1,720,988 research outputs found

    PARTICLE PRODUCTION IN TACHYON CONDENSATION

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    We study particle production in the tachyon condensation process as described by different effective actions for the tachyon. By making use of invariant operators, we are able to obtain exact results for the density of produced particles, which is shown to depend strongly on the specific action. In particular, the rate of particle production remains finite only for one of the actions considered, hence confirming results previously appeared in the literature

    Planck scale inflationary spectra from quantum gravity

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    We derive the semiclassical evolution of massless minimally coupled scalar matter in the de Sitter space-time from the Born-Oppenheimer reduction of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. We show that the dynamics of trans-Planckian modes can be cast in the form of an effective modified dispersion relation and that high energy corrections in the power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation produced during inflation remain very small if the initial state is the Bunch-Davies vacuum

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Superpotential method and the amplification of inflationary perturbations

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    The superpotential method is a reconstruction technique which has proven useful to build exact cosmological solutions. We here employ the superpotential method in order to reconstruct the features necessary for the inflaton potential to drive inflation and lead to the amplification of the curvature perturbations. Such an amplification, at wavelengths shorter than those observed in the cosmic microwave background, is necessary in order to have a significant formation of primordial black holes after inflation ends. The technique is applied to the cases of a minimally coupled inflaton, to the nonminimal coupling case and to fðRÞ theories of gravity. For such theories, a model dependent analysis of the features leading to the scalar spectrum enhancement is also presented

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Relaxation of first-class constraints and the quantization of gauge theories: From “matter without matter” to the reappearance of time in quantum gravity

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    We make a conceptual overview of a particular approach to the initial-value problem in canonical gauge theories. We stress how the first-class phase-space constraints may be relaxed if we interpret them as fixing the values of new degrees of freedom. This idea goes back to Fock and Stueckelberg, leading to restrictions of the gauge symmetry of a theory, and it corresponds, in certain cases, to promoting constants of Nature to physical fields. Recently, different versions of this formulation have gained considerable attention in the literature, with several independent iterations, particularly in classical and quantum descriptions of gravity, cosmology, and electromagnetism. In particular, in the case of canonical quantum gravity, the Fock–Stueckelberg approach is relevant to the so-called problem of time. Our overview recalls and generalizes the work of Fock and Stueckelberg and its physical interpretation with the aim of conceptually unifying the different iterations of the idea that appear in the literature and of motivating further research

    Interdependence between integrable cosmological models with minimal and non-minimal coupling

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    We consider the relation between exact solutions of cosmological models having minimally and non-minimally coupled scalar fields. This is done for a particular class of solvable models which, in the Einstein frame, have potentials depending on hyperbolic functions and in the Jordan frame, where the non-minimal coupling is conformal, possess a relatively simple dynamics. We show that a particular model in this class can be generalized to the cases of closed and open Friedmann universes and still exhibits a simple dynamics. Further we illustrate the conditions for the existences of bounces in some subclasses of the set of integrable models we have considered

    Transformations between Jordan and Einstein frames: Bounces, antigravity, and crossing singularities

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    We study the relation between the Jordan-Einstein frame transition and the possible description of the crossing of singularities in flat Friedmann universes, using the fact that the regular evolution in one frame can correspond to crossing singularities in the other frame. We show that some interesting effects arise in simple models such as one with a massless scalar field or another wherein the potential is constant in the Einstein frame. The dynamics in these models and in their conformally coupled counterparts are described in detail, and a method for the continuation of such cosmological evolutions beyond the singularity is developed. We compare our approach with some other, recently developed, approaches to the problem of the crossing of singularities
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