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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Subleading BMS charges and fake news near null infinity

In this paper we establish a relation between the non-linearly conserved New-man-Penrose charges and certain subleading terms in a large- r expansion of the BMS charges in an asymptotically-flat spacetime. We define the subleading BMS charges by considering a 1 /r -expansion of the Barnich-Brandt prescription for defining asymptotic charges in an asymptotically-flat spacetime. At the leading order, i.e. 1 /r 0 , one obtains the standard BMS charges, which would be integrable and conserved in the absence of a flux term at null infinity, corresponding to gravitational radiation, or Bondi news. At subleading orders, analogous terms in general provide obstructions to the integrability of the corresponding charges. Since the subleading terms are defined close to null infinity, but vanish actually at infinity, the analogous obstructions are not associated with genuine Bondi news. One may instead describe them as corresponding to “fake news”. At order r -3 , we find that a set of integrable charges can be defined and that these are related to the ten non-linearly conserved Newman-Penrose charges.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Averaged null energy condition from causality

Unitary, Lorentz-invariant quantum field theories in at spacetime obey mi-crocausality: commutators vanish at spacelike separation. For interacting theories in more than two dimensions, we show that this implies that the averaged null energy, $\int$duT uu , must be non-negative. This non-local operator appears in the operator product expansion of local operators in the lightcone limit, and therefore contributes to n-point functions. We derive a sum rule that isolates this contribution and is manifestly positive. The argument also applies to certain higher spin operators other than the stress tensor, generating an infinite family of new constraints of the form RduX uuu∙∙∙u ≥ 0. These lead to new inequalities for the coupling constants of spinning operators in conformal field theory, which include as special cases (but are generally stronger than) the existing constraints from the lightcone bootstrap, deep inelastic scattering, conformal collider methods, and relative entropy. We also comment on the relation to the recent derivation of the averaged null energy condition from relative entropy, and suggest a more general connection between causality and information-theoretic inequalities in QFT.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quantum-gravitational null Raychaudhuri equation

Abstract We consider a congruence of null geodesics in the presence of a quantized spacetime metric. The coupling to a quantum metric induces fluctuations in the congruence; we calculate the change in the area of a pencil of geodesics induced by such fluctuations. For the gravitational field in its vacuum state, we find that quantum gravity contributes a correction to the null Raychaudhuri equation which is of the same sign as the classical terms. We thus derive a quantum-gravitational focusing theorem valid for linearized quantum gravity.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2016

Modular Hamiltonians for deformed half-spaces and the averaged null energy condition

We study modular Hamiltonians corresponding to the vacuum state for deformed half-spaces in relativistic quantum field theories on R 1,d-1 . We show that in addition to the usual boost generator, there is a contribution to the modular Hamiltonian at first order in the shape deformation, proportional to the integral of the null components of the stress tensor along the Rindler horizon. We use this fact along with monotonicity of relative entropy to prove the averaged null energy condition in Minkowski space-time. This subsequently gives a new proof of the Hofman-Maldacena bounds on the parameters appearing in CFT three-point functions. Our main technical advance involves adapting newly developed perturbative methods for calculating entanglement entropy to the problem at hand. Our methods were recently used to prove certain results on the shape dependence of entanglement in CFTs and here we generalize these results to excited states and real time dynamics. Finally, we discuss the AdS/CFT counterpart of this result, making connection with the recently proposed gravitational dual for modular Hamiltonians in holographic theories.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Thermalization, viscosity and the averaged null energy condition

We explore the implications of the averaged null energy condition for thermal states of relativistic quantum field theories. A key property of such thermal states is the thermalization length. This lengthscale generalizes the notion of a mean free path beyond weak coupling, and allows finite size regions to independently thermalize. Using the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, we show that thermal fluctuations in finite size 'fireballs' can produce states that violate the averaged null energy condition if the thermalization length is too short or if the shear viscosity is too large. These bounds become very weak with a large number N of degrees of freedom but can constrain real-world systems, such as the quark-gluon plasma.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Radiation Conditions and Integral Representations for Clifford Algebra-Valued Null-Solutions of the Helmholtz Operator

The goal of this paper is to develop a unified approach to radiation conditions for the entire class of null-solutions of the Helmholtz operator which are Clifford algebra-valued. The latter is an algebraic context which permits the simultaneous consideration of scalarvalued and vector-valued functions, as well as differential forms of any mixed degree. In such a setting, we provide a multitude of novel radiation conditions which naturally contain the classical Sommerfeld and Silver–Müller radiation conditions in the case of null-solutions for the scalar Helmholtz operator and the Maxwell system respectively, and which also encompass as a particular case the radiation condition introduced by McIntosh and Mitrea for perturbed Dirac operators.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2013

A vacuum spacetime with closed null geodesics

Here we present a vacuum spacetime with closed null geodesics (CNGs). These CNGs are obtained by analytically solving the geodesic equations. This spacetime is locally isometric to the plane wave spacetime and has very different global properties from metrics of the latter type. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Closed null geodesics are found in a vacuum spacetime. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer These are obtained by analytically solving the geodesic equations. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The nature of the spacetime is fully analysed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Non-dissipative electromagnetic media with two Lorentz null cones

We study Maxwell's equations on a 4-manifold where the electromagnetic medium is modeled by an antisymmetric (2/2 )-tensor with 21 real coefficients. In this setting the Fresnel surface is a fourth-order polynomial surface that describes the dynamical response of the medium in the geometric optics limit. For example, in an isotropic medium the Fresnel surface is a Lorentz null cone. The contribution of this paper is the pointwise description of all electromagnetic medium tensors {kappa} with real coefficients that satisfy the following three conditions: (i)medium {kappa} is invertible, (ii)medium {kappa} is skewon-free, or non-dissipative, (iii)the Fresnel surface of {kappa} is the union of two distinct Lorentz null cones. We show that there are only three classes of media with these properties and give explicit expressions in local coordinates for each class. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We find two new electromagnetic media classes for which the Fresnel surface decomposes into two light cones. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer In a suitable setting we classify all electromagnetic media where this is the case. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We find an electromagnetic medium tensor with three different signal speeds in one direction. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The work is related to [5], which classifies all media with one light cone (in a suitable setting).

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Null lifts and projective dynamics

We describe natural Hamiltonian systems using projective geometry. The null lift procedure endows the tangent bundle with a projective structure where the null Hamiltonian is identified with a projective conic and induces a Weyl geometry. Projective transformations generate a set of known and new dualities between Hamiltonian systems, as for example the phenomenon of coupling-constant metamorphosis. We conclude outlining how this construction can be extended to the quantum case for Eisenhart–Duval lifts.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Null geodesics and thermodynamic phase transition of four-dimensional Gauss–Bonnet AdS black hole

Highlights: • Modified gravity theories. • Null geodesics and the thermodynamic phase transition. • Four-dimensional Gauss–Bonnet AdS black hole. • Correlation between gravity and thermodynamics. Modified gravity theories are of great interest in both observational and theoretical studies. In this article, we study the correlation between the null geodesics and the thermodynamic phase transition of a four-dimensional Gauss–Bonnet AdS black hole. Firstly, we study the phase structure of the black hole, using the coexistence and spinodal curves, to understand the phase transition in an extended phase space. The imprints of these phase transition features can be clearly observed from the functional dependence of photon orbit radius and minimum impact parameter with respect to the Hawking temperature and pressure. The change in these two quantities during the phase transition serve as order parameters which characterise the critical behaviour. The correlation shows that thermodynamic phase transition can be studied by observing the effects of strong gravitational field on the photon orbit and vice versa.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Revisiting a Null Hypothesis: Exploring the Parameters of Oligometastasis Treatment

In the treatment of patients with metastatic cancer, the current paradigm states that metastasis-directed therapy does not prolong life. This paradigm forms the basis of clinical trial null hypotheses, where trials are built to test the null hypothesis that patients garner no overall survival benefit from targeting metastatic lesions. However, with advancing imaging technology and increasingly precise techniques for targeting lesions, a much larger proportion of metastatic disease can be treated. As a result, the life-extending benefit of targeting metastatic disease is becoming increasingly clear.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Cadmium modulates adipocyte functions in metallothionein-null mice

Our previous study has demonstrated that exposure to cadmium (Cd), a toxic heavy metal, causes a reduction of adipocyte size and the modulation of adipokine expression. To further investigate the significance of the Cd action, we studied the effect of Cd on the white adipose tissue (WAT) of metallothionein null (MT{sup −/−}) mice, which cannot form atoxic Cd–MT complexes and are used for evaluating Cd as free ions, and wild type (MT{sup +/+}) mice. Cd administration more significantly reduced the adipocyte size of MT{sup −/−} mice than that of MT{sup +/+} mice. Cd exposure also induced macrophage recruitment to WAT with an increase in the expression level of Ccl2 (MCP-1) in the MT{sup −/−} mice. The in vitro exposure of Cd to adipocytes induce triglyceride release into culture medium, decrease in the expression levels of genes involved in fatty acid synthesis and lipid hydrolysis at 24 h, and at 48 h increase in phosphorylation of the lipid-droplet-associated protein perilipin, which facilitates the degradation of stored lipids in adipocytes. Therefore, the reduction in adipocyte size by Cd may arise from an imbalance between lipid synthesis and lipolysis. In addition, the expression levels of leptin, adiponectin and resistin decreased in adipocytes. Taken together, exposure to Cd may induce unusually small adipocytes and modulate the expression of adipokines differently from the case of physiologically small adipocytes, and may accelerate the risk of developing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. - Highlights: • Cd causes a marked reduction in adipocyte size in MT-null mice. • Cd enhances macrophage migration into adipose tissue and disrupt adipokine secretion. • MT gene alleviates Cd-induced adipocyte dysfunctions. • Cd enhances the degradation of stored lipids in adipocytes, mediated by perilipin. • Cd induces unusually small adipocytes and the abnormal expression of adipokines.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Non-linear tearing of 3D null point current sheets

The manner in which the rate of magnetic reconnection scales with the Lundquist number in realistic three-dimensional (3D) geometries is still an unsolved problem. It has been demonstrated that in 2D rapid non-linear tearing allows the reconnection rate to become almost independent of the Lundquist number (the “plasmoid instability”). Here, we present the first study of an analogous instability in a fully 3D geometry, defined by a magnetic null point. The 3D null current layer is found to be susceptible to an analogous instability but is marginally more stable than an equivalent 2D Sweet-Parker-like layer. Tearing of the sheet creates a thin boundary layer around the separatrix surface, contained within a flux envelope with a hyperbolic structure that mimics a spine-fan topology. Efficient mixing of flux between the two topological domains occurs as the flux rope structures created during the tearing process evolve within this envelope. This leads to a substantial increase in the rate of reconnection between the two domains.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dynamics of charged particle motion in the vicinity of three dimensional magnetic null points: Energization and chaos

Using a full orbit test particle approach, we analyse the motion of a single proton in the vicinity of magnetic null point configurations which are solutions to the kinematic, steady state, resistive magnetohydrodynamics equations. We consider two magnetic configurations, namely, the sheared and torsional spine reconnection regimes [E. R. Priest and D. I. Pontin, Phys. Plasmas 16, 122101 (2009); P. Wyper and R. Jain, Phys. Plasmas 17, 092902 (2010)]; each produce an associated electric field and thus the possibility of accelerating charged particles to high energy levels, i.e., > MeV, as observed in solar flares [R. P. Lin, Space Sci. Rev. 124, 233 (2006)]. The particle's energy gain is strongly dependent on the location of injection and is characterised by the angle of approach β, with optimum angle of approach β{sub opt} as the value of β which produces the maximum energy gain. We examine the topological features of each regime and analyse the effect on the energy gain of the proton. We also calculate the complete Lyapunov spectrum for the considered dynamical systems in order to correctly quantify the chaotic nature of the particle orbits. We find that the sheared model is a good candidate for the acceleration of particles, and for increased shear, we expect a larger population to be accelerated to higher energy levels. In the strong electric field regime (E{sub 0}=1500 V/m), the torsional model produces chaotic particle orbits quantified by the calculation of multiple positive Lyapunov exponents in the spectrum, whereas the sheared model produces chaotic orbits only in the neighbourhood of the null point.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Divertor turbulent transport in the single null and snowflake in the TCV tokamak

The relative importance of divertor radial turbulent particle fluxes is considered by comparing it against the fluxes in the main-chamber outer midplane (OMP) in a variety of conditions and divertor geometries in the tokamak à configuration variable. Within the first power falloff length, the radial turbulent fluxes in the leg of the outer divertor are consistently found to be small, and about 1/5th the magnitude measured at the OMP. In a low-density single null divertor, magnetic shear is found to play a strong role in isolating the main-chamber turbulence from the divertor. The snowflake divertor is purported to have turbulence-enhancing properties in the volume between the two X-points but was instead found to further reduce the divertor turbulent fluxes compared to the single null. Depending on the collisionality, the electric field fluctuations and radial turbulent fluxes were higher near the X-point than at the outer midplane, which is likely due to the binormal compression of the flux bundles consistent with analytical models of the resistive X-point mode. Density and potential fluctuation amplitudes decrease monotonically with distance from the OMP with a slope that depends on collisionality.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2013

KINETIC MODELING OF PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN A SOLAR NULL-POINT RECONNECTION REGION

The primary focus of this paper is on the particle acceleration mechanism in solar coronal three-dimensional reconnection null-point regions. Starting from a potential field extrapolation of a Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) magnetogram taken on 2002 November 16, we first performed magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations with horizontal motions observed by SOHO applied to the photospheric boundary of the computational box. After a build-up of electric current in the fan plane of the null point, a sub-section of the evolved MHD data was used as initial and boundary conditions for a kinetic particle-in-cell model of the plasma. We find that sub-relativistic electron acceleration is mainly driven by a systematic electric field in the current sheet. A non-thermal population of electrons with a power-law distribution in energy forms in the simulated pre-flare phase, featuring a power-law index of about -1.78. This work provides a first step toward bridging the gap between macroscopic scales on the order of hundreds of Mm and kinetic scales on the order of centimeter in the solar corona, and explains how to achieve such a cross-scale coupling by utilizing either physical modifications or (equivalent) modifications of the constants of nature. With their exceptionally high resolution-up to 135 billion particles and 3.5 billion grid cells of size 17.5 km-these simulations offer a new opportunity to study particle acceleration in solar-like settings.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

A GENERAL RELATIVISTIC NULL HYPOTHESIS TEST WITH EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF THE BLACK HOLE SHADOW IN Sgr A*

The half opening angle of a Kerr black hole shadow is always equal to (5 ± 0.2)GM/Dc{sup 2}, where M is the mass of the black hole and D is its distance from the Earth. Therefore, measuring the size of a shadow and verifying whether it is within this 4% range constitutes a null hypothesis test of general relativity. We show that the black hole in the center of the Milky Way, Sgr A*, is the optimal target for performing this test with upcoming observations using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). We use the results of optical/IR monitoring of stellar orbits to show that the mass-to-distance ratio for Sgr A* is already known to an accuracy of ∼4%. We investigate our prior knowledge of the properties of the scattering screen between Sgr A* and the Earth, the effects of which will need to be corrected for in order for the black hole shadow to appear sharp against the background emission. Finally, we explore an edge detection scheme for interferometric data and a pattern matching algorithm based on the Hough/Radon transform and demonstrate that the shadow of the black hole at 1.3 mm can be localized, in principle, to within ∼9%. All these results suggest that our prior knowledge of the properties of the black hole, of scattering broadening, and of the accretion flow can only limit this general relativistic null hypothesis test with EHT observations of Sgr A* to ≲10%.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Expanding on the double copy in null Fermi coordinates

We propose a Weyl classical double copy for a Fermi normal coordinate expansion around null geodesics. To leading order in this ‘Penrose expansion’, we recover a previously proposed double copy of the Penrose limit. For spacetimes with an exact double copy, this Penrose limit double copy is extended to all orders. For spacetimes without such a double copy, generic obstructions appear at second subleading order beyond the Penrose limit. We thus argue that for any spacetime, near any null geodesic there is a classical double copy structure at least up to first subleading order in the Penrose expansion. Lastly, we point out a difficulty in identifying an appropriate flat space to extend our results to the Kerr–Schild double copy, related to the generic incompatibility between Kerr–Schild and Penrose–Güven gauge.

Chawla, Samarth [Arizona State University, Tempe, ↗