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At least 37 records · Page 2

Conformal wavefunctions for graviton amplitudes

The extended-BMS algebra of asymptotically flat spacetime contains an SO(3, 1) subgroup that acts by conformal transformations on the celestial sphere. It is of interest to study the representations of this subgroup associated with gravitons. To reduce the equation of motion to a Schrodinger-like equation it is necessary to impose a non-covariant gauge condition. Using these solutions, leading-order gauge invariant Weyl scalars are then computed and decomposed into families of unitary principal series representations. An invertible holographic mapping is constructed between these unitary principal series operators and massless spin-2 perturbations of flat spacetime.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Experimental measurements of large scale structures in an incompressible turbulent boundary layer using correlated X-probes

Hot-wire anemometry measurements in an incompressible turbulent boundary-layer flow over a flat plate, at zero pressure gradient were made using two X-probes simultaneously. The over seven meters long flat plate installed within the wind tunnel generated an approximately 20-cm thick boundary layer, and R(theta) of about 4,000. The mean velocity and turbulence intensity data very close to the wall were measured with a single-wire. Space-time velocity fluctuation and shear-product correlation measurements enabled the calculation of large-scale structure convection velocity, inclination-angle to the wall, and spatial extent in space. The shear-product correlation results are reported for the first time.

Strataridakis, Constantine J.↗

Surface pressure fluctuations in hypersonic turbulent boundary layers.

The surface pressure fluctuations on a flat-plate model at hypersonic Mach numbers of 5.2, 7.4, and 10.4 with an attached turbulent boundary layer were measured using flush-mounted small piezoelectric sensors. A high-frequency resolution of the pressure field was achieved using specially designed small piezoelectric sensors. The rms pressures and nondimensional energy spectra for all above Mach numbers are presented. The convective velocities, obtained from space-time correlation considerations are equal to 0.7 of the free-stream velocity. The results indicate that the rms pressures vary from 5 to 25% of the mean static pressures. The ratios of rms pressure to dynamic pressure are less than the universally accepted subsonic value of .006. The ratio decreases in value as the Mach number or the dynamic pressure is increased.

Raman, K. R.↗

An experimental investigation of a three dimensional wall jet

One and two point statistical properties are measured in the flow fields of a coflowing turbulent jet. Two different confining surfaces (one flat, one with large curvature) are placed adjacent to the lip of the circular nozzle; and the resultant effects on the flow field are determined. The one point quantities measured include mean velocities, turbulent intensities, velocity and concentration autocorrelations and power spectral densities, and intermittencies. From the autocorrelation curves, the Taylor microscale and the integral length scale are calculated. Two point quantities measured include velocity and concentration space-time correlations and pressure velocity correlations. From the velocity space-time correlations, iso-correlation contours are constructed along with the lines of maximum maximorum. These lines allow a picture of the flow pattern to be determined. The pressures monitored in the pressure velocity correlations are measured both in the flow field and at the surface of the confining wall(s).

Catalano, G. D.↗

Applications of the Space-Time Conservation Element and Solution Element (CE/SE) Method to Computational Aeroacoustic Benchmark Problems

The Internal Propagation problems, Fan Noise problem, and Turbomachinery Noise problems are solved using the space-time conservation element and solution element (CE/SE) method. The problems in internal propagation problems address the propagation of sound waves through a nozzle. Both the nonlinear and linear quasi 1D Euler equations are solved. Numerical solutions are presented and compared with the analytical solution. The fan noise problem concerns the effect of the sweep angle on the acoustic field generated by the interaction of a convected gust with a cascade of 3D flat plates. A parallel version of the 3D CE/SE Euler solver is developed and employed to obtain numerical solutions for a family of swept flat plates. Numerical solutions for sweep angles of 0, 5, 10, and 15 deg are presented. The turbomachinery problems describe the interaction of a 2D vortical gust with a cascade of flat-plate airfoils with/without a downstream moving grid. The 2D nonlinear Euler Equations are solved and the converged numerical solutions are presented and compared with the corresponding analytical solution. All the comparisons demonstrate that the CE/SE method is capable of solving aeroacoustic problems with/without shock waves in a simple and efficient manner. Furthermore, the simple non-reflecting boundary condition used in the CE/SE method which is not based on the characteristic theory works very well in 1D, 2D and 3D problems.

Wang, Xiao-Yen↗

Celestial IR divergences and the effective action of supertranslation modes

Infrared divergences in perturbative gravitational scattering amplitudes have been recently argued to be governed by the two-point function of the supertranslation Goldstone mode on the celestial sphere. We show that the form of this celestial two-point function simply derives from an effective action that also controls infrared divergences in the symplectic structure of General Relativity with asymptotically flat boundary conditions. This effective action finds its natural place in a path integral formulation of a celestial conformal field theory, as we illustrate by re-deriving the infrared soft factors in terms of celestial correlators. Our analysis relies on a well-posed action principle close to spatial infinity introduced by Compère and Dehouck.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Evolution and dynamics of shear-layer structures in near-wall turbulence

Near-wall flow structures in turbulent shear flows are analyzed, with particular emphasis on the study of their space-time evolution and connection to turbulence production. The results are obtained from investigation of a database generated from direct numerical simulation of turbulent channel flow at a Reynolds number of 180 based on half-channel width and friction velocity. New light is shed on problems associated with conditional sampling techniques, together with methods to improve these techniques, for use both in physical and numerical experiments. The results clearly indicate that earlier conceptual models of the processes associated with near-wall turbulence production, based on flow visualization and probe measurements need to be modified. For instance, the development of asymmetry in the spanwise direction seems to be an important element in the evolution of near-wall structures in general, and for shear layers in particular. The inhibition of spanwise motion of the near-wall streaky pattern may be the primary reason for the ability of small longitudinal riblets to reduce turbulent skin friction below the value for a flat surface.

Johansson, Arne V.↗

A generalized Selberg zeta function for flat space cosmologies

Flat space cosmologies (FSCs) are time dependent solutions of three-dimensional (3D) gravity with a vanishing cosmological constant. They can be constructed from a discrete quotient of empty 3D flat spacetime and are also called shifted-boost orbifolds. Using this quotient structure, we build a new and generalized Selberg zeta function for FSCs, and show that it is directly related to the scalar 1-loop partition function. We then propose an extension of this formalism applicable to more general quotient manifolds $\mathcal{M}$/ℤ, based on representation theory of fields propagating on this background. Our prescription constitutes a novel and expedient method for calculating regularized 1-loop determinants, without resorting to the heat kernel. We compute quasinormal modes in the FSC using the zeroes of a Selberg zeta function, and match them to known results.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Isometries and the double copy

In the standard derivation of the Kerr-Schild double copy, the geodicity of the Kerr-Schild vector and the stationarity of the spacetime are presented as assumptions that are necessary for the single copy to satisfy Maxwell’s equations. However, it is well known that the vacuum Einstein equations imply that the Kerr-Schild vector is geodesic and shear-free, and that the spacetime possesses a distinguished vector field that is simultaneously a Killing vector of the full spacetime and the flat background, but need not be timelike with respect to the background metric. We show that the gauge field obtained by contracting this distinguished Killing vector with the Kerr-Schild graviton solves the vacuum Maxwell equations, and that this definition of the Kerr-Schild double copy implies the Weyl double copy when the spacetime is Petrov type D. When the Killing vector is taken to be timelike with respect to the background metric, we recover the familiar Kerr-Schild double copy, but the prescription is well defined for any vacuum Kerr-Schild spacetime and we present new examples where the Killing vector is null or spacelike. While most examples of physical interest are type D, vacuum Kerr-Schild spacetimes are generically of Petrov type II. We present a straightforward example of such a spacetime and study its double copy structure. Our results apply to real Lorentzian spacetimes as well as complex spacetimes and real spacetimes with Kleinian signature, and provide a simple correspondence between real and self-dual vacuum Kerr-Schild spacetimes. This correspondence allows us to study the double copy structure of a self-dual analog of the Kerr spacetime. We provide evidence that this spacetime may be diffeomorphic to the self-dual Taub-NUT solution.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

From shockwaves to the gravitational memory effect

We study the relationship between shockwave geometries and the gravitational memory effect in four-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetime. In particular, we show the ’t Hooft commutation relations of shockwave operators are equivalent to the commutation relation between soft and Goldstone modes parametrizing a sector of the gravitational phase space. We demonstrate this equivalence via a diffeomorphism that takes a shockwave metric to a metric whose transverse traceless component is the gravitational memory. The shockwave momentum in ’t Hooft’s analysis is related to the soft graviton mode, which is responsible for the memory effect, while the shift in the shockwave position is related to the Goldstone mode. This equivalence opens new directions to utilize the gravitational memory effect to explore the observational implications of shockwave geometries in flat space.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Islands in the fluid: islands are common in cosmology

We discuss the possibility of entanglement islands in cosmological spacetimes with a general perfect fluid with an equation of state w. We find that flat universes with time-symmetric slices where the Hubble parameter vanishes always have islands on that slice. We then move away from such slices, considering still universes with a general perfect fluid. Under the local thermal equilibrium assumption, the comoving entropy density s c is constant. As a result, the conditions for an island become an inequality between the energy density (or Hubble parameter) and the temperature at some time of normalization. The consequences are that islands can exist for practically all fluids that are not radiation, i.e. w ≠ 1/3. We also discuss the ramifications of our results for universes with spatial curvature. Finally, we show that islands occur in the Simple Harmonic Universe model which has no classical singularity at the background level, in contrast to all previous examples where islands occurred only in space-times with singularities.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Love symmetry in higher-dimensional rotating black hole spacetimes

We develop a method for constructing a 1-parameter family of globally-defined Love symmetry generators in rotating black hole spacetimes of general dimension. The key ingredient is to focus on the vicinity of the (physical) outer horizon, matching only the radial derivative and the outer horizon pole pieces of the Klein-Gordon operator in the black hole spacetime to the SL(2, ℝ) Casimir operator. After revisiting the 4D Kerr and 5D Myers-Perry cases, the procedure is illustrated on generalized Lense-Thirring spacetimes which describe a wide variety of slowly rotating black hole metrics in any number of dimensions. Such spacetimes are known to admit an extended tower of Killing tensor and Killing vector symmetries and, as demonstrated in this paper, allow for separability of the massive scalar wave equation in Myers-Perry-like coordinates. Interestingly, separability also occurs in the horizon-penetrating Painlevé–Gullstrand coordinates associated with the freely infalling observer who registers flat space around her all the way to singularity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Exceptional scalar theories in de Sitter space

The special galileon and Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) theories are effective field theories of a single scalar field that have many interesting properties in flat space. These theories can be extended to all maximally symmetric spaces, where their algebras of shift symmetries are simple. We study aspects of the curved space versions of these theories: for the special galileon, we find a new compact expression for its Lagrangian in de Sitter space and a field redefinition that relates it to the previous, more complicated formulation. This field redefinition reduces to the well-studied galileon duality redefinition in the flat space limit. For the DBI theory in de Sitter space, we discuss the brane and dilaton formulations of the theory and present strong evidence that these are related by a field redefinition. We also give an interpretation of the symmetries of these theories in terms of broken diffeomorphisms of de Sitter space.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Spin-statistics for black hole microstates

The gravitational path integral can be used to compute the number of black hole states for a given energy window, or the free energy in a thermal ensemble. In this article we explain how to use the gravitational path integral to compute the separate number of bosonic and fermionic black hole microstates. We do this by comparing the partition function with and without the insertion of (–1) F . In particular we introduce a universal rotating black hole that contributes to the partition function in the presence of (–1) F. We study this problem for black holes in asymptotically flat space and in AdS, putting constraints on the high energy spectrum of holographic CFTs (not necessarily supersymmetric). Finally, we analyze wormhole contributions to related quantities.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Tori, Klein bottles, and modulo 8 parity/time-reversal anomalies of 2+1d staggered fermions

We study the symmetries of lattice staggered fermions in 2+1d. Using the symmetries, we can place the system on any sheared torus or Klein bottle. These different backgrounds provide diagnostics of various ’t Hooft anomalies associated with the crystalline symmetries. We then compare the lattice model to its continuum limit. The symmetries of the lattice system are mapped in a nontrivial way to the symmetries of the continuum theories. Using this map, we match the ’t Hooft anomalies on the lattice and the continuum. Along the way, we develop a general formalism to study Hamiltonian lattice models on nontrivial, compact, flat spaces.

Algorithms and Theoretical Developments↗

Lorentz symmetry and IR structure of the BFSS matrix model

The BFSS matrix model relates flat space M-theory to a large N limit of matrix quantum mechanics describing N non-relativistic D0-branes. M-theory, being a theory of gravity in flat space, has a rich infrared structure that includes various soft theorems and an infinite set of conserved charges associated to asymptotic symmetries. In this work, we ask: to what extent is this infrared structure present in BFSS? We find that all the salient features concerning the infrared structure of M-theory carry over naturally to the quantum mechanics dual. Moreover, we demonstrate that the dual statement of the soft graviton theorem in the matrix model implies that D0-brane scattering amplitudes in BFSS enjoy the full 11d Lorentz symmetry of M-theory, a claim which has been long anticipated. We also offer several first-principle consistency checks for our findings, including a computation of the soft theorem which does not presuppose the BFSS duality and a non-trivial match between several known symmetries of M-theory and BFSS that appear naturally in this formalism. These calculations give non-perturbative evidence in support of the BFSS duality as a model of flat space holography.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Fluctuating pressures measured beneath a high-temperature, turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate at Mach number of 5

Fluctuating pressures were measured beneath a Mach 5, turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate with an array of piezoresistive sensors. The data were obtained with a digital signal acquisition system during a test run of 4 seconds. Data sampling rate was such that frequency analysis up to 62.5 kHz could be performed. To assess in situ frequency response of the sensors, a specially designed waveguide calibration system was employed to measure transfer functions of all sensors and related instrumentation. Pressure time histories were approximated well by a Gaussian prohibiting distribution. Pressure spectra were very repeatable over the array span of 76 mm. Total rms pressures ranged from 0.0017 to 0.0046 of the freestream dynamic pressure. Streamwise, space-time correlations exhibited expected decaying behavior of a turbulence generated pressure field. Average convection speed was 0.87 of freestream velocity. The trendless behavior with sensor separation indicated possible systematic errors.

Parrott, Tony L.↗

On thick domain walls in general relativity

Planar scalar field configurations in general relativity differ considerably from those in flat space. It is shown that static domain walls of finite thickness in curved space-time do not possess a reflection symmetry. At infinity, the space-time tends to the Taub vacuum on one side of the wall and to the Minkowski vacuum (Rindler space-time) on the other. Massive test particles are always accelerated towards the Minkowski side, i.e., domain walls are attractive on the Taub side, but repulsive on the Minkowski side (Taub-vacuum cleaner). It is also proved that the pressure in all directions is always negative. Finally, a brief comment is made concerning the possibility of infinite, i.e., bigger than horizon size, domain walls in our universe. All of the results are independent of the form of the potential V(phi) greater than or equal to 0 of the scalar field phi.

Goetz, Guenter↗