Demise of the Cosmic Censor?

Initial data for general relativity may be such that there are trapped surfaces on a spatial initial data surface. Penrose has proposed that if the cosmic censorship hypothesis is true, the ADM mass M of asymptotically flat initial data and the area A of the outermost apparent horizon surface should satisfy the inequality A 16M². Initial data which does not satisfy this inequality may be viewed as providing a counterexample of the cosmic censorship conjecture. We describe initial data that appears to violate this inequality.     

Can the CMB reveal the topology of the universe?

This article summarizes recent progress in the development of tools to study the topology of the universe with the cosmic microwave background. The different signatures of the topology and observational constraints are described. The ability of future experiments to reveal the topological structure of our universe is then discussed. To cite this article: J.P. Uzan, A. Riazuelo, C. R. Physique 4 (2003).     

Can EMMA solve the puzzle of the knee?

The knee is a change in the slope of the cosmic ray spectrum at approximate energy of 3 PeV. There are multiple competing models for the knee giving conflicting predictions about this change for different masses of the primary particle. Accurate mass measurements of cosmic rays spectra around 3 PeV would be able to exclude some of these models. Cosmic-ray experiment EMMA uses a new method for studying the composition of cosmic rays at the knee area. It is able to determine the multiplicity, the lateral distribution, and the arrival direction of incoming muons produced early in the shower evolution on an event-by-event basis and deduce from these measurements the mass and the energy of the primary particle. EMMA is situated at the depth of 75 m in the Pyhäsalmi mine, Finland. This rock overburden, which corresponds to 210 m of water equivalent, gives EMMA a cut-off energy of 50 GeV for vertical muons. Since the simulations using different air-shower models give similar predictions for the lateral distribution of these high energy muons, we are confident that EMMA should yield a reliable and an air-shower model independent data on the composition of cosmic rays around the knee region.     

Is the derivation of the Langevin formula correct?

The derivation of the Langevin formula is analyzed. It is shown that a basic assumption in it is incorrect. A more correct derivation of a similar formula is proposed.     

Does the characteristic value of the discontinuity of the isotropic-mesophase transition in n-cyanobiphenyls exist?

Results of the extended Landau-de Gennes model analysis and experimental studies of the isotropic-nematic (I-N) and isotropic-smectic-A (I-SmA) phase transitions in rod-like liquid crystalline n-alkylcyanobiphenyls are presented. Experiments were carried out as a function of temperature and pressure using the static dielectric permittivity and its 'nonlinear' (strong electric field related) counterpart-the low-frequency nonlinear dielectric effect. Precise estimations of the values of the discontinuity of the isotropic-mesophase transitions (ΔT) for nCB from n?=?3-14 have been obtained. It is suggested that for each nCB a unique, characteristic minimal value of ΔT, associated with the I-N-SmA triple point, exists. For 'shorter' nCBs it can be hidden in the negative pressures domain. The possibility of the extension of the 'melting curve' into the negative pressures region as well as the appearance of the 'melting inversion' at high enough pressures is indicated.     

Is the Lorentz signature of the metric of spacetime electromagnetic in origin?

We formulate a premetric version of classical electrodynamics in terms of the excitation and the field strength F=(E,B). A local, linear, and symmetric spacetime relation between H and F is assumed. It yields, if electric/magnetic reciprocity is postulated, a Lorentzian metric of spacetime thereby excluding Euclidean signature (which is, nevertheless, discussed in some detail). Moreover, we determine the Dufay law (repulsion of like charges and attraction of opposite ones), the Lenz rule (the relative sign in Faraday’s law), and the sign of the electromagnetic energy. In this way, we get a systematic understanding of the sign rules and the sign conventions in electrodynamics. The question in the title of the paper is answered affirmatively.     

In situ transmission electron microscopy observations of?the?crystallization of?amorphous?Ge?films

The crystallization of amorphous Ge films has been studied as a function of annealing temperature between 400 and 700°C by in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is found that crystallization does not occur until the annealing temperature reaches 650°C, which is nearly 250°C higher than the crystallization temperature in previous reports. The high crystallization temperature and average crystal size obtained by in situ TEM are in agreement with those from Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction measurement. The kinetics analysis indicates that homogeneous nucleation is the dominant crystallization mode and the activation energy is up to about 3.1 eV.     

Approximate Solutions of the Dirac Equation for?the?Manning-Rosen Potential Including the?Spin-Orbit Coupling Term

The bound-state solutions of the Dirac equation for the Manning-Rosen potential are presented approximately for arbitrary spin-orbit quantum number κ. The energy eigenvalues and corresponding two-component spinors of the two Dirac particles are obtained in the closed form by using the framework of the spin symmetry and pseudospin symmetry concept. Two special cases κ=±1 and the Hulthén potential are briefly investigated.     

Is the negative temperature coefficient of the resistivity of the quasicrystals due to chemical disorder?

We have found that the electronic transport of the binary icosahedral (i) Cd-Yb is extremely sensitive to a minute substitution of Mg for Cd atoms; the positive temperature coefficient of the resistivity (TCR) at low temperatures seen in the binary i Cd-Yb disappears by addition of only 0.1 at. % Mg and, moreover, the TCR stays negative well up to 60 at. % Mg. Such sensitiveness of the resistivity in the very dilute Mg concentration region, which is a consequence of the long coherence length (>28 A) of the conduction electrons in the quasiperiodic lattice, has led us to an unexpected conclusion: The negative TCR in the ternary i phase is due to partial chemical disorder; i.e., it is not a consequence of the quasiperiodicity.     

What is the Cause of Inertia?

The question of the cause of inertial reaction forces and the validity of Mach's principle are investigated. A recent claim that the cause of inertial reaction forces can be attributed to an interaction of the electrical charge of elementary particles with the hypothetical quantum mechanical zero-point fluctuation electromagnetic field is shown to be untenable. It fails to correspond to reality because the coupling of electric charge to the electromagnetic field cannot be made to mimic plausibly the universal coupling of gravity and inertia to the stress-energy-momentum (i.e., matter) tensor. The gravitational explanation of the origin of inertial forces is then briefly laid out, and various important features of it explored in the last half-century are addressed.     

Wigner Functions and Tomograms of?the?Klauder-Perelomov Coherent States for?the?Pseudoharmonic Oscillator

Using the coherent state representation of Wigner operator and the technique of integration within an ordered product (IWOP) of operators, the Wigner functions of the Klauder-Perelomov coherent states (KP-CSs) for the pseudoharmonic oscillator (PHO) are obtained and the variations of the Wigner functions with the parameters k and z are discussed. Moreover, the tomograms of the KP-CSs for the PHO are calculated by virtue of intermediate coordinate-momentum representation in quantum optics. Project 10574060 supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and project X071049 supported by Science Foundation of Liaocheng University.     

What marks the beat of speech?

Which acoustic properties of the speech signal differ between rhythmically prominent syllables and non-prominent ones? A production experiment was conducted to identify these acoustic properties. Subjects read out repetitive text to a metronome, trying to match stressed syllables to its beat. The analysis searched for the function of the speech signal that best predicts the timing of the metronome ticks. The most important factor in this function is found to be the contrast in loudness between a syllable and its neighbors. The prominence of a syllable can be deduced from the specific loudness in an (approximately) 360 ms window centered on the syllable in question relative to an (approximately) 800-ms-wide symmetric window.     

Thermodynamics Properties of the Inner Horizon of?a?Kerr-Newman Black Hole

In this paper, we study the thermal properties of the inner horizon of a Kerr-Newman black hole. By adopting Damour-Ruffini method and the thin film model which is developed on the base of brick wall model suggested by ’t Hooft, we calculate the temperature and the entropy of the inner horizon of a Kerr-Newman black hole. We conclude that the temperature of inner horizon is positive and the entropy of the inner horizon is proportional to the area of the inner horizon. The cut-off factor is same as it in calculation of the entropy of the outer horizon, 90β. In addition, we write the integral and differential Bekenstein-Smarr formula as the parameters of the inner horizon. Then, we discuss that if the contribution of the inner horizon is taken into account to the total entropy of the black hole, the Nernst theorem can be satisfied. At last, We calculate the tunneling rate of the outer horizon Γ₊ and the inner horizon Γ₋. The total tunneling rate Γ should be the product of the rates of the outer and inner horizon, Γ=Γ₊⋅Γ₋. We find that the total tunneling rate is in agreement with the Parikh’s standard result, Γ→exp (ΔS _BH ), and there is no information loss.     

The Generalized Second Law of Thermodynamics of?the?Universe Bounded by the Event Horizon and?Modified Gravity Theories

In this paper, we investigate the validity of the generalized second law of thermodynamics of the universe bounded by the event horizon. Here we consider homogeneous and isotropic model of the universe filled with perfect fluid in one case and in another case holographic model of the universe has been considered. In the third case the matter in the universe is taken in the form of non-interacting two fluid system as holographic dark energy and dust. Here we study the above cases in the Modified gravity, f(R) gravity.     

Are Words the Quanta of Human Language? Extending the Domain of Quantum Cognition

In previous research, we showed that ‘texts that tell a story’ exhibit a statistical structure that is not Maxwell–Boltzmann but Bose–Einstein. Our explanation is that this is due to the presence of ‘indistinguishability’ in human language as a result of the same words in different parts of the story being indistinguishable from one another, in much the same way that ’indistinguishability’ occurs in quantum mechanics, also there leading to the presence of Bose–Einstein rather than Maxwell–Boltzmann as a statistical structure. In the current article, we set out to provide an explanation for this Bose–Einstein statistics in human language. We show that it is the presence of ‘meaning’ in ‘texts that tell a story’ that gives rise to the lack of independence characteristic of Bose–Einstein, and provides conclusive evidence that ‘words can be considered the quanta of human language’, structurally similar to how ‘photons are the quanta of electromagnetic radiation’. Using several studies on entanglement from our Brussels research group, we also show, by introducing the von Neumann entropy for human language, that it is also the presence of ‘meaning’ in texts that makes the entropy of a total text smaller relative to the entropy of the words composing it. We explain how the new insights in this article fit in with the research domain called ‘quantum cognition’, where quantum probability models and quantum vector spaces are used in human cognition, and are also relevant to the use of quantum structures in information retrieval and natural language processing, and how they introduce ‘quantization’ and ‘Bose–Einstein statistics’ as relevant quantum effects there. Inspired by the conceptuality interpretation of quantum mechanics, and relying on the new insights, we put forward hypotheses about the nature of physical reality. In doing so, we note how this new type of decrease in entropy, and its explanation, may be important for the development of quantum thermodynamics. We likewise note how it can also give rise to an original explanatory picture of the nature of physical reality on the surface of planet Earth, in which human culture emerges as a reinforcing continuation of life.     

What is the origin of chirality in the cholesteric phase of virus suspensions?

We report a study of the cholesteric phase in monodisperse suspensions of the rodlike virus fd sterically stabilized with the polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG). After coating the virus with neutral polymers, the phase diagram and nematic order parameter of the fd-PEG system then become independent of ionic strength. Surprisingly, the fd-PEG suspensions not only continue to exhibit a cholesteric phase, which means that the grafted polymer does not screen all chiral interactions between rods, but paradoxically the cholesteric pitch of this sterically stabilized fd-PEG system varies with ionic strength. Furthermore, we observe that the cholesteric pitch decreases with increasing viral contour length, in contrast to theories which predict the opposite trend. Different models of the origin of chirality in colloidal liquid crystals are discussed.