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.
15779981
Can Temperature Be Quantized
It is shown that the temperature may be quantized in some spacetime due to the periodically topological structure of the Euclidean section. The quanta of the temperature is the Hawking-Unruh temperature.
36299978
Jet Collimation by Small-Scale Magnetic Fields
A popular model for jet collimation is associated with the presence of a large-scale and predominantly toroidal magnetic field originating from the central engine (a star, a black hole, or an accretion disk). Besides the problem of how such a large-scale magnetic field is generated, in this model the jet suffers from the fatal long-wave mode kink magnetohydrodynamic instability. In this paper we explore an alternative model: jet collimation by small-scale magnetic fields. These magnetic fields are assumed to be local, chaotic, and tangled, but are dominated by toroidal components. Just as in the case of a large-scale toroidal magnetic field, we show that the "hoop stress" of the tangled toroidal magnetic fields exerts an inward force which confines and collimates the jet. The magnetic "hoop stress" is balanced either by the gas pressure of the jet or by centrifugal force if the jet is spinning. Since the length scale of the magnetic field is small (< the cross-sectional radius of the jet the length of the jet), in this model the jet does not suffer from the long-wave mode kink instability. Many other problems associated with the large-scale magnetic field are also eliminated or alleviated for small-scale magnetic fields. Though it remains an open question how to generate and maintain the required small-scale magnetic fields in a jet, the scenario of jet collimation by small-scale magnetic fields is favored by the current study on disk dynamo which indicates that small-scale magnetic fields are much easier to generate than large-scale magnetic fields.
122891080
THE GENERALIZED CHAPLYGIN GAS MODEL WITH INTERACTION
A two-fluid generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG) model including two different cases is considered in this paper. Concretely, the evolution of the GCG model with interaction is discussed and the statefinder diagnostic for the GCG models is performed, respectively. By analysis, we show that the effective state parameter of dark energy can cross the so-called phantom divide ω = -1, the behavior of GCG will be like ΛCDM in the future and therefore our Universe will not end up with the Big Rip in the future. In addition, we find that the statefinder diagnostic can differentiate the GCG model with or without interaction. Also, trajectories of both the GCG model mixed with cold dark matter (CDM) and the pure GCG model in the parameter plane are illustrated to be significantly different.
12154752
Is there a third-order phase transition in quenched QCD?
We discuss the connection between the contributions of large field configurations and the large order behavior of perturbation theory. For quenched QCD, the sensitivity of the average plaquette to a removal of large field configurations has a narrow peak near beta=5.6. Various analysis of the order 10 weak coupling series for the plaquette give robust indications for a singularity in the third derivative of the free energy (second derivative of the plaquette) with respect to beta, near beta = 5.7. We report results of numerical calculations. The peak in the third derivative of the free energy present on 4^4 lattices disappears if the size of the lattice is increased isotropically up to a 10^4 lattice. On the other hand, on 4xL^3 lattices, it persists when L increases. The location of the peak coincides with the onset of a non-zero average for the Polyakov loop and seems related to the finite temperature transition. We also discuss the discrepancy between the perturbative series and the numerical values of the plaquette.
118373072
Pulsar wind model for the spin-down behavior of intermittent pulsars
Intermittent pulsars are part-time radio pulsars. They have higher slow down rates in the on state (radio-loud) than in the off state (radio-quiet). This gives evidence that particle wind may play an important role in pulsar spindown. The effect of particle acceleration is included in modeling the rotational energy loss rate of the neutron star. Applying the pulsar wind model to the three intermittent pulsars (PSR B1931+24, PSR J1841–0500, and PSR J1832+0029) allows their magnetic fields and inclination angles to be calculated simultaneously. The theoretical braking indices of intermittent pulsars are also given. In the pulsar wind model, the density of the particle wind can always be the Goldreich-Julian density. This may ensure that different on states of intermittent pulsars are stable. The duty cycle of particle wind can be determined from timing observations. It is consistent with the duty cycle of the on state. Inclination angle and braking index observations of intermittent pulsars may help to test different models of particle acceleration. At present, the inverse Compton scattering induced space charge limited flow with field saturation model can be ruled out.
16866447
Interpreting Helioseismic Structure Inversion Results of Solar Active Regions
Helioseismic techniques such as ring-diagram analysis have often been used to determine the subsurface structural differences between solar active and quiet regions. Results obtained by inverting the frequency differences between the regions are usually interpreted as the sound-speed differences between them. These in turn are used as a measure of temperature and magnetic-field strength differences between the two regions. In this paper we first show that the “sound-speed” difference obtained from inversions is actually a combination of sound-speed difference and a magnetic component. Hence, the inversion result is not directly related to the thermal structure. Next, using solar models that include magnetic fields, we develop a formulation to use the inversion results to infer the differences in the magnetic and thermal structures between active and quiet regions. We then apply our technique to existing structure inversion results for different pairs of active and quiet regions. We find that the effect of magnetic fields is strongest in a shallow region above 0.985R⊙ and that the strengths of magnetic-field effects at the surface and in the deeper (r<0.98R⊙) layers are inversely related (i.e., the stronger the surface magnetic field the smaller the magnetic effects in the deeper layers, and vice versa). We also find that the magnetic effects in the deeper layers are the strongest in the quiet regions, consistent with the fact that these are basically regions with weakest magnetic fields at the surface. Because the quiet regions were selected to precede or follow their companion active regions, the results could have implications about the evolution of magnetic fields under active regions.
122935177
STRANGENESS PRODUCTION IN RELATIVISTIC NUCLEAR COLLISIONS
Quark matter produced in relativistic nuclear collisions is thermally equilibrated. A phenomenological model is used to calculate the yield of strange quark pairs at AGS, SPS and RHIC, which is comparable to the results from the experiments. In addition, analysis with this model indicates that there is a signal of phase transition where the cms energy is approximately 7.5 GeV.