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At least 397 records · Page 22

DBI potential, DBI inflation action and general Lagrangian relative to phantom, K-essence and quintessence

We derive a Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) potential and DBI inflation action by rescaling the metric. The determinant of the induced metric naturally includes the kinetic energy and the potential energy. In particular, the potential energy and kinetic energy can convert into each other in any order, which is in agreement with the limit of classical physics. This is quite different from the usual DBI action. We show that the Taylor expansion of the DBI action can be reduced into the form in the non-linear classical physics. These investigations are the support for the statement that the results of string theory are consistent with quantum mechanics and classical physics. We deduce the Phantom, K-essence, Quintessence and Generalized Klein-Gordon Equation from the DBI model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Universal interferometric signatures of a black hole’s photon ring

The Event Horizon Telescope image of the supermassive black hole in the galaxy M87 is dominated by a bright, unresolved ring. General relativity predicts that embedded within this image lies a thin “photon ring,” which is composed of an infinite sequence of self-similar subrings that are indexed by the number of photon orbits around the black hole. The subrings approach the edge of the black hole “shadow,” becoming exponentially narrower but weaker with increasing orbit number, with seemingly negligible contributions from high-order subrings. Here, we show that these subrings produce strong and universal signatures on long interferometric baselines. These signatures offer the possibility of precise measurements of black hole mass and spin, as well as tests of general relativity, using only a sparse interferometric array.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Scattering of radio frequency waves by cylindrical filaments with general orientation relative to the magnetic field

Radio frequency waves are routinely used in tokamak fusion plasmas for plasma heating, current control, as well as in diagnostics. These waves are excited by antenna structures placed near the tokamak's wall and they have to propagate through a turbulent layer known as scrape-off layer, before reaching the core plasma (which is their target). This layer exhibits coherent density fluctuations in the form of filaments and blobs. The scattering processes of RF plane waves by single filament is studied with the assumption that the filament has cylindrical shape and infinite length. Furthermore, besides the major toroidal component of the externally imposed magnetic field, there is also a small poloidal magnetic field component. Considering also that the cylindrical filament's axis is not necessarily aligned with the toroidal direction, the total magnetic field is in general neither aligned with the axis of the cylinder nor with the toroidal direction. The investigation concerns the case of Electron Cyclotron (EC) waves (of frequency 170 GHz) for tokamak applications. The study covers a variety of density contrasts between the filament and the ambient plasma, different magnetic field inclinations with respect to the cylinder axis (for the same magnitude of magnetic induction B=4.5 T) and a wide range of filament radii.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Scattering of radio frequency waves by cylindrical filaments with general orientation relative to the magnetic field

We report Radio frequency (RF) waves are routinely used in tokamak fusion plasmas for plasma heating, current control, as well as in diagnostics. These waves are excited by antenna structures placed near the tokamak’s wall and they have to propagate through a turbulent layer known as the scrape-off layer, before reaching the core plasma (which is their target). This layer exhibits coherent density fluctuations in the form of filaments and blobs. The scattering processes of RF plane waves by a single filament is studied with the assumption that the filament has a cylindrical shape and infinite length. Furthermore, besides the major toroidal component of the externally imposed magnetic field, there is also a small poloidal magnetic field component. Considering also that the cylindrical filament’s axis is not necessarily aligned with the toroidal direction, the total magnetic field is in general neither aligned with the axis of the cylinder nor with the toroidal direction. The investigation concerns the case of electron cyclotron (EC) waves (of frequency $f_0$ = 170 GHz)for tokamak applications. The study covers a variety of density contrasts between the filament and the ambient plasma, different magnetic field inclinations with respect to the cylinder axis (for the same magnitude of magnetic induction B = 4.5T and a wide range of filament radii.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Using the HHT to Search for Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves are a consequence of Einstein's theory of general relativity applied to the motion of very dense and massive objects such as black holes and neutron stars. Their detection will reveal a wealth of information about these mysterious objects that cannot be obtained with electromagnetic probes. Two projects are underway to attempt the detection of gravitational waves: NASA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a space based mission being designed to search for waves from supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, and the NSF's Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), a ground based facility that is now searching for waves from supernovae. pulsars, and the coalescence of black hole and neutron star systems. Because general relativity is an inherently non-linear theory, many of the predicted source waveforms show strong frequency modulation. In addition, the LIGO and LISA detectors are highly sensitive devices that produce a variety of non-linear transient noise features. Thus the unique capabilities of the HHT. the extraction of intrawave modulation and the characterization of non-linear and non-stationary signals, have a natural application to both signal detection and experimental characterization of the detectors. In this talk I will give an overview of the status of the field. including some of the expected sources of gravitational waves, and I will also describe the LISA and LIGO detectors. Then I will describe some applications of the HHT to waveform detection and detector noise characterization.

Camp, Jordan↗

Probing compactified extra dimensions with gravitational waves

We study the effect of compact extra dimensions on the gravitational wave luminosity and waveform. We consider a toy model, with a compactified fifth dimension, and matter confined on a brane. We work in the context of five-dimensional (5D) general relativity, though we do make connections with the corresponding Kaluza-Klein effective 4D theory. We show that the luminosity of gravitational waves emitted in 5D gravity by a binary with the same characteristics (same masses and separation distance) as a 4D binary is 20.8% less relative to the 4D case, to leading post-Newtonian order. The phase of the gravitational waveform differs by 26% relative to the 4D case, to leading post-Newtonian order. Such a correction arises mainly due to the coupling between matter and dilaton field in the effective 4D picture and agrees with previous calculations when we set black holes’ scalar charges to be those computed from the Kaluza-Klein reduction. The above corrections to the waveform and the luminosity are inconsistent with the gravitational-wave and binary pulsar observations, and they thus effectively rule out the possibility of such a simple compactified higher dimensions scenario. We also comment on how our results change if there are several compactified extra dimensions and show that the discrepancy with 4D general relativity only increases.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Gravitational Rocket from the Merging Massive Black Hole Binaries

Coalescing massive black hole binaries are expected to be among the most fascinating gravitational wave sources, observable by the NASA/ESA LISA detector. Not only will the merger events reveal the rich phenomenology of extremely strong and dynamical gravity deep inside the potential wells at the centers of galaxies (thus providing an excellent testing ground for general relativity), it will also make important contributions to the astrophysics of massive black hole evolutions. Typical black hole mergers involve asymmetric radiation of gravitational waves and lose linear momentum as well as energy and angular momentum. As a result, the merger remnant receives a kick from the GW emission: a gravitational rocket effect. High kick velocities (higher than the escape velocities of the host structure) would have a strong impact on our understanding of how massive black holes have evolved over time and, in particular, on the estimates of the merger rate for LISA. The main difficulties in calculations of the kick velocities has been in the last moments of the merger where the full theory of general relativity must be employed to accurately model the black hole dynamics. I describe a recent calculation of the kick velocities from numerical relativity simulations of the merging black hole binaries.

Choi, Dale↗

When Black Holes Collide

Among the fascinating phenomena predicted by General Relativity, Einstein's theory of gravity, black holes and gravitational waves, are particularly important in astronomy. Though once viewed as a mathematical oddity, black holes are now recognized as the central engines of many of astronomy's most energetic cataclysms. Gravitational waves, though weakly interacting with ordinary matter, may be observed with new gravitational wave telescopes, opening a new window to the universe. These observations promise a direct view of the strong gravitational dynamics involving dense, often dark objects, such as black holes. The most powerful of these events may be merger of two colliding black holes. Though dark, these mergers may briefly release more energy that all the stars in the visible universe, in gravitational waves. General relativity makes precise predictions for the gravitational-wave signatures of these events, predictions which we can now calculate with the aid of supercomputer simulations. These results provide a foundation for interpreting expect observations in the emerging field of gravitational wave astronomy.

Baker, John↗

Generation of extreme-ultraviolet beams with time-varying orbital angular momentum

Light fields carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) provide powerful capabilities for applications in optical communications, microscopy, quantum optics, and microparticle manipulation. We introduce a property of light beams, manifested as a temporal OAM variation along a pulse: the self-torque of light. Although self-torque is found in diverse physical systems (i.e., electrodynamics and general relativity), it was not realized that light could possess such a property. We demonstrate that extreme-ultraviolet self-torqued beams arise in high-harmonic generation driven by time-delayed pulses with different OAM. We monitor the self-torque of extreme-ultraviolet beams through their azimuthal frequency chirp. Lastly, this class of dynamic-OAM beams provides the ability for controlling magnetic, topological, and quantum excitations and for manipulating molecules and nanostructures on their natural time and length scales.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Fast Approximate Methods for Modified Gravity Cosmological Simulations

The accelerated expansion of the Universe poses a major theoretical puzzle. Although the assumption of a non-zero cosmological constant provides a minimal extension of general relativity that is consistent with observational data, many theories of modified gravity have been suggested as possible alternatives. Predictions of structure formation for these models in the fully nonlinear regime are very expensive and it is difficult, if not impossible, to explore such a huge space of models and parameters using high-resolution N-body simulations. Even in the mildly nonlinear regime, perturbative methods can become extremely complex. We explore whether simplified dynamical approximations, applicable for a certain set of cosmological probes, can be used to investigate models of modified gravity with acceptable accuracy in the latter instance. For the case of chameleon gravity, we find that these methods can indeed be used to explore the region around the baryon acoustic oscillation scale, k ~ 0:1 hMpc-1 but not much further.

cosmology↗

A STABLE, ACCURATE METHODOLOGY FOR HIGH MACH NUMBER, STRONG MAGNETIC FIELD MHD TURBULENCE WITH ADAPTIVE MESH REFINEMENT: RESOLUTION AND REFINEMENT STUDIES

Performing a stable, long-duration simulation of driven MHD turbulence with a high thermal Mach number and a strong initial magnetic field is a challenge to high-order Godunov ideal MHD schemes because of the difficulty in guaranteeing positivity of the density and pressure. We have implemented a robust combination of reconstruction schemes, Riemann solvers, limiters, and constrained transport electromotive force averaging schemes that can meet this challenge, and using this strategy, we have developed a new adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) MHD module of the ORION2 code. We investigate the effects of AMR on several statistical properties of a turbulent ideal MHD system with a thermal Mach number of 10 and a plasma {beta}{sub 0} of 0.1 as initial conditions; our code is shown to be stable for simulations with higher Mach numbers (M{sub rms}= 17.3) and smaller plasma beta ({beta}{sub 0} = 0.0067) as well. Our results show that the quality of the turbulence simulation is generally related to the volume-averaged refinement. Our AMR simulations show that the turbulent dissipation coefficient for supersonic MHD turbulence is about 0.5, in agreement with unigrid simulations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Testing deviations from GR at cosmological scales including dynamical dark energy, massive neutrinos, functional or binned parametrizations, and spatial curvature

Here we introduce a new version of the Integrated Software in Testing General Relativity (ISiTGR) which is a patch to the software CAMB and CosmoMC . ISiTGR is intended to test deviations from GR at cosmological scales using cosmological datasets. While doing so, it allows for various extensions to the standard flat Λ cold dark matter model. In this new release, we have support for the following: (1) dynamical dark energy parametrizations with a constant or time-dependant equation of state; (2) a consistent implementation of anisotropic shear to model massive neutrinos throughout the full formalism; (3) multiple commonly used parametrizations of modified growth (MG) parameters; (4) functional, binned and hybrid time and scale dependencies for all MG parameters; (5) spatially flat or curved backgrounds. ISiTGR is designed to allow cosmological analyses to take full advantage of ongoing and future surveys to test simultaneously or separately various extensions to the standard model. We describe here the formalism and its implementation in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) code, the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, and the 3 × 2 point statistics. Next, we apply ISiTGR to current datasets from Planck-2018, Planck-2015, Dark Energy Survey YR1 release, baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO), redshift space distortions (BAO/RSD) from the BOSS Data Release 12, the 6DF Galaxy Survey and the SDSS Data Release 7 Main Galaxy Sample, and Supernova from the Pantheon compilation, joint SNLS/SDSS data analysis and the Hubble Space Telescope. We derive constraints on MG parameters for various combinations of the five features above and find that general relativity is consistent with current datasets in all cases.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dark Energy Survey year 1 results: Constraints on extended cosmological models from galaxy clustering and weak lensing

We present constraints on extensions of the minimal cosmological models dominated by dark matter and dark energy, Lambda CDM and wCDM, by using a combined analysis of galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing from the first-year data of the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y1) in combination with external data. We consider four extensions of the minimal dark energy-dominated scenarios: (1) nonzero curvature Omega(k), (2) number of relativistic species N-eff different from the standard value of 3.046, (3) time-varying equation-of-state of dark energy described by the parameters w(0) and w(a) (alternatively quoted by the values at the pivot redshift, w(p), and w(a)), and (4) modified gravity described by the parameters is mu(0) and Sigma(0) that modify the metric potentials. We also consider external information from Planck cosmic microwave background measurements; baryon acoustic oscillation measurements from SDSS, 6dF, and BOSS; redshift-space distortion measurements from BOSS; and type Ia supernova information from the Pantheon compilation of datasets. Constraints on curvature and the number of relativistic species are dominated by the external data; when these are combined with DES Y1, we find Omega(k) = 0.0020(-0.0032)(+0.0037) at the 68% confidence level, and the upper limit N-eff < 3.28(3.55) at 68% (95%) confidence, assuming a hard prior N-eff > 3.0. For the time-varying equation-of-state, we find the pivot value (w(p), w(a)) = (-0.91(-0.23)(+0.19), -0.57(-1.11)(+0.93)) at pivot redshift z(p )= 0.27 from DES alone, and (w(p), w(a)) = (-1.01(-0.04)(+0.04), -0.28(-0.48)(+0.37)) at z(p) = 0.20 from DES Y1 combined with external data; in either case we find no evidence for the temporal variation of the equation of state. For modified gravity, we find the present-day value of the relevant parameters to be Sigma(0) = 0.43(-)(0.29)(+0.28) from DES Y1 alone, and (Sigma(0), mu(0)) = (0.06(-0.07)(+0.08), -0.11(-0.46)(+0.42)) from DES Y1 combined with external data. These modified-gravity constraints are consistent with predictions from general relativity.

Abbott, T. M. C.↗

Interacting agegraphic dark energy models in phase space

Agegraphic dark energy, has been recently proposed, based on the so-called Karolyhazy uncertainty relation, which arises from quantum mechanics together with general relativity. In the first part of the article we study the original agegraphic dark energy model by including the interaction between agegraphic dark energy and pressureless (dark) matter. The phase space analysis was made and the critical points were found, one of which is the attractor corresponding to an accelerated expanding Universe. Recent observations of near supernova show that the acceleration of Universe decreases. This phenomenon is called the transient acceleration. In the second part of Article we consider the 3-component Universe composed of a scalar field, interacting with the dark matter on the agegraphic dark energy background. We show that the transient acceleration appears in frame of such a model. The obtained results agree with the observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Orders on Intervals Over Partially Ordered Sets: Extending Allen's Algebra and Interval Graph Results

To make a decision, we need to compare the values of quantities. In many practical situations, we know the values with interval uncertainty. In such situations, we need to compare intervals. Allen’s algebra describes all possible relations between intervals on the real line, and ordering relations between such intervals are well studied. In this paper, we extend this description to intervals in an arbitrary partially ordered set (poset). In particular, we explicitly describe ordering relations between intervals that generalize relation between points. As auxiliary results, we provide a logical interpretation of the relation between intervals, and extend the results about interval graphs to intervals over posets.

Zapata, Francisco↗

Response to “Comment on ‘Generalized dispersion relation for electron Bernstein waves in a non-Maxwellian magnetized anisotropic plasma’” [Phys. Plasmas 22, 024701 (2015)]

Sharifi and Parvazian have presented comments on our paper by questioning the validity of the results. The plots of different curves of kappa and (r, q) distributions produced by them are incorrect. They pretended as if we have made claim that our results are valid for large arguments of product of Bessel Function, whereas Neumann's series expansion is valid only for small arguments. In our paper, no claim is made that the results are valid for all values of b. Our results are valid only for b ≪ 1. The results plotted by the commenters are incorrect and in this response we are presenting correct plots of dispersion curves.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗