f(R) dual theories of quintessence: expansion-collapse duality

The accelerated expansion of the universe demands presence of an exotic matter, namely the dark energy. Though the cosmological constant fits this role very well, a scalar field minimally coupled to gravity, or quintessence, can also be considered as a viable alternative for the cosmological constant. We study f(R) gravity models which can lead to an effective description of dark energy implemented by quintessence fields in Einstein gravity, using the Einstein frame-Jordan frame duality. For a family of viable quintessence models, the reconstruction of the f(R) function in the Jordan frame consists of two parts. We first obtain a perturbative solution of f(R) in the Jordan frame, applicable near the present epoch. Second, we obtain an asymptotic solution for f(R), consistent with the late time limit of the Einstein frame if the quintessence field drives the universe. We show that for certain class of viable quintessence models, the Jordan frame universe grows to a maximum finite size, after which it begins to collapse back. Thus, there is a possibility that in the late time limit where the Einstein frame universe continues to expand, the Jordan frame universe collapses. The condition for this expansion-collapse duality is then generalized to time varying equations of state models, taking into account the presence of non-relativistic matter or any other component in the Einstein frame universe. This mapping between an expanding geometry and a collapsing geometry at the field equation level may have interesting potential implications on the growth of perturbations therein at late times.

Crossover scaling functions in the asymmetric avalanche process

We consider the particle current in the asymmetric avalanche process on a ring. It is known to exhibit a transition from the intermittent to continuous flow at the critical density of particles. The exact expressions for the first two scaled cumulants of the particle current are obtained in the large time limit t ! ∞ via the Bethe ansatz and a perturbative solution of the TQ-equation. The results are presented in an integral form suitable for the asymptotic analysis in the large system size limit N ! ∞. In this limit the first cumulant, the average current per site or the average velocity of the associated interface, is asymptotically finite below the critical density and grows linearly and exponentially times power law prefactor at the critical density and above, respectively. The scaled second cumulant per site, i.e. the diffusion coefficient or the scaled variance of the associated interface height, shows the O(N-1⁄2) decay expected for models in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class below the critical density, while it is growing as O(N3⁄2) and exponentially times power law prefactor at the critical point and above. Also, we identify the crossover regime and obtain the scaling functions for the uniform asymptotics unifying the three regimes. These functions are compared to the scaling functions describing crossover of the cumulants of the avalanche size, obtained as statistics of the first return area under the time space trajectory of the Vasicek random process.

Dispersion in doublet-type flows through highly anisotropic porous formations

Steady doublet-type flow takes place in a porous formation, where the log-transform $Y = \ln K$ of the spatially variable hydraulic conductivity $K$ is regarded as a stationary random field of two-point autocorrelation $\rho _Y$ . A passive solute is injected at the source in the porous formation and we aim to quantify the resulting dispersion process between the two lines by means of spatial moments. The latter depend on the distance $\ell$ between the lines, the variance $\sigma ^2_Y$ of $Y$ and the (anisotropy) ratio $\lambda$ between the vertical and the horizontal integral scales of $Y$ . A simple (analytical) solution to this difficult problem is obtained by adopting a few simplifying assumptions: (i) a perturbative solution, which regards $\sigma ^2_Y$ as a small parameter, of the velocity field is sought; (ii) pore-scale dispersion is neglected; and (iii) we deal with a highly anisotropic formation ( $\lambda \lesssim 0.1$ ). We focus on the longitudinal spatial moment, as it is of most importance for the dispersion mechanism. A general expression is derived in terms of a single quadrature, which can be straightforwardly carried out once the shape of $\rho _Y$ is specified. Results permit one to grasp the main features of the dispersion processes as well as to assess the difference with similar mechanisms observed in other non-uniform flows. In particular, the dispersion in a doublet-type flow is observed to be larger than that generated by a single line. This effect is explained by noting that the advective velocity in a doublet, unlike that in source/line flows, is rapidly increasing in the far field owing to the presence there of the singularity. From the standpoint of the applications, it is shown that the solution pertaining to $\lambda \to 0$ (stratified formation) provides an upper bound for the dispersion mechanism. Such a bound can be used as a conservative limit when, in a remediation procedure, one has to select the strength as well as the distance $\ell$ of the doublet. Finally, the present study lends itself as a valuable tool for aquifer tests and to validate more involved numerical codes accounting for complex boundary conditions.

Vibration analysis of irregular-shaped plates on simple supports

In this work, we propose a general perturbative approach for modal analysis of irregular-shaped plates of uniform thickness with uniform boundary conditions. Given a plate of irregular boundary, first, a uniform circular plate of identical thickness and area, centred at the centroid, is determined. The irregular boundary is then treated as a perturbation with a suitable smallness parameter, and is expressed as a generalized Fourier series. The frequency parameter, shape function and boundary conditions are then perturbed in terms of the smallness parameter. The homogeneous zeroth-order equation corresponds to the circular plate, which is exactly solvable. We show that the inhomogeneous equations in the higher orders can also be solved exactly using a particular solution structure. We can then construct the exact perturbative solution up to any order. The proposed method is demonstrated through the modal analysis of simply supported super-circular plates. The results are validated using the numerical results obtained from ANSYS ® , which are an excellent match. Interestingly, the supposedly degenerate modes with an even number of nodal diameters of super-circular plates are found to split naturally.

A new perturbative solution to the motion around triangular Lagrangian points in the elliptic restricted three-body problem

The equations of motion of the planar elliptic restricted three-body problem are transformed to four decoupled Hill’s equations. By using the Floquet theorem, a perturbative solution to the oscillator equations with time-dependent periodic coefficients are presented. We clarify the transformation details that provide the applicability of the method. The form of newly derived equations inherently comprises the stability boundaries around the triangular Lagrangian points. The analytic approach is valid for system parameters $$0 < e \le 0.05$$ 0 < e ≤ 0.05 and $$0 < \mu \le 0.01$$ 0 < μ ≤ 0.01 where e denotes the eccentricity of the primaries, while $$\mu $$ μ is the mass parameter. Possible application to known extrasolar planetary systems is also demonstrated.

Approximate Solutions for the Ion-Laser Interaction in the High Intensity Regime: Matrix Method Perturbative Analysis

We provide an explicit expression for the second-order perturbative solution of a single trapped-ion interactingwith a lser field in the strong excitation regime. From the perturbative analytical solution, based on a matrix methodand a final normalization of the perturbed solutions, we show that the probability to find the ion in its excited statefits well with former results.

Superlattice nonlinearities for Gigahertz-Terahertz generation in harmonic multipliers

Semiconductor superlattices are strongly nonlinear media offering several technological challenges associated with the generation of high-frequency Gigahertz radiation and very effective frequency multiplication up to several Terahertzs. However, charge accumulation, traps and interface defects lead to pronounced asymmetries in the nonlinear current flow, from which high harmonic generation stems. This problem requires a full non-perturbative solution of asymmetric current flow under irradiation, which we deliver in this paper within the Boltzmann-Bloch approach. We investigate the nonlinear output on both frequency and time domains and demonstrate a significant enhancement of even harmonics by tuning the interface quality. Moreover, we find that increasing arbitrarily the input power is not a solution for high nonlinear output, in contrast with materials described by conventional susceptibilities. There is a complex combination of asymmetry and power values leading to maximum high harmonic generation.

l = 1: Weinberg’s weakly damped mode in an N-body model of a spherical stellar system

Spherical stellar systems such as King models, in which the distribution function is a decreasing function of energy and depends on no other invariant, are stable in the sense of collisionless dynamics. But Weinberg showed, by a clever application of the matrix method of linear stability, that they may be nearly unstable, in the sense of possessing weakly damped modes of oscillation. He also demonstrated the presence of such a mode in an N-body model by endowing it with initial conditions generated from his perturbative solution. In the present paper we provide evidence for the presence of this same mode in N-body simulations of the King W0 = 5 model, in which the initial conditions are generated by the usual Monte Carlo sampling of the King distribution function. It is shown that the oscillation of the density centre correlates with variations in the structure of the system out to a radius of about 1 virial radius, but anticorrelates with variations beyond that radius. Though the oscillations appear to be continually reexcited (presumably by the motions of the particles) we show by calculation of power spectra that Weinberg’s estimate of the period (strictly, 2π divided by the real part of the eigenfrequency) lies within the range where the power is largest. In addition, however, the power spectrum displays another very prominent feature at shorter periods, around 5 crossing times.