High-frequency QPOs as a problem in physics: non-linear resonance

The presence of a kHz frequency in LMXBs has been expected from scaling laws, by analogy with the QPO phenomenon in HMXB X-ray pulsars. Interpretation of the two kHz frequencies, observed in accreting neutron stars, in terms of non-linear resonance in strong-field gravity led to the prediction of twin QPOs in black hole systems, in a definite frequency ratio (such as 2/3). The imprint of a subharmonic of the 401 Hz rotation rate in the frequencies of the QPOs detected in the accreting millisecond pulsar is at once a signature of non-linear resonance and of coupling between accretion disk modes and the neutron star spin.Comment: presented at X-ray Timing 2003: Rossi and Beyond, Boston, November 200

Non-linear resonance in nearly geodesic motion in low-mass X-ray binaries

We have explored the ideas that parametric resonance affects nearly geodesic motion around a black hole or a neutron star, and that it may be relevant to the high frequency (twin) quasi-periodic oscillations occurring in some low-mass X-ray binaries. We have assumed the particles or fluid elements of an accretion disc to be subject to an isotropic perturbation of a hypothetical but rather general form. We find that the parametric resonance is indeed excited close to the radius where epicyclic frequencies of radial and meridional oscillations are in a 2:3 ratio. The location and frequencies of the highest amplitude excitation vary with the strength of the perturbation. These results agree with actual frequency ratios of twin kHz QPOs that have been reported in some black hole candidates, and they may be consistent also with correlation of the twin peaks in Sco X-1.Comment: 5 pages; accepted for publication in PAS

Management and Service-aware Networking Architectures (MANA) for Future Internet Position Paper: System Functions, Capabilities and Requirements

Future Internet (FI) research and development threads have recently been gaining momentum all over the world and as such the international race to create a new generation Internet is in full swing: GENI, Asia Future Internet, Future Internet Forum Korea, European Union Future Internet Assembly (FIA). This is a position paper identifying the research orientation with a time horizon of 10 years, together with the key challenges for the capabilities in the Management and Service-aware Networking Architectures (MANA) part of the Future Internet (FI) allowing for parallel and federated Internet(s)

Parton distributions in the photon from γ∗γ\gamma^* \gamma and γ∗p\gamma^* p scattering

Leading order parton distributions in the photon are extracted from the existing $F_2^\gamma$ measurements and the low-$x$ proton structure function. The latter is related to the photon structure function by assuming Gribov factorization to hold at low $x$. The resulting parton distributions in the photon are found to be consistent with the Frankfurt-Gurvich sum rule for the photon.Comment: 8 pages, including 4 figure

Color coherent phenomena on nuclei and the QCD evolution equation

We review the phenomenon of color coherence in quantum chromodynamics (QCD), its implications for hard and soft processes with nuclei, and its experimental manifestations. The relation of factorization theorems in QCD with color coherence phenomena in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) and color coherence phenomena in hard exclusive processes is emphasized. Analyzing numerically the QCD evolution equation for conventional and skewed parton densities in nuclei, we study the onset of generalized color transparency and nuclear shadowing of the sea quark and gluon distributions in nuclei as well as related phenomena. Such novel results as the dependence of the effective coherence length on $Q^2$ and general trends of the QCD evolution are discussed. The limits of the applicability of the QCD evolution equation at small Bjorken $x$ are estimated by comparing the inelastic quark-antiquark- and two gluon-nucleon (nucleus) cross sections, calculated within the DGLAP approximation, with the dynamical boundaries, which follow from the unitarity of the $S$ matrix for purely QCD interactions. We also demonstrate that principles of color coherence play an important role in the processes of soft diffraction off nuclei.Comment: 58 pages, 19 figures, Revtex. Minor editor's changes, final version published in J.Phys. G27 (2001) R23-6

A magnetized torus for modeling Sgr A* millimeter images and spectra

Context. The supermassive black hole, Sagittarius (Sgr) A*, in the centre of our Galaxy has the largest angular size in the sky among all astrophysical black holes. Its shadow, assuming no rotation, spans ~ 50 microarcsec. Resolving such dimensions has long been out of reach for astronomical instruments until a new generation of interferometers being operational during this decade. Of particular interest is the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) with resolution ~ 20 microarcsec in the millimeter-wavelength range 0.87 mm - 1.3 mm. Aims. We investigate the ability of the fully general relativistic Komissarov (2006) analytical magnetized torus model to account for observable constraints at Sgr A* in the centimeter and millimeter domains. The impact of the magnetic field geometry on the observables is also studied. Methods. We calculate ray-traced centimeter- and millimeter-wavelength synchrotron spectra and images of a magnetized accretion torus surrounding the central black hole in Sgr A*. We assume stationarity, axial symmetry, constant specific angular momentum and polytropic equation of state. A hybrid population of thermal and non-thermal electrons is considered. Results. We show that the torus model is capable of reproducing spectral constraints in the millimeter domain, and in particular in the observable domain of the EHT. However, the torus model is not yet able to fit the centimeter spectrum. 1.3 mm images at high inclinations are in agreement with observable constraints. Conclusions. The ability of the torus model to account for observations of Sgr A* in the millimeter domain is interesting in the perspective of the future EHT. Such an analytical model allows very fast computations. It will thus be a suitable test bed for investigating large domains of physical parameters, as well as non-black-hole compact object candidates and alternative theories of gravity.Comment: Major changes wrt the June 2014 version. Accepted by A&

Optical geometry for gravitational collapse and Hawking radiation

The notion of optical geometry, introduced more than twenty years ago as a formal tool in quantum field theory on a static background, has recently found several applications to the study of physical processes around compact objects. In this paper we define optical geometry for spherically symmetric gravitational collapse, with the purpose of extending the current formalism to physically interesting spacetimes which are not conformally static. The treatment is fully general but, as an example, we also discuss the special case of the Oppenheimer-Snyder model. The analysis of the late time behaviour shows a close correspondence between the structure of optical spacetime for gravitational collapse and that of flat spacetime with an accelerating boundary. Thus, optical geometry provides a natural physical interpretation for derivations of the Hawking effect based on the ``moving mirror analogy.'' Finally, we briefly discuss the issue of back-reaction in black hole evaporation and the information paradox from the perspective of optical geometry.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, aps, revtex, To be published in PR

Judicial Citation to Legislative History: Contextual Theory and Empirical Analysis

Judge Leventhal famously described the invocation of legislative history as the equivalent of entering a crowded cocktail party and looking over the heads of the guests for one\u27s friends. The volume of legislative history is so great and varied, some contend, that judges cite it selectively to advance their policy agendas. In this article, we employ positive political and contextual theories of judicial behavior to examine how judges use legislative history. We consider whether opinion-writing judges, as Judge Leventhal might suggest, cite legislative history from legislators who share the same political-ideological perspective as the opinion-writing judge? Or do judges make such choices in a broader context than Judge Levanthal\u27s statement suggests. We posit that an opinion writing judge would cite legislative statements supporting an outcome preferred by the opinion-writing judge, when such statements come from legislators who share the same political-ideological perspective as the opinion-writing judge\u27s colleagues or superiors. This should be so regardless of whether the cited legislator shares the broader perspectives of the opinion-writing judge himself. Put in Leventhal\u27s terms, instead of looking for their own ideological friends, judges look over the heads of the guests for the legislative friends of the judge\u27s colleagues on the bench (or superiors on higher benches). We test this approach with court opinion data gathered from LEXIS and find evidence of hierarchy (high court oversight) and panel (co-members on a court) effects in citation to legislative history, effects that appear related to the political-ideological identification of judges who review or are co-members on a panel of the authoring judge. Specifically, we find that the higher the proportion of Republicans in the reviewing court or sitting on the same three-judge panel, the higher the proportion of legislative history cites that will be to Republican legislators, independent of the political orientation of the authoring judge