More on the covariant retarded Green's function for the electromagnetic field in de Sitter spacetime

In a recent paper (Phys. Rev. D78, 084031 (2008), arXiv:0808.0642, Ref. [1]) it was shown in examples that the covariant retarded Green's functions in particular gauges for electromagnetism and linearized gravity can be used to reproduce field configurations correctly in spite of the spacelike nature of past infinity in de Sitter spacetime. In this paper we extend the work of Ref. [1] concerning the electromagnetic field and show that the covariant retarded Green's function with an arbitrary value of the gauge parameter reproduces the electromagnetic field from two opposite charges at antipodal points of de Sitter spacetime.Comment: 4 pages, addendum to PRD 78, 084031 (2008) [arXiv:0808.0642

Optical control of magnetization of micron-size domains in antiferromagnetic NiO single crystals

We propose Raman-induced collinear difference-frequency generation (DFG) as a method to manipulate dynamical magnetization. When a fundamental beam propagates along a threefold rotational axis, this coherent second-order optical process is permitted by angular momentum conservation through the rotational analogue of the Umklapp process. As a demonstration, we experimentally obtained polarization properties of collinear magnetic DFG along a [111] axis of a single crystal of antiferromagnetic NiO with micro multidomain structure, which excellently agreed with the theoretical prediction.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

SO(4) Invariant States in Quantum Cosmology

The phenomenon of linearisation instability is identified in models of quantum cosmology that are perturbations of mini-superspace models. In particular, constraints that are second order in the perturbations must be imposed on wave functions calculated in such models. It is shown explicitly that in the case of a model which is a perturbation of the mini-superspace which has $S^3$ spatial sections these constraints imply that any wave functions calculated in this model must be SO(4) invariant. (This replaces the previous corrupted version.)Comment: 15 page

On the scalar sector of the covariant graviton two-point function in de Sitter spacetime

We examine the scalar sector of the covariant graviton two-point function in de Sitter spacetime. This sector consists of the pure-trace part and another part described by a scalar field. We show that it does not contribute to two-point functions of gauge-invariant quantities. We also demonstrate that the long-distance growth present in some gauges is absent in this sector for a wide range of gauge parameters.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, LaTeX, considerably shortene

Meteoritic material on the moon

Micrometeorites, ancient planetesimal debris from the early intense bombardment, and debris of recent, crater-forming projectiles are discussed and their amounts and compositions have been determined from trace element studies. The micrometeorite component is uniformly distrubuted over the entire lunar surface, but is seen most clearly in mare soils whereas, the ancient component is seen in highland breccias and soils. A few properties of the basin-forming objects are inferred from the trace element data. An attempt is made to reconstruct the bombardment history of the moon from the observation that only basin-forming objects fell on the moon after crustal differentiation. The apparent half-life of basin-forming bodies is close to the calculated value for earth-crossing planetesimals. It is shown that a gap in radiometric ages is expected between the Imbrium and Nectaris impacts, because all 7 basins formed in this interval lie on the farside or east limb

Radiation from a moving Scalar Source

We study classical radiation and quantum bremsstrahlung effect of a moving point scalar source. Our classical analysis provides another example of resolving a well-known apparent paradox, that of whether a constantly accelerating source radiates or not. Quantum mechanically, we show that for a scalar source with arbitrary motion, the tree level emission rate of scalar particles in the inertial frame equals the sum of emission and absorption rates of zero-energy Rindler particles in the Rindler frame. We then explicitly verify this result for a source undergoing constant proper acceleration.Comment: 15 pages, CU-TP-59

Tree-level Scattering Amplitude in de Sitter Space

In previous papers [1,2], it was proved that a covariant quantization of the minimally coupled scalar field in de Sitter space is achieved through addition of the negative norm states. This causal approach which eliminates the infrared divergence, was generalized further to the calculation of the graviton propagator in de Sitter space [3] and one-loop effective action for scalar field in a general curved space-time [4]. This method gives a natural renormalization of the above problems. Pursuing this approach, in the present paper the tree-level scattering amplitudes of the scalar field, with one graviton exchange, has been calculated in de Sitter space. It is shown that the infrared divergence disappears and the theory automatically reaches a renormalized solution of the problem.Comment: 6 page

Gap junction reduction in cardiomyocytes following transforming growth factor- beta treatment and Trypanosoma cruzi infection

Gap junction connexin-43 (Cx43) molecules are responsible for electrical impulse conduction in the heart and are affected by transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). This cytokine increases during Trypanosoma cruzi infection, modulating fibrosis and the parasite cell cycle. We studied Cx43 expression in cardiomyocytes exposed or not to TGF-beta T. cruzi, or SB-431542, an inhibitor of TGF-beta receptor type I (ALK-5). Cx43 expression was also examined in hearts with dilated cardiopathy from chronic Chagas disease patients, in which TGF-beta signalling had been shown previously to be highly activated. We demonstrated that TGF-beta treatment induced disorganised gap junctions in non-infected cardiomyocytes, leading to a punctate, diffuse and non-uniform Cx43 staining. A similar pattern was detected in T. cruzi-infected cardiomyocytes concomitant with high TGF-beta secretion. Both results were reversed if the cells were incubated with SB-431542. Similar tests were performed using human chronic chagasic patients and we confirmed a down-regulation of Cx43 expression, an altered distribution of plaques in the heart and a significant reduction in the number and length of Cx43 plaques, which correlated negatively with cardiomegaly. We conclude that elevated TGF-beta levels during T. cruzi infection promote heart fibrosis and disorganise gap junctions, possibly contributing to abnormal impulse conduction and arrhythmia that characterise severe cardiopathy in Chagas disease