Reversible Carnot cycle outside a black hole

A Carnot cycle outside a Schwarzschild black hole is investigated in detail. We propose a reversible Carnot cycle with a black hole being the cold reservoir. In our model, a Carnot engine operates between a hot reservoir with temperature T₁ and a black hole with Hawking temperature T_H. By naturally extending the ordinary Carnot cycle to the black hole system, we show that the thermal efficiency for a reversible process can reach the maximal efficiency 1-T_H/T₁. Consequently, black holes can be used to determine the thermodynamic temperature by means of the Carnot cycle. The role of the atmosphere around the black hole is discussed. We show that the thermal atmosphere provides a necessary mechanism to make the process reversible.     

Low temperature photoluminescence of GaxIn1−xAs/GaAs strained layer superlattices

The low temperature photoluminescence spectra of several Ga_xIn_1−xAs/GaAs strained layer superlattices have been measured. Excitomic recombination between electrons and holes confined in the ternary layers and conduction band-acceptor transitions have been observed. The excitonic transition energies calculated with a simple model which takes into account both strain and quantization are in good agreement with the measured values provided the additional strain due to the mismatch between the SLS and the buffer layer is taken into account. The hydrogenic acceptor binding energy is smaller in the SLS than in the bulk ternary because the reduction due to the decrease of the hole mass under strain appears to be more important than the two dimensional quantization enhancement in the present samples.     

Spectral states and state preference of galactic X-ray binaries

Using observations in the past four years with the All Sky Monitor (ASM) onboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) onboard the Swift, we demonstrate that the hard state and the soft state are the primary spectral states in galactic black hole and neutron star X-ray binaries. In addition, we show quantitatively the preference of the two spectral states for each of the 22 bright persistent sources.

     

Thermodynamics and phase transition of the Reissner–Nordstr?m black hole surrounded by quintessence

We investigate thermodynamics and phase transition of the Reissner–Nordstr?m black hole surrounded by quintessence. Using thermodynamical laws of black holes, we derive the expressions of some thermodynamics quantities for the Reissner–Nordstr?m black hole surrounded by quintessence. The variations of the temperature and heat capacity with the entropy were plotted for different values of the state parameter related to the quintessence, ω _q , and the normalization constant related to the density of quintessence c. We show that when varying the entropy of the black hole a phase transition is observed in the black hole. Moreover, when increasing the density of quintessence, the transition point is shifted to lower entropy and the temperature of the black hole decreases.     

Gamma-ray bursts from evaporating primordial black holes

It is believed that the detection of gamma-ray bursts from evaporating primordial black holes is highly improbable in the near future since the expected photon flux, consisting mainly of photons with energies ? GeV, is too low. Contrary to this point of view, we show that a large fraction of the black hole power at the final stage of evaporation (the last 10³ s) can be liberated as a burst of soft γ-ray emission of duration 10^?1–10³ s and luminosity 10²⁸–10³¹ erg/s in the energy range 0.1–1 MeV. According to our calculations of the black hole evaporation rate (within the Standard Model of elementary particles), when the black hole temperature exceeds approximately 10 GeV, the charged particle outflow from a black hole forms a well-defined plasma and can be described in the hydrodynamic approximation. In this case more than half of the rest energy of a black hole can be converted into soft gamma-rays due to the presence of the magnetic field with energy density comparable to that of charged particles. We consider various mechanisms leading to such transformation and estimate their efficiency. It is shown that, at least, some of the gamma-ray bursts detected by BATSE can be associated with evaporating black holes.     

Electronic relaxation of deep bulk trap and interface state in ZnO ceramics

This paper investigates the electronic relaxation of deep bulk trap and interface state in ZnO ceramics based on dielectric spectra measured in a wide range of temperature, frequency and bias, in addition to the steady state response. It discusses the nature of net current flowing over the barrier affected by interface state, and then obtains temperature-dependent barrier height by approximate calculation from steady I--V (current--voltage) characteristics. Additional conductance and capacitance arising from deep bulk trap relaxation are calculated based on the displacement of the cross point between deep bulk trap and Fermi level under small AC signal. From the resonances due to deep bulk trap relaxation on dielectric spectra, the activation energies are obtained as 0.22 eV and 0.35 eV, which are consistent with the electronic levels of the main defect interstitial Zn and vacancy oxygen in the depletion layer. Under moderate bias, another resonance due to interface relaxation is shown on the dielectric spectra. The DC-like conductance is also observed in high temperature region on dielectric spectra, and the activation energy is much smaller than the barrier height in steady state condition, which is attributed to the displacement current coming from the shallow bulk trap relaxation or other factors.     

Cosmological evolution of supermassive black holes in galactic centers unveiled by hard X-ray observations

We review the current understanding of the cosmological evolution of supermassive black holes in galactic centers elucidated by X-ray surveys of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Hard X-ray observations at energies above 2 keV are the most efficient and complete tools to find “obscured” AGNs, which are dominant populations among all AGNs. Combinations of surveys with various flux limits and survey area have enabled us to determine the space number density and obscuration properties of AGNs as a function of luminosity and redshift. The results have essentially solved the origin of the X-ray background in the energy band below ∼10 keV. The downsizing (or anti-hierarchical) evolution that more luminous AGNs have the space-density peak at higher redshifts has been discovered, challenging theories of galaxy and black hole formation. Finally, we summarize unresolved issues on AGN evolution and prospects for future X-ray missions.     

Hawking radiation and page curves of the black holes in thermal environment

As realistic objects in the Universe, the black holes are surrounded by complex environment. By taking the effect of thermal environment into account, we investigate the evaporation process and the time evolutions (page curves) of the entanglement entropies of Hawking radiation of various types of black holes. It is found that the black holes with the thermal environments evaporate slower than those without the environments due to the environmental contribution of the energy flux in addition to Hawking radiation. For Schwarzschild black hole and Reissner-Nordström black hole in flat spaces, when the initial temperature of the black hole is higher than the environment temperature, the black holes evaporate completely and the Hawking radiation is eventually purified. For Schwarzschild-AdS black hole, it will evaporate completely and the Hawking radiation is purified when the environment temperature is lower than the critical temperature. Otherwise, it will reach an equilibrium state with the environment and the radiation is maximally entangled with the black hole. Our results indicate that the final state of the black hole is determined by the environmental temperature and the temporal evolution and the speed of the information purification process characterized by the page curve of the Hawking radiation is also influenced by the thermal environment significantly.     

Second Order Perturbations of a Schwarzschild Black Hole: Inclusion of Odd Parity Perturbations

We consider perturbations of a Schwarzschild black hole that can be of both even and odd parity, keeping terms up to second order in perturbation theory, for the l = 2 axisymmetric case. We develop explicit formulae for the evolution equations and radiated energies and waveforms using the Regge–Wheeler–Zerilli approach. This formulation is useful, for instance, for the treatment in the "close limit approximation" of the collision of counterrotating black holes.     

Correction to Hawking Pure Thermal Spectrum of Stationary Kaluza-Klein Black Hole

Applying Parikh's quantum tunneling method, the tunneling characteristics of stationary Kaluza-Klein black hole is researched. The result shows that the tunneling rate across the event horizon of the black hole is relevant to the change of Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and the derived radiation spectrum deviates from pure thermal when the self-gravitation, energy conservation and angular momentum conservation are taken into consideration. Finally, we use the obtained results to reduce to stationary Kerr black hole and static Swarzschild black hole, and find that only ignoring the spectrum at higher energies the tunneling radiation spectrum is consistent with Hawking pure thermal one. PACS:97.60.Lf,04.70._s     

Lifetimes and branching ratios of excited states of Na

The decay of ²⁴Na levels below 4.3 MeV excitation was studied by means of the ²³Na(d, pγ)²⁴Na reaction at E_d = 2.45 MeV. Gamma-ray spectra were measured at three angles, in coincidence with proton groups detected around 180°. Excitation energies, branching ratios and Doppler shifts were determined. Mean lives were obtained for the levels at 1341 keV (62±15 fs), and 1846 keV (200±50 fs). The 1347 keV level has τ >3 ps. For other levels above 1 MeV upper limits of ≈ 60 fs are set. In some cases spin restrictions follow. In particular J = 2 is assigned to the 1341 keV level.     

THz spectroscopy of diluted magnetic semiconductors and semiconductor quantum structures in ultrahigh magnetic fields

Magneto-absorption spectra in ferromagnetic semiconductor In_1−xMn_xAs films and self-organized PbSe/PbEuTe quantum dot superlattices have been studied in the terahertz range at very high magnetic fields up to 500 T. Both heavy hole (HH) and light hole (LH) cyclotron resonance (CR) have been observed in bulk In_1−xMn_xAs thin films with different Mn concentrations. The detailed Landau level calculation in terms of the effective mass approximation well explained the CR peak positions, line shapes and the dependence of the circular polarization of the incident light on the CR spectra. In InMnAs/GaSb heterostructures that have higher ferromagnetic transition temperature (T_c) than the bulk samples, the observed HH and LH cyclotron masses are larger than that in the bulk thin films. We found that the CR peak position and its line shape suddenly change in the vicinity of the ferromagnetic transition temperature, suggesting the change in the electronic structure due to the ferromagnetic transition. Electron CR in PbSe/PbEuTe quantum dots has been observed and it was found that the effective mass of the electrons is considerably modified by the quantum confinement potential and the lattice strain around the dots. A large wavelength dependence of the absorption intensity was observed due to the interference effect of the radiation inside the sample.     

The rms-flux relation of Cyg X-2 in the horizontal branch

We have investigated the relation between the root mean square (rms) variability and the X-ray flux (rms-flux relation) of the Z source Cyg X-2, and as well the energy dependence based on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observations. We currently focus on the horizontal branch (HB), due to the negative correlation in flux of the soft and the hard X-rays. The rms-flux correlation has energy dependence as follows: positive at hard X-rays (above 10 keV) but negative at soft X-rays (below 10 keV). This provides a feature different from the previous one, and may be suggestive of different origins of X-rays below and above 10 keV. Nevertheless, the overall spectrum can be well fitted with a model consisting of a blackbody and Comptonization components, but the fitting results do not reveal any features around 10 keV that could account for such a change in the rms-flux relation.     

Hard X-ray PhotoEmission Spectroscopy of strongly correlated systems

Hard X-ray PhotoEmission Spectroscopy (HAXPES) is a new tool for the study of bulk electronic properties of solids using synchrotron radiation. We review recent achievements of HAXPES, with particular reference to the VOLPE project, showing that high energy resolution and bulk sensitivity can be obtained at kinetic energies of 6–8 keV. We present also the results of recent studies on strongly correlated materials, such as vanadium sesquioxide and bilayered manganites, revealing the presence of different screening properties in the bulk with respect to the surface. We discuss the relevant experimental features of the metal–insulator transition in these materials. To cite this article: G. Panaccione et al., C. R. Physique 9 (2008).     

Notes on Black Hole Phase Transitions

In these notes we present a summary of existing ideas about phase transitions of black hole spacetimes in semiclassical gravity and offer some thoughts on three possible scenarios or mechanisms by which these transitions could take place. We begin with a review of the thermodynamics of a black hole system and emphasize that the phase transition is driven by the large entropy of the black hole horizon. Our first theme is illustrated by a quantum atomic black hole system, generalizing to finite-temperature a model originally offered by Bekenstein. In this equilibrium atomic model, the black hole phase transition is realized as the abrupt excitation of a high energy state, suggesting analogies with the study of two-level atoms. Our second theme argues that the black hole system shares similarities with the defect-mediated Kosterlitz–Thouless transition in condensed matter. These similarities suggest that the black hole phase transition may be more fully understood by focusing upon the dynamics of black holes and white holes, the spacetime analogy of vortex and antivortex topological defects. Finally, we compare the black hole phase transition to another transition driven by an (exponentially) increasing density of states, the Hagedorn transition first found in hadron physics in the context of dual models or the old string theory. In modern string theory the Hagedorn transition is linked by the Maldacena conjecture to the Hawking–Page black hole phase transition in Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space, as observed by Witten. Thus, the dynamics of the Hagedorn transition may yield insight into the dynamics of the black hole phase transition. We argue that characteristics of the Hagedorn transition are already contained within the dynamics of classical string systems. Our third theme points to carrying out a full nonperturbative and nonequilibrium analysis of the large N behavior of classical SU(N) gauge theories to understand its Hagadorn transition. By invoking the Maldacena conjecture we can then gain valuable insight into black hole phase transitions in AdS space.     

Charged Particles’ Hawking Radiation via Tunneling of Both Horizons from Reissner-Nordström-Taub-NUT Black Holes

In some recent derivations thermal characters of the inner horizon have been employed; however, the understanding of possible role that may play the inner horizons of black holes in black hole thermodynamics is still somewhat incomplete. Motivated by this problem we investigate Hawking radiation of the Reissner-Nordström-Taub-NUT (RNTN) black hole by considering thermal characters of both the outer and inner horizons. We apply Damour-Ruffini method and the thin film brick wall model to calculate the temperature and the entropy of the inner horizon of the RNTN black hole. The inner horizon admits thermal character with positive temperature and entropy proportional to its area, and it thus may contribute to the total entropy of the black hole in the context of Nernst theorem. Considering conservations of energy and charge and the back-reaction of emitting particles to the spacetime, the emission spectra are obtained for both the inner and outer horizons. The total emission rate is the product of the emission rates of the inner and outer horizons, and it deviates from the purely thermal spectrum and can bring some information out. Thus, the result can be treated as an explanation to the information loss paradox.     

Gamma-ray bursts from evaporating primordial black holes

It is believed that the detection of gamma-ray bursts from evaporating primordial black holes is highly improbable in the near future since the expected photon flux, consisting mainly of photons with energies ≳ GeV, is too low. Contrary to this point of view, we show that a large fraction of the black hole power at the final stage of evaporation (the last 10³ s) can be liberated as a burst of soft γ-ray emission of duration 10⁻¹–10³ s and luminosity 10²⁸–10³¹ erg/s in the energy range 0.1–1 MeV. According to our calculations of the black hole evaporation rate (within the Standard Model of elementary particles), when the black hole temperature exceeds approximately 10 GeV, the charged particle outflow from a black hole forms a well-defined plasma and can be described in the hydrodynamic approximation. In this case more than half of the rest energy of a black hole can be converted into soft gamma-rays due to the presence of the magnetic field with energy density comparable to that of charged particles. We consider various mechanisms leading to such transformation and estimate their efficiency. It is shown that, at least, some of the gamma-ray bursts detected by BATSE can be associated with evaporating black holes. Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 36–45, January, 1998.     

Entanglement Entropy Evolution under Double‐trace Deformation

In this paper, we study the bulk entanglement entropy evolution in conical BTZ black bole background using the heat kernel method. This is motivated by exploring the new examples where the quantum correction of the entanglement entropy gives the leading contribution. We find that in the large black hole limit the bulk entanglement entropy decreases under the double‐trace deformation which is consistent with the holographic c theorem and in the small black hole limit the bulk entanglement entropy increases under the deformation. We also discuss the minimal area correction.