Intestinal and pancreas enzyme activity of broilers exposed to thermal stress

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Torsion and gravitation: A new view

According to the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, curvature and torsion are two equivalent ways of describing the same gravitational field. Though equivalent, they act differently: curvature yields a geometric description, in which the concept of gravitational force is absent whereas torsion acts as a true gravitational force, quite similar to the Lorentz force of electrodynamics. As a consequence, the right-hand side of a spinless-particle equation of motion (which would represent a gravitational force) is always zero in the geometric description, but not in the teleparallel case. This means that the gravitational coupling prescription can be minimal only in the geometric case. Relying on this property, a new gravitational coupling prescription in the presence of curvature and torsion is proposed. It is constructed in such a way to preserve the equivalence between curvature and torsion, and its basic property is to be equivalent to the usual coupling prescription of general relativity. According to this view, no new physics is connected with torsion, which is just an alternative to curvature in the description of gravitation. An application of this formulation to the equations of motion of both a spinless and a spinning particle is discussed.

The quadratic spinor Lagrangian, axial torsion current and generalizations

We show that the Einstein-Hilbert, the Einstein-Palatini, and the Holst actions can be derived from the Quadratic Spinor Lagrangian (QSL), when the three classes of Dirac spinor fields, under Lounesto spinor field classification, are considered. To each one of these classes, there corresponds an unique kind of action for a covariant gravity theory. In other words, it is shown to exist a one-to-one correspondence between the three classes of non-equivalent solutions of the Dirac equation, and Einstein-Hilbert, Einstein-Palatini, and Holst actions. Furthermore, it arises naturally, from Lounesto spinor field classification, that any other class of spinor field-Weyl, Majorana, flagpole, or flag-dipole spinor fields-yields a trivial (zero) QSL, up to a boundary term. To investigate this boundary term, we do not impose any constraint on the Dirac spinor field, and consequently we obtain new terms in the boundary component of the QSL. In the particular case of a teleparallel connection, an axial torsion one-form current density is obtained. New terms are also obtained in the corresponding Hamiltonian formalism. We then discuss how these new terms could shed new light on more general investigations.

Gravitational rainbow of massive particles

Photon propagation is non-dispersive within the context of semiclassical general relativity. What about the remaining massless particles? It can be shown that at the tree level the scattering of massless particles of spin 0, 1/2, 1 or whatever by a static gravitational field generated by a localized source such as the Sun, treated as an external field, is non-dispersive as well. It is amazing, however, that massive particles, regardless of whether they have integral or half-integral spin, experience an energy-dependent gravitational deflection. Therefore, semiclassical general relativity and gravitational rainbows of massive particles can coexist without conflict. We address this issue in this essay.

Cosmological term and fundamental physics

A nonvanishing cosmological term in Einstein's equations implies a nonvanishing spacetime curvature even in the absence of any kind of matter. It would, in consequence, affect many of the underlying kinematic tenets of physical theory. The usual commutative spacetime translations of the Poincare group would be replaced by the mixed conformal translations of the de Sitter group, leading to obvious alterations in elementary concepts such as time, energy and momentum. Although negligible at small scales, such modifications may come to have important consequences both in the large and for the inflationary picture of the early Universe. A qualitative discussion is presented, which suggests deep changes in Hamiltonian, Quantum and Statistical Mechanics. In the primeval universe as described by the standard cosmological model, in particular, the equations of state of the matter sources could be quite different from those usually introduced.

The Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect is mandatory: the proton's testimony

We discuss the decay of accelerated protons and illustrate how the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect is indeed mandatory to maintain the consistency of standard Quantum Field Theory. The confidence level of the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect must be the same as that of Quantum Field Theory itself.

Gravitation and duality symmetry

By generalizing the Hodge dual operator to the case of soldered bundles, and working in the context of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, an analysis of the duality symmetry in gravitation is performed. Although the basic conclusion is that, at least in the general-case, gravitation is not dual symmetric, there is a particular theory in which this symmetry shows up. It is a self dual (or anti-self dual) teleparallel gravity in which, due to the fact that it does not contribute to the interaction of fermions with gravitation, the purely tensor part of torsion is assumed to vanish. The ensuing fermionic gravitational interaction is found to be chiral. Since duality is intimately related to renormalizability, this theory may eventually be more amenable to renormalization than telepaxallel gravity or general relativity.

Cosmological constant and the speed of light

By exploring the relationship between the propagation of electromagnetic waves in a gravitational field and the light propagation in a refractive medium, it is shown that, in the presence of a positive cosmological constant, the velocity of light will be smaller than its special relativity value. Then, restricting again to the domain of validity of geometrical optics, the same result is obtained in the context of wave optics. It is argued that this phenomenon and the anisotropy in the velocity of light in a gravitational field are produced by the same mechanism.

On the HBO mechanism of X-ray neutron star

We ascribe the 15-60 Hz Quasi Periodic Oscillation (QPO) to the periastron precession frequency of the orbiting accreted matter at the boundary of magnetosphere-disk of Xray neutron star (NS). Considering the relativistic motion mechanism for the kHz QPO, that the radii of the inner disk and magnetosphere-disk of NS are correlated with each other by a factor is assumed. The obtained conclusions include: all QPO frequencies increase with increasing the accretion rate. The theoretical relations between 15-60 Hz QPO (HBO) frequency and the twin kHz QPOs are similar to the measured empirical formula. Further, the better fitted NS mass by the proposed model is about 1.9 solar masses for the detected LMXBs.

Torsion gravity: A reappraisal

The role played by torsion in gravitation is critically reviewed. After a description of the problems and controversies involving the physics of torsion, a comprehensive presentation of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity is made. According to this theory, curvature and torsion are alternative ways of describing the gravitational field, and consequently related to the same degrees of freedom of gravity. However, more general gravity theories, like for example Einstein-Cartan and gauge theories for the Poincare and the affine groups, consider curvature and torsion as representing independent degrees of freedom. By using an active version of the strong equivalence principle, a possible solution to this conceptual question is reviewed. This solution ultimately favors the teleparallel point of view, and consequently the completeness of general relativity. A discussion of the consequences for gravitation is presented.

IMPROVED STATISTICAL QCD MODEL FOR THE QUARK CONTENT of THE NUCLEON

The neutron-to-proton ratio of the structure functions, F(2)(n)/F(2)(p), as well as the corresponding difference F(2)(p)-F(2)(n) are obtained within a statistical quark model for the nucleon, where the quark energy levels are given by a central linear confining potential.

Interacting constituents in cosmology

Universe evolution, as described by Friedmann's equations, is determined by source terms fixed by the choice of pressure x energy density equations of state p(p). The usual approach in cosmology considers equations of state accounting only for kinematic terms, ignoring the contribution from the interactions between the particles constituting the source fluid. In this work the importance of these neglected terms is emphasized. A systematic method, based on the statistical mechanics of real fluids, is proposed to include them. A toy model is presented which shows how such interaction terms could be applied to engender significant cosmological effects.

IS PHYSICS ASKING FOR A NEW KINEMATICS?

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

SEMICLASSICAL VIOLATION of THE EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE IN THE GRAVITATIONAL LENSES REALM

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

PHOTON MASS and VERY LONG BASELINE INTERFEROMETRY

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)