Quantum phase shift and neutrino oscillations in a stationary, weak gravitational field

A new method based on Synge's world function is developed for determining within the WKB approximation the gravitationally induced quantum phase shift of a particle propagating in a stationary spacetime. This method avoids any calculation of geodesics. A detailed treatment is given for relativistic particles within the weak field, linear approximation of any metric theory. The method is applied to the calculation of the oscillation terms governing the interference of neutrinos considered as a superposition of two eigenstates having different masses. It is shown that the neutrino oscillations are not sensitive to the gravitomagnetic components of the metric as long as the spin contributions can be ignored. Explicit calculations are performed when the source of the field is a spherical, homogeneous body. A comparison is made with previous results obtained in Schwarzschild spacetime.Comment: 14 pages, no figure. Enlarged version; added references. In the Schwarzschild case, our results on the non-radial propagation are compared with the previous work

Dynamics of a self-gravitating thin cosmic string

We assume that a self-gravitating thin string can be locally described by what we shall call a smoothed cone. If we impose a specific constraint on the model of the string, then its central line obeys the Nambu-Goto equations. If no constraint is added, then the worldsheet of the central line is a totally geodesic surface.Comment: 20 pages, latex, 1 figure, final versio

Ultimate decoherence border for matter-wave interferometry

Stochastic backgrounds of gravitational waves are intrinsic fluctuations of spacetime which lead to an unavoidable decoherence mechanism. This mechanism manifests itself as a degradation of the contrast of quantum interferences. It defines an ultimate decoherence border for matter-wave interferometry using larger and larger molecules. We give a quantitative characterization of this border in terms of figures involving the gravitational environment as well as the sensitivity of the interferometer to gravitational waves. The known level of gravitational noise determines the maximal size of the molecular probe for which interferences may remain observable. We discuss the relevance of this result in the context of ongoing progresses towards more and more sensitive matter-wave interferometry.Comment: 4 page

Leukemia-related chromosomal loss detected in hematopoietic progenitor cells of benzene-exposed workers.

Benzene exposure causes acute myeloid leukemia and hematotoxicity, shown as suppression of mature blood and myeloid progenitor cell numbers. As the leukemia-related aneuploidies monosomy 7 and trisomy 8 previously had been detected in the mature peripheral blood cells of exposed workers, we hypothesized that benzene could cause leukemia through the induction of these aneuploidies in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. We measured loss and gain of chromosomes 7 and 8 by fluorescence in situ hybridization in interphase colony-forming unit-granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) cells cultured from otherwise healthy benzene-exposed (n=28) and unexposed (n=14) workers. CFU-GM monosomy 7 and 8 levels (but not trisomy) were significantly increased in subjects exposed to benzene overall, compared with levels in the control subjects (P=0.0055 and P=0.0034, respectively). Levels of monosomy 7 and 8 were significantly increased in subjects exposed to <10 p.p.m. (20%, P=0.0419 and 28%, P=0.0056, respectively) and ≥ 10 p.p.m. (48%, P=0.0045 and 32%, 0.0354) benzene, compared with controls, and significant exposure-response trends were detected (P(trend)=0.0033 and 0.0057). These data show that monosomies 7 and 8 are produced in a dose-dependent manner in the blood progenitor cells of workers exposed to benzene, and may be mechanistically relevant biomarkers of early effect for benzene and other leukemogens

Self-force of a point charge in the space-time of a massive wormhole

We consider the self-potential and the self-force for an electrically charged particle at rest in the massive wormhole space-time. We develop general approach for the renormalization of electromagnetic field of such particle in the static space-times and apply it to the space-time of the wormhole with parameter of the mass, $m$. The self-force is found in manifest form; it is an attractive force. We discus the peculiarities due to massive parameter of the wormhole.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure text correcte

Developed Adomian method for quadratic Kaluza-Klein relativity

We develop and modify the Adomian decomposition method (ADecM) to work for a new type of nonlinear matrix differential equations (MDE's) which arise in general relativity (GR) and possibly in other applications. The approach consists in modifying both the ADecM linear operator with highest order derivative and ADecM polynomials. We specialize in the case of a 4$\times$4 nonlinear MDE along with a scalar one describing stationary cylindrically symmetric metrics in quadratic 5-dimensional GR, derive some of their properties using ADecM and construct the \textit{most general unique power series solutions}. However, because of the constraint imposed on the MDE by the scalar one, the series solutions terminate in closed forms exhausting all possible solutions.Comment: 17 pages (minor changes in reference [30]

Kaluza-Klein and Gauss-Bonnet cosmic strings

We make a systematic investigation of stationary cylindrically symmetric solutions to the five-dimensional Einstein and Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet equations. Apart from the five-dimensional neutral cosmic string metric, we find two new exact solutions which qualify as cosmic strings, one corresponding to an electrically charged cosmic string, the other to an extended superconducting cosmic string surrounding a charged core. In both cases, test particles are deflected away from the singular line source. We extend both kinds of solutions to exact multi-cosmic string solutions.Comment: 26 pages, LaTex, no figure

Bekenstein Bound, Holography and Brane Cosmology in Charged Black Hole Backgrounds

We obtain a Bekenstein entropy bound for the charged objects in arbitrary dimensions ($D\ge 4$) using the D-bound recently proposed by Bousso. With the help of thermodynamics of CFTs corresponding to AdS Reissner-Norstr\"om (RN) black holes, we discuss the relation between the Bekenstein and Bekenstein-Verlinde bounds. In particular we propose a Bekenstein-Verlinde-like bound for the charged systems. In the Einstein-Maxwell theory with a negative cosmological constant, we discuss the brane cosmology with positive tension using the Binetruy-Deffayet-Langlois approach. The resulting Friedman-Robertson-Walker equation can be identified with the one obtained by the moving domain wall approach in the AdS RN black hole background. Finally we also address the holographic property of the brane universe.Comment: Latex, 17 pages, v2: minor changes, a reference adde