Evolving wormhole geometries within nonlinear electrodynamics

In this work, we explore the possibility of evolving (2+1) and (3+1)-dimensional wormhole spacetimes, conformally related to the respective static geometries, within the context of nonlinear electrodynamics. For the (3+1)-dimensional spacetime, it is found that the Einstein field equation imposes a contracting wormhole solution and the obedience of the weak energy condition. Nevertheless, in the presence of an electric field, the latter presents a singularity at the throat, however, for a pure magnetic field the solution is regular. For the (2+1)-dimensional case, it is also found that the physical fields are singular at the throat. Thus, taking into account the principle of finiteness, which states that a satisfactory theory should avoid physical quantities becoming infinite, one may rule out evolving (3+1)-dimensional wormhole solutions, in the presence of an electric field, and the (2+1)-dimensional case coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure; to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravity. V2: minor corrections, including a referenc

Stable Gravastars of Anisotropic Dark Energy

Dynamical models of prototype gravastars made of phantom energy are constructed, in which an infinitely thin spherical shell of a perfect fluid with the equation of state $p = (1-\gamma)\sigma$ divides the whole spacetime into two regions, the internal region filled with a dark energy (or phantom) fluid, and the external Schwarzschild region. It is found that in some cases the models represent the "bounded excursion" stable gravastars, where the thin shell is oscillating between two finite radii, while in other cases they collapse until the formation of black holes or normal stars. In the phase space, the region for the "bounded excursion" gravastars is very small in comparison to that of black holes, but not empty, as found in our previous papers. Therefore, although the existence of gravastars can not be completely excluded from current analysis, the opposite is not possible either, that is, even if gravastars exist, they do not exclude the existence of black holes.Comment: 35 pages, 43 figures, added some clarifying texts and corrected some typos, accepted for publication in JCA

Errors on the inverse problem solution for a noisy spherical gravitational wave antenna

A single spherical antenna is capable of measuring the direction and polarization of a gravitational wave. It is possible to solve the inverse problem using only linear algebra even in the presence of noise. The simplicity of this solution enables one to explore the error on the solution using standard techniques. In this paper we derive the error on the direction and polarization measurements of a gravitational wave. We show that the solid angle error and the uncertainty on the wave amplitude are direction independent. We also discuss the possibility of determining the polarization amplitudes with isotropic sensitivity for any given gravitational wave source.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX2e, IOP style, submitted to CQ

Deconvolving the information from an imperfect spherical gravitational wave antenna

We have studied the effects of imperfections in spherical gravitational wave antenna on our ability to properly interpret the data it will produce. The results of a numerical simulation are reported that quantitatively describe the systematic errors resulting from imperfections in various components of the antenna. In addition, the results of measurements on a room-temperature prototype are presented that verify it is possible to accurately deconvolve the data in practice.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Europhysics Letter

Exploratory data analysis and clustering of multivariate spatial hydrogeological data by means of GEO3DSOM, a variant of Kohonen's Self-Organizing Map

The use of unsupervised artificial neural network techniques like the self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm has proven to be a useful tool in exploratory data analysis and clustering of multivariate data sets. In this study a variant of the SOM-algorithm is proposed, the GEO3DSOM, capable of explicitly incorporating three-dimensional spatial knowledge into the algorithm. The performance of the GEO3DSOM is compared to the performance of the standard SOM in analyzing an artificial data set and a hydrochemical data set. The hydrochemical data set consists of 131 groundwater samples collected in two detritic, phreatic, Cenozoic aquifers in Central Belgium. Both techniques succeed very well in providing more insight in the groundwater quality data set, visualizing the relationships between variables, highlighting the main differences between groups of samples and pointing out anomalous wells and well screens. The GEO3DSOM however has the advantage to provide an increased resolution while still maintaining a good generalization of the data set

Extra force in f(R)f(R) modified theories of gravity

The equation of motion for test particles in $f(R)$ modified theories of gravity is derived. By considering an explicit coupling between an arbitrary function of the scalar curvature, $R$, and the Lagrangian density of matter, it is shown that an extra force arises. This extra force is orthogonal to the four-velocity and the corresponding acceleration law is obtained in the weak field limit. Connections with MOND and with the Pioneer anomaly are further discussed.Comment: Revtex4 file, 5 pages. Version to appear in Physical Review

Spinor calculus on 5-dimensional spacetimes

Penrose's spinor calculus of 4-dimensional Lorentzian geometry is extended to the case of 5-dimensional Lorentzian geometry. Such fruitful ideas in Penrose's spinor calculus as the spin covariant derivative, the curvature spinors or the definition of the spin coefficients on a spin frame can be carried over to the spinor calculus in 5-dimensional Lorentzian geometry. The algebraic and differential properties of the curvature spinors are studied in detail and as an application we extend the well-known 4-dimensional Newman-Penrose formalism to a 5-dimensional spacetime.Comment: Convention mismatch and minor typos fixed. To appear in Journal of Mathematical Physic