13023795
Extracting Energy from a Black Hole through the Transition Region
A new scenario for extracting energy from a Kerr black hole is proposed. With magnetic field lines connecting plasma particles inside the ergosphere with remote loads, the frame dragging twists the field lines so that energy and angular momentum are extracted from the plasma particles. If the magnetic field is strong enough, the energy extracted from the particles can be so large that the particles have negative energy as they fall into the black hole. So, effectively, the energy is extracted from the black hole. The particles inside the ergosphere can be continuously replenished with accretion from a disk surrounding the black hole, so a transition region with a sufficient amount of plasma is formed between the black hole's horizon and the inner edge of the disk. Thus, the energy can be continuously extracted from the black hole through the transition region. This may be the most efficient way for extracting energy from a Kerr black hole: in principle, almost all of the rotational energy (up to ≈29% of the total energy of the black hole) can be extracted.
10326293
New light on time machines: Against the chronology protection conjecture.
I construct a spacetime with closed timelike curves and without closed causal geodesics. There is a noncompactly generated Cauchy horizon separating the region with closed timelike curves from that without closed causal curves. This spacetime might be stable against the vacuum fluctuation of matter fields. Whether such a spacetime is stable against the vacuum fluctuation of a gravitational field is an open question.
11692409
Electromagnetic energy for a charged Kerr black hole in a uniform magnetic field
With the Komar mass formula we calculate the electromagnetic energy for a charged Kerr black hole in a uniform magnetic field. We find that the total electromagnetic energy takes the minimum when the Kerr black hole possesses a nonzero net charge $Q=2\ensuremath{\xi}{B}_{0}{J}_{H}$ where ${B}_{0}$ is the strength of the magnetic field, ${J}_{H}$ is the angular momentum of the black hole, and $\ensuremath{\xi}$ is a dimensionless parameter determined by the spin of the black hole. However, the Wald state with ${Q=2B}_{0}{J}_{H}$ does not minimize the electromagnetic energy.
118518653
Constraining fast radio burst progenitors with gravitational lensing
Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are new transient radio sources discovered recently. Because of the angular resolution restriction in radio surveys, no optical counter part has been identified yet so it is hard to determine the progenitor of FRBs. In this paper we propose to use radio lensing survey to constrain FRB progenitors. We show that, different types of progenitors lead to different probabilities for a FRB to be gravitationally lensed by dark matter halos in foreground galaxies, since different type progenitors result in different redshift distributions of FRBs. For example, the redshift distribution of FRBs arising from double stars shifts toward lower redshift than of the FRBs arising from single stars, because double stars and single stars have different evolution timescales. With detailed calculations, we predict that the FRB sample size for producing one lensing event varies significantly for different FRB progenitor models. We argue that this fact can be used to distinguish different FRB models and also discuss the practical possibility of using lensing observation in radio surveys to constrain FRB progenitors.
11909154
The X‐ray transient 080109 in NGC 2770: an X‐ray flash associated with a normal core‐collapse supernova
Although it is generally thought that long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) are associated with core-collapse supernovae (SNe), so far only four pairs of GRBs and SNe with firmly established connection have been found. All the four GRB-SNe belong to special class of Type Ic – called the broad-lined SNe indicative of a large explosion energy, suggesting that only a small fraction of SNe Ibc have GRBs associated with them. This scheme has been refreshed by the discovery of a bright X-ray transient in NGC 2770 on 2008 January 9, which was followed by a rather normal Type Ib SN 2008D. In this paper, I argue that the transient 080109 is an X-ray flash (XRF, the soft version of a GRB) because of the following evidence. (1) The transient cannot be interpreted as a SN shock breakout event. (2) The GRB X-ray flare interpretation is not supported by the high-energy observation. I then show that XRF 080109 satisfies the well-known relation between the isotropic-equivalent energy and the peak spectral energy for LGRBs, which highly strengthens the XRF interpretation. Finally, I point out that the peak spectral energy of XRF 080109 and the maximum bolometric luminosity of SN 2008D agree with the E γ, peak–LSN,max relationship of Li, strengthening the validity of the relationship. I speculate that events like XRF 080109 may occur at a rate comparable to SNe Ibc, and a soft X-ray telescope devoted to surveying for nearby X-ray flares will be very fruitful in discovering them.
39373169
Can the universe create itself
The question of first-cause has troubled philosophers and cosmologists alike. Now that it is apparent that our universe began in a Big Bang explosion, the question of what happened before the Big Bang arises. Inflation seems like a very promising answer, but as Borde and Vilenkin have shown, the inflationary state preceding the Big Bang must have had a beginning also. Ultimately, the difficult question seems to be how to make something out of nothing. This paper explores the idea that this is the wrong question --- that that is not how the Universe got here. Instead, we explore the idea of whether there is anything in the laws of physics that would prevent the Universe from creating itself. Because spacetimes can be curved and multiply connected, general relativity allows for the possibility of closed timelike curves (CTCs). Thus, tracing backwards in time through the original inflationary state we may eventually encounter a region of CTCs giving no first-cause. This region of CTCs, may well be over by now (being bounded toward the future by a Cauchy horizon). We illustrate that such models --- with CTCs --- are not necessarily inconsistent by demonstrating self-consistent vacuums for Misner space and a multiply connected de Sitter space in which the renormalized energy-momentum tensor does not diverge as one approaches the Cauchy horizon and solves Einstein's equations. We show such a Universe can be classically stable and self-consistent if and only if the potentials are retarded, giving a natural explanation of the arrow of time. Some specific scenarios (out of many possible ones) for this type of model are described. For example: an inflationary universe gives rise to baby universes, one of which turns out to be itself. Interestingly, the laws of physics may allow the Universe to be its own mother.
121335136
Design and field measurement of the BEPC-II interaction region dual-aperture quadrupoles
With the Beijing Electron Positron Collider upgrade project (BEPC-II), two dual-aperture septum-style quadrupole magnets are used in the interaction region for the final focusing of the electron and positron beams. The BEPC-II lattice design calls for the same high quality integral quadrupole field and large good field region in both apertures for each magnet. Two-dimensional contour optimization and pole-end chamfer iteration are used to minimize the systematic harmonic errors. Unexpected non-systematic errors induced by the unsymmetrical structure and the manufacturing errors are compensated with the pole-end shimming. Magnet measurements with rotating coils are performed to guide and confirm the magnet design. This paper discusses the design consideration, optimizing procedure and measurement results of these dual-aperture magnets.
119285015
P-V criticality in the extended phase space of Gauss-Bonnet black holes in AdS space
A bstractWe study the P − V criticality and phase transition in the extended phase space of charged Gauss-Bonnet black holes in anti-de Sitter space, where the cosmological constant appears as a dynamical pressure of the system and its conjugate quantity is the thermodynamic volume of the black holes. The black holes can have a Ricci flat (k = 0), spherical (k = 1), or hyperbolic (k = −1) horizon. We find that for the Ricci flat and hyperbolic Gauss-Bonnet black holes, no P − V criticality and phase transition appear, while for the black holes with a spherical horizon, even when the charge of the black hole is absent, the P − V criticality and the small black hole/large black hole phase transition will appear, but it happens only in d = 5 dimensions; when the charge does not vanish, the P − V criticality and the small black hole/large phase transition always appear in d = 5 dimensions; in the case of d ≥ 6, to have the P − V criticality and the small black hole/large black hole phase transition, there exists an upper bound for the parameter $ b=\widetilde{\alpha }{{\left| Q \right|}^{{{-2 \left/ {{\left( {d-3} \right)}} \right.}}}} $, where $ \widetilde{\alpha } $ is the Gauss-Bonnet coefficient and Q is the charge of the black hole. We calculate the critical exponents at the critical point and find that for all cases, they are the same as those in the van der Waals liquid-gas system.
119255736
Determining Nuclear Form factor for Detection of Dark Matter in Relativistic Mean Field Theory
In this work, we derive the nuclear form factor for the spin-independent collision between the WIMPs and nucleus in terms of the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory. Comparison with the traditional form factors which are commonly used in literature is given and it is found that our results are slightly above that of the 2PF model by 4% to 8%, but deviate from the Helm form factor by 15% to 25% for the whole recoil energy spectrum of 0 ~ 100 keV. Moreover, taking Xe and Ge as examples, we show the dependence of the form factor on the recoil energy.
118348723
Some aspects of QGP phase in a hQCD model
A bstractWe continue to study the holographic QCD (hQCD) model, proposed in a previous paper, in an Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton (EMD) system. In this paper we discuss some aspects of quark gluon plasma (QGP) in the hQCD model, such as drag force, jet quenching parameter and screening length. The results turn out to be consistent with those as expected in QCD qualitatively. By calculating free energy of the background black hole solution, we find that there exists a phase transition between small black hole and large black hole when chemical potential μ is less than the critical one μc, and the phase transition is absent when chemical potential is beyond the critical one.
117219942
Calculation of Solar P-mode Oscillation Frequency Splittings Based on a Two-dimensional Solar Model
We compute the p-mode oscillation frequencies and frequency splittings that arise in a two-dimensional model of the Sun that contains toroidal magnetic fields in its interior.