Self-consistent solutions of the semiclassical Einstein equations with cosmological constant

The general solution to the semiclassical backreaction equation is found for conformally invariant free quantum fields in spatially flat homogeneous and isotropic spacetime with Cosmological constant and with no classical source when the ratio of the renormalisation parameters/=9/4. It contains a two-parameter family of bouncing solutions that avoid the singularity. There are several one-parameter families which do not have particle horizons. The stability of these solutions is investigated and it is found that they are stable when and have different signs. However, when both parameters have the same sign the set of stable solutions is restricted by the condition 0 < < 1/9. In both cases these solutions have a final de Sitter stage.     

Inhomogeneous Universe Models with Varying Cosmological Term

The evolution of a class of inhomogeneous spherically symmetric universe models possessing a varying cosmological term and a material fluid, with an adiabatic index either constant or not, is studied.     

Two theorems on flat space-time gravitational theories

The first theorem states that all flat space-time gravitational theories must have a Lagrangian with a first term that is an homogeneous (degree-1) function of the 4-velocityu ⁱ , plus a functional of _ij u ⁱ u ^j . The second theorem states that all gravitational theories, that satisfy the strong equivalence principle have a Lagrangian with a first termg _ij (x)u ⁱ u ^j plus an irrelevant term. In both cases the theories must issue from a unique variational principle. Therefore, under this condition it is impossible to find a flat space-time theory that satisfies the strong equivalence principle.     

Plasmonic tomography of optical vortices

We present a method for analyzing the wavefront of optical vortices that does not involve interferometry but rather uses surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). We employ a subwavelength slit in a gold film to cut slices from an optical vortex beam and measure the diffraction of the generated SPPs by scattering them off a second slit. By moving the slits across the vortex beam, we create a tomogram, from which we can determine the vortex charge of the incident beam at a glance. We present results for vortex beams of integer- and half-integer-vortex charge.     

Tachyonization of the ΛCDM cosmological model

In this work a tachyonization of the ΛCDM model for a spatially flat Friedmann–Robertson–Walker space–time is proposed. A tachyon field and a cosmological constant are considered as the sources of the gravitational field. Starting from a stability analysis and from the exact solutions for a standard tachyon field driven by a given potential, the search for a large set of cosmological models which contain the ΛCDM model is investigated. By the use of internal transformations two new kinds of tachyon fields are derived from the standard tachyon field, namely, a complementary and a phantom tachyon fields. Numerical solutions for the three kinds of tachyon fields are determined and it is shown that the standard and complementary tachyon fields reproduces the ΛCDM model as a limiting case. The standard tachyon field can also describe a transition from an accelerated to a decelerated regime, behaving as an inflationary field at early times and as a matter field at late times. The complementary tachyon field always behaves as a matter field. The phantom tachyon field is characterized by a rapid expansion where its energy density increases with time.     

Time course of adaptation and recovery from adaptation in the cat auditory-nerve neurophonic

The auditory-nerve neurophonic (ANN) reflects the ensemble response of phase-locked firing in single auditory-nerve fibers to sustained signals. Consequently, neural response properties such as adaptation and recovery from adaptation can be observed. In this study, ANN responses to 800-Hz, 100-ms tones presented at 10-30-dB SL were recorded using bipolar platinum-iridium electrodes placed on the auditory nerve of the cat. The cat ANN adaptation properties were determined and fit to the equation: A(tp) = Yre(-tp/tau Ar) + Yse(-tp/tau As) + Ass. The rapid time constant of adaptation (tau Ar) was invariant across stimulus level, with a mean value of 4.8 (+/- 2.1) ms. The short-term time constant (tau As) decreased approximately 21 ms for each 10-dB increase in probe amplitude. The mean tau As was 116 ms at 10 dB SL, 83.2 ms at 20 dB SL, and 73.5 ms at 30 dB SL. The ANN recovery from adaptation data was analyzed and fit to the equation: A(delta t) = Amax - Yre(-delta t/tau Rr) - Yse(-delta t/tau Rs). Here, tau Rr, the rapid time constant of recovery, and tau Rs, the short-term time constant, were independent of masker intensity in the studied range, with values of 16.2(+/- 9.8) and 125(+/- 50.1) ms, respectively. The results of this study indicate that ANN time constants are comparable to those measured for single units and that the adaptation behavior of phase-locked and nonphase-locked activity appears to be similar.     

Unified model of baryonic matter and dark components

We investigate an interacting two-fluid cosmological model and introduce a scalar field representation by means of a linear combination of the individual energy densities. Applying the integrability condition to the scalar field equation we show that this “exotic quintessence” is driven by an exponential potential and the two-fluid mixture can be considered as a model of three components. These components are associated with baryonic matter, dark matter and dark energy respectively. We use the Simon, Verde and Jimenez [J. Simon, L. Verde, R. Jimenez, Phys. Rev. D 71 (2005) 123001] determination of the redshift dependence of the Hubble parameter to constrain the current density parameters of this model. With the best fit density parameters we obtain the transition redshift between non-accelerated and accelerated regimes zacc=0.66$z_{\mathrm{acc}}=0.66$ and the time elapsed since the initial singularity t₀=19.8 Gyr$t_0=19.8\text{Gyr}$. We study the perturbation evolution of this model and find that the energy density perturbation decreases with the cosmological time.     

General Behaviour of Bianchi VI0 Solutions with an Exponential-Potential Scalar Field

The solutions to the Einstein-Klein-Gordon equations without a cosmological constant are investigated for an exponential potential in a Bianchi VI₀ metric. There exists a two-parameter family of solutions which have a power-law inflationary behaviour when the exponent of the potential, k, satisfies k² < 2. In addition, there exists a two-parameter family of singular solutions for all k² values. A simple anisotropic exact solution is found to be stable when 2 < k².