to the equations of motion for N=2. The
determining equation of the Hamiltonian is derived in the form of a
transcendental equation, which leads to the exact Hamiltonian to infinite order
of the gravitational coupling constant. In the equal mass case explicit
expressions of the trajectories of the particles are given as the functions of
the proper time, which show characteristic features of the motion depending on
the strength of gravity (mass) and the magnitude and sign of the cosmological
constant. As expected, we find that a positive cosmological constant has a
repulsive effect on the motion, while a negative one has an attractive effect.
However, some surprising features emerge that are absent for vanishing
cosmological constant. For a certain range of the negative cosmological
constant the motion shows a double maximum behavior as a combined result of an
induced momentum-dependent cosmological potential and the gravitational
attraction between the particles. For a positive cosmological constant, not
only bounded motions but also unbounded ones are realized. The change of the
metric along the movement of the particles is also exactly derived.Comment: 37 pages, Latex, 24 figure
On the extent and role of the small proteome in the parasitic eukaryote Trypanosoma brucei
Background: Although technical advances in genomics and proteomics research have yielded a better understanding of the coding capacity of a genome, one major challenge remaining is the identification of all expressed proteins, especially those less than 100 amino acids in length. Such information can be particularly relevant to human pathogens, such as Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of African trypanosomiasis, since it will provide further insight into the parasite biology and life cycle. Results: Starting with 993 T. brucei transcripts, previously shown by RNA-Sequencing not to coincide with annotated coding sequences (CDS), homology searches revealed that 173 predicted short open reading frames in these transcripts are conserved across kinetoplastids with 13 also conserved in representative eukaryotes. Mining mass spectrometry data sets revealed 42 transcripts encoding at least one matching peptide. RNAi-induced down-regulation of these 42 transcripts revealed seven to be essential in insect-form trypanosomes with two also required for the bloodstream life cycle stage. To validate the specificity of the RNAi results, each lethal phenotype was rescued by co-expressing an RNAi-resistant construct of each corresponding CDS. These previously non-annotated essential small proteins localized to a variety of cell compartments, including the cell surface, mitochondria, nucleus and cytoplasm, inferring the diverse biological roles they are likely to play in T. brucei. We also provide evidence that one of these small proteins is required for replicating the kinetoplast (mitochondrial) DNA. Conclusions: Our studies highlight the presence and significance of small proteins in a protist and expose potential new targets to block the survival of trypanosomes in the insect vector and/or the mammalian host
Exact Solution for the Metric and the Motion of Two Bodies in (1+1) Dimensional Gravity
We present the exact solution of two-body motion in (1+1) dimensional dilaton
gravity by solving the constraint equations in the canonical formalism. The
determining equation of the Hamiltonian is derived in a transcendental form and
the Hamiltonian is expressed for the system of two identical particles in terms
of the Lambert function. The function has two real branches which join
smoothly onto each other and the Hamiltonian on the principal branch reduces to
the Newtonian limit for small coupling constant. On the other branch the
Hamiltonian yields a new set of motions which can not be understood as
relativistically correcting the Newtonian motion. The explicit trajectory in
the phase space is illustrated for various values of the energy. The
analysis is extended to the case of unequal masses. The full expression of
metric tensor is given and the consistency between the solution of the metric
and the equations of motion is rigorously proved.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX, 16 figure
N-body Gravity and the Schroedinger Equation
We consider the problem of the motion of bodies in a self-gravitating
system in two spacetime dimensions. We point out that this system can be mapped
onto the quantum-mechanical problem of an N-body generalization of the problem
of the H molecular ion in one dimension. The canonical gravitational
N-body formalism can be extended to include electromagnetic charges. We derive
a general algorithm for solving this problem, and show how it reduces to known
results for the 2-body and 3-body systems.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, references added, typos corrected, final version
that appears in CQ
Dirac neutrino mass from the beta decay end-point modified by the dynamics of a Lorentz-violating equation of motion
Using a generalized procedure for obtaining the equation of motion of a
propagating fermionic particle, we examine previous claims for a lightlike
preferred axis embedded in the framework of Lorentz-invariance violation with
preserved algebra. In a high energy scale, the corresponding equation of motion
is reduced to a conserving lepton number chiral (VSR) equation, and in a low
energy scale, the Dirac equation for a free is recovered. The new dynamics
introduces some novel ingredients (modified cross section) to the phenomenology
of the tritium beta decay end-point.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Chaos in an Exact Relativistic 3-body Self-Gravitating System
We consider the problem of three body motion for a relativistic
one-dimensional self-gravitating system. After describing the canonical
decomposition of the action, we find an exact expression for the 3-body
Hamiltonian, implicitly determined in terms of the four coordinate and momentum
degrees of freedom in the system. Non-relativistically these degrees of freedom
can be rewritten in terms of a single particle moving in a two-dimensional
hexagonal well. We find the exact relativistic generalization of this
potential, along with its post-Newtonian approximation. We then specialize to
the equal mass case and numerically solve the equations of motion that follow
from the Hamiltonian. Working in hexagonal-well coordinates, we obtaining
orbits in both the hexagonal and 3-body representations of the system, and plot
the Poincare sections as a function of the relativistic energy parameter . We find two broad categories of periodic and quasi-periodic motions that we
refer to as the annulus and pretzel patterns, as well as a set of chaotic
motions that appear in the region of phase-space between these two types.
Despite the high degree of non-linearity in the relativistic system, we find
that the the global structure of its phase space remains qualitatively the same
as its non-relativisitic counterpart for all values of that we could
study. However the relativistic system has a weaker symmetry and so its
Poincare section develops an asymmetric distortion that increases with
increasing . For the post-Newtonian system we find that it experiences a
KAM breakdown for : above which the near integrable regions
degenerate into chaos.Comment: latex, 65 pages, 36 figures, high-resolution figures available upon
reques
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