118885274
The change of GRB polarization angles in the magnetic-dominated jet model
The polarimetric measurement on the prompt phase of GRB 100826A shows that the polarization angle changes similar to 90 degrees between two adjacent time intervals. We will show that this phenomenon can be naturally interpreted in the framework of the magnetic-dominated jet (MDJ) model. The MDJ model suggests that the bulk Lorentz factor of the outflow increases as Gamma proportional to r(1/3), until reaching a saturated value Gamma(sat). Electrons move in the globally ordered magnetic field advected by the jet from the central engine and produce synchrotron photons. The polarized synchrotron photons travel alone the jet direction and then collide with the cold electrons at the front of the jet. After the Compton scattering process, these photons escape from the jet and are detected by the observer locating slightly off-axis. If photons are emitted before the bulk Lorentz factor saturates, the change of polarization angle is a natural result of the acceleration of the outflow.
119212709
Constraining the anisotropy of the universe from supernovae and gamma-ray bursts
Recently, an anisotropic cosmological model was proposed. An arbitrary one-form, which picks out a privileged axis in the universe, was added to the Friedmann Robertson Walker (FRW) line element. The distance-redshift relation was modified such that it is direction-dependent. In this paper, we use the Union2 dataset and 59 high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (C.:411Es) to give constraints on the anisotropy of the universe. The results show that the magnitude of anisotropy is about D = 0.044 0.018, and the privileged axis points toward the direction (to, ho) = (306.1" 18.7", 18.2" 11.2') in the galactic coordinate system. The anisotropy is small and the isotropic cosmological model is an excellent approximation.
119108453
Effects of spacetime anisotropy on the galaxy rotation curves
The observations on galaxy rotation curves show significant discrepancies from the Newtonian theory. This issue could be explained by the effect of the anisotropy of the spacetime. Conversely, the spacetime anisotropy could also be constrained by the galaxy rotation curves. Finsler geometry is a kind of intrinsically anisotropic geometry. In this paper, we study the effect of the spacetime anisotropy at galactic scales in the Finsler spacetime. It is found that the Finslerian model has close relations with the Milgrom’s MOND. By performing the best-fit procedure to the galaxy rotation curves, we find that the anisotropic effects of the spacetime become significant when the Newtonian acceleration GM/r2 is smaller than the critical acceleration a0. Interestingly, the critical acceleration a0, although varies between different galaxies, is in the order of magnitude $cH_{0}/2\pi\sim10^{-10}~\mathrm{m\,s}^{-2}$.
118372786
GAMMA-RAY POLARIZATION OF THE SYNCHROTRON SELF-COMPTON PROCESS FROM A HIGHLY RELATIVISTIC JET
The high polarization observed in the prompt phase of some gamma-ray bursts invites extensive study of the emission mechanism. In this paper, we investigate the polarization properties of the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) process from a highly relativistic jet. Amagnetic-dominated, baryon-loaded jet ejected from the central engine travels with a large Lorentz factor. Shells with slightly different velocities collide with each other and produce shocks. The shocks accelerate electrons to a power-law distribution and, at the same time, magnify the magnetic field. Electrons move in the magnetic field and produce synchrotron photons. Synchrotron photons suffer from the Compton scattering (CS) process and then are detected by an observer located slightly off-axis. We analytically derive the formulae of photon polarization in the SSC process in two magnetic configurations: a magnetic field in the shock plane and perpendicular to the shock plane. We show that photons induced by the SSC process can be highly polarized, with the maximum polarization Pi similar to 24% in the energy band [0.5, 5] MeV. The polarization depends on the viewing angles, peaking in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field. In the energy band [0.05, 0.5] MeV, in which most gamma-ray polarimeters are active, the polarization is about twice that in the Thomson limit, reaching Pi similar to 20%. This implies that the Klein-Nishina effect, which is often neglected in the literature, should be carefully considered.
118473600
Galaxy Rotation Curves in the Grumiller's Modified Gravity
The effective potential in the Grumiller's modified gravity includes the Newtonian potential and a Rindler term. The fitting to the rotation curve data of eight galaxies suggests a universal Rindler acceleration a approximate to 0.30 x 10(-10) ms(-2). We do a two-parameter fit first, with the mass-to-light ratio ((sic)(*)) and the Rindler acceleration (a) as free parameters. It is found that the data of six out of the eight galaxies fit well with the prediction of theory in the range 0 r less than or similar to 40 kpc, although the theoretical curves show a tendency of arising beyond this range. The Rindler accelerations of the six well-fitted galaxies have the same magnitude, with an average value (a) over bar approximate to 0.30 x 10(-10) ms(-2). Inspired by this fact, we then carry out a one-parameter ((sic)(*)) fit to the six galaxies, with a fixed at (a) over bar, and find that the theory can still reproduce the observation. The value of Rindler acceleration we get here is a quarter of that of Milgrom's modified Newtonian dynamics. For the rest two galaxies, NGC 5055 and DDO 154, the fitting results are significantly improved if the photometric scale length (h) is included as another free parameter.
10026539
Constraining anisotropy of the universe from different groups of type-Ia supernovae
Recently released Planck data and other astronomical observations show that the universe may be anisotropic on large scales. Inspired by this, anisotropic cosmological models have been proposed. We note that the Finsler–Randers spacetime provides an appropriate framework for the anisotropic cosmology. By adding an arbitrary 1-form to the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker line element, a privileged axis in the universe is picked out. The distance–redshift relation is modified to be direction-dependent. We wish that the anisotropic cosmological model may be tested crossly by independent observations. Type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) calibrated from four different light curve fitters are used to constrain the possible anisotropy of the universe. The magnitudes of anisotropy are all between 2–5 %, but the systematic uncertainty cannot be excluded. The directions of the privileged axis seem to differ from each other. The statistical significance is not high enough to make a convincing conclusion. Nevertheless, the $$1\sigma $$1σ contours in the $$(l,b)$$(l,b) plane obtained from four groups of SNe Ia have an overlap, centering at $$(l,b)\approx (170^{\circ }, 0^{\circ })$$(l,b)≈(170∘,0∘). Monte Carlo simulation shows that the anisotropy is unlikely to be caused by the selection effect.
206531826
Topological Phase Transition and Texture Inversion in a Tunable Topological Insulator
Two types of bulk insulator are realized in the same family of compounds through chemical doping. The recently discovered three-dimensional or bulk topological insulators are expected to exhibit exotic quantum phenomena. It is believed that a trivial insulator can be twisted into a topological state by modulating the spin-orbit interaction or the crystal lattice, driving the system through a topological quantum phase transition. By directly measuring the topological quantum numbers and invariants, we report the observation of a phase transition in a tunable spin-orbit system, BiTl(S1–δSeδ)2, in which the topological state formation is visualized. In the topological state, vortex-like polarization states are observed to exhibit three-dimensional vectorial textures, which collectively feature a chirality transition as the spin momentum–locked electrons on the surface go through the zero carrier density point. Such phase transition and texture inversion can be the physical basis for observing fractional charge (±e/2) and other fractional topological phenomena.
118398823
M2-M5 systems in = 6 Chern-Simons theory
We study two aspects of M5-branes in N = 6 U(N) × U(N) Chern-Simons gauge theory. We first examine multiple M2-branes ending on a M5-brane. We study Basu-Harvey type cubic equations, fuzzy funnel configurations, and derive the M5-brane tension from the N = 6 theory. We also find a limit in which the above M2-M5 system reduces to a D2-D4 system and we recover the Nahm equation from the N = 6 theory. We then examine domain wall configurations in mass-deformed N = 6 theory with a manifest SU(2) × SU(2) × U(1) global symmetry. We derive tensions of domain walls connecting between arbitrary M5-brane vacua of the deformed theory and observe their consistency with gravity dual expectations.
119482794
The Supergravity dual of the BMN matrix model
We propose type IIA supergravity solutions dual to the 1/2 BPS vacua of the BMN matrix model. These dual solutions are analyzed using the Polchinski-Strassler method and have brane configurations of concentric shells of D2 branes (or NS5 branes) with various radii and D0 charge. These branes can be viewed as polarized from N D0 branes by a transverse R-R magnetic 6-form flux and an NS-NS 3-form flux. In the region far from branes, the solutions reduce to perturbation around the near horizon geometry of N D0 branes, by turning on these R-R and NS-NS fluxes, which are dual to the deformation of the BFSS matrix model by adding mass terms and the Myers term. The solutions with these additional fluxes preserve 16 supersymmetries. We also briefly discuss these fluxes in the possible supergravity duals of M(atrix) theories on less supersymmetric plane-waves.
119367735
Instantons, supersymmetric vacua, and emergent geometries
We study instanton solutions and superpotentials for the large number of vacua of the plane-wave matrix model and a 2+1 dimensional Super Yang-Mills theory on RxS{sup 2} with 16 supercharges. We get the superpotential in the weak-coupling limit from the gauge theory description. We study the gravity description of these instantons. Perturbatively, with respect to a background, they are Euclidean branes wrapping cycles in the dual gravity background. Moreover, the superpotential can be given by the energy of the electric charge system characterizing each vacuum. These charges are interpreted as the eigenvalues of matrices from a reduction for the 1/8 BPS sector of the gauge theories. We also discuss qualitatively the emergence of the extra spatial dimensions appeared on the gravity side.
15191903
Bubbling AdS space and 1/2 BPS geometries
We consider all 1/2 BPS excitations of AdS × S configurations in both type-IIB string theory and M-theory. In the dual field theories these excitations are described by free fermions. Configurations which are dual to arbitrary droplets of free fermions in phase space correspond to smooth geometries with no horizons. In fact, the ten dimensional geometry contains a special two dimensional plane which can be identified with the phase space of the free fermion system. The topology of the resulting geometries depends only on the topology of the collection of droplets on this plane. These solutions also give a very explicit realization of the geometric transitions between branes and fluxes. We also describe all 1/2 BPS excitations of plane wave geometries. The problem of finding the explicit geometries is reduced to solving a Laplace (or Toda) equation with simple boundary conditions. We present a large class of explicit solutions. In addition, we are led to a rather general class of AdS5 compactifications of M-theory preserving = 2 superconformal symmetry. We also find smooth geometries that correspond to various vacua of the maximally supersymmetric mass-deformed M2 brane theory. Finally, we present a smooth 1/2 BPS solution of seven dimensional gauged supergravity corresponding to a condensate of one of the charged scalars.