Lumps Of Matter Research Articles

Unambiguous quasar microlensing

ABSTRA C T Microlensing studies of quasars can reveal dark matter lumps over a broad mass spectrum; we highlight the importance of monitoring quasars that are seen through the haloes of low-redshift galaxies. For these configurations, microlensing by planetary-mass objects will manifest itself as isolated events which are only weakly chromatic. Statistical comparison of the observed optical depths with their theoretical counterparts provides a strong test for a microlensing origin of such events. If microlensing is detected, the light curves can reveal not only the characteristic microlens masses and their corresponding contribution to dark haloes, but also how compact the individual objects are. In this way we can decisively test the possibility that the dark matter associated with galaxies is composed principally of planetary-mass gas clouds.

COMPOSITION AND COINCIDENCE

Abstract:Many philosophers say that the same atoms may compose at once a statue and a lump of matter that could outlive the statue. I reject this because no difference between the statue and the lump could explain why they have different persistence conditions. But if we say that the lump is the statue, it is difficult to see how there could be any human beings. I argue that this and analogous problems about material objects admit only of solutions that at least appear to be radically at odds with our ordinary thinking.

An exact solution of the metric-affine gauge theory with dilation, shear, and spin charges

The spacetime of the metric-affine gauge theory of gravity (MAG) encompasses nonmetricity Q αβ and torsion T α as post-Riemannian structures. The sources of MAG are the conserved currents of energy-momentum and dilation ⊕ shear ⊕ spin. We present an exact static spherically symmetric vacuum solution of the theory describing the exterior of a lump of matter carrying mass and dilation ⊕ shear ⊕ spin charges.

Strange matter lumps in the early Universe.

We study the stability of hot strange matter lumps formed in the early Universe. As the Universe cools below the hadronization temperature, these lumps normally become unstable against boiling. They can stabilize themselves against this process if their mass is sufficiently large to hold a hadronic crust by gravitational attraction. Our analysis improves on previous studies of the internal structure of such stable hot quark matter lumps with hadronic crust by correctly treating the constraints from chemical equilibrium of baryonic and electric charge between crust and core. Since the expansion rate of the early Universe is much faster than the cooling rate of the strange matter lumps, their internal structure is characterized by constant entropy per baryon. Our improved analysis confirms the earlier finding that such stable quark matter lumps require a mass well above the total mass inside the horizon.

Galactic disks, infall, and the global value of Omega

Stringent limits on the current rate of infall of satellite systems onto spiral galaxies are set on the basis of the thinness and coldness of Galactic disks. For infalling satellites on isotropically oriented circular orbits, it is shown that, due to scattering, the thermal energy gain of the disk exceeds the satellite energy loss from dynamical friction by a factor of 1.6, with 25 percent deposited in z motion and 75 percent in planar motions. It is found that no more than 4 percent of the Galactic mass inside the solar radius can have accreted within the last 5 billion years, or else its scale and its Toomre Q-parameter would exceed observed values. In standard cold-dark-matter-dominated models for the growth of structure with Omega sub tot of 1, the mass accreted in dark matter lumps rises faster than t exp 2/3 and would exceed 28 percent in the last 5 Gyr. It is proposed that heating from satellite infall accounts for a substantial fraction of the increase of velocity dispersion and scale height with age that is observed in the Galaxy.

Strange matter lumps formed in the early Universe.

Strange matter lumps are supposed to be formed during the quark-hadron coexistence period at the critical temperature ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$. An important mechanism by which these lumps may be dissolved as the temperature goes down is boiling. However, boiling can occur only if the quark chemical potentials in the strange matter lumps become smaller than some critical values at which quark and hadron matter are in equilibrium. We calculate how the equilibrium conditions vary as the temperature drops from ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ to almost zero and discuss how the chemical potential and/or pressure within the strange matter lumps may be maintained above the equilibrium value to avoid boiling. Our calculation shows, however, that a gravitationally stable system consisting of a strange matter lump and a hadron shell surrounding it has to contain an unreasonably large number of baryons for the strange matter lump to avoid boiling.

THEORY AND PHENOMENOLOGY OF ISOSPIN BALLS

We have reported elsewhere1 that nontopological solitons are predicted by a class of chiral models which incorporate the scale anomaly. These solitons exist for all values of isospin which exceed a critical value IC. They often resemble large uniform spherical lumps of matter for large isospin just as the Q balls of Coleman. In this paper, we describe the properties of these solitons in detail and also discuss their phenomenology.

The possible consequences of strange quark matter on hydrogen burning in the sun

The possibility that strange quark matter may have properties that would allow lumps of such matter, strangelets, to participate in nucleosynthesis and contribute meaningfully to stellar energy generation, even at extremely low abundances, is considered. In order to construct a reaction network for strangelets, the Fermi-gas mass formula for strangelets (Berger and Jaffe, 1987) is extended to include shell corrections. The similarity of strangelets to hypothetical Q-nuclei (Boyd et al., 1983, 1985) suggests that the solar-neutrino problem, as well as other problems inherent to the standard solar model, might be solved if a tiny amount of certain stable strangelets existed in the sun. 31 references.

Anisotropic fluid with SU(2)-type structure in general relativity: A model of localized matter

A model of anisotropic fluid with three perfect fluid components in interaction is studied. Each fluid component obeys the stiff matter equation of state and is irrotational. The interaction is chosen to reproduce an integrable system of equations similar to the one associated to self-dual SU(2) gauge fields. An extension of the Belinsky–Zakharov version of the inverse scattering transform is presented and used to find soliton solutions to the coupled Einstein equations. A particular class of solutions that can be interpreted as lumps of matter propagating in empty space-time is examined.

Model for the 5 March 1979 gamma-ray transient.

A model is proposed for the March 5, 1979 gamma-ray transient. A small lump of strange matter, previously ejected from a supernova explosion, struck a slowly rotating strange star. This resulted in a high-intensity flash of radiation from a hot spot produced by the impact. The high-intensity radiation blew open a crater in the crust; the energy released as this crater refilled was responsible for the longer-duration, lower-intensity phase. The 8-s modulation is due to the rotation of the star. A plausible scenario for the production of this event is discussed.

Stable anomalous states of superdense matter in gauge theories

The authors show that in the framework of the standard theory of the electroweak interactions, the normal state of cold neutral fermion matter is unstable at a sufficiently high density of the fermions. In the case of a system with infinite volume, there is a phase transition of the first kind to an anomalous state with zero density of the real fermions. Sufficiently large lumps of anomalous matter are stable with respect to decay into free particles. These lumps can suck in fermions when they interact with ordinary matter, and this is accompanied by a release of energy of the order of the fermion mass.

Direct production of photons and dileptons in thermodynamical models of multiple hadron production

The thermodynamical picture of a hot lump of hadronic matter («clusters», high-density gluonic clouds and especially suitable cases of hydrodynamical theories of Heisenberg and Landau) naturally leads to direct production of gamma quanta («black-body radiation») and—in the next order ine 2—of lepton pairs. At largep T their spectra reproduce the main features of the pionic spectrum. The intensity of γ’s exceedse 2 times that of the π’s, due to the relatively large volume of the radiating system and to the long duration of its expansions. However, since the dynamics of the heated hadronic vacuum is not known, pre-exponential factors cannot be safely calculated. All this is expected to hold for the overall c.m.s. energy % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfKttLearuqr1ngBPrgarmqr1ngBPrgitL% xBI9gBamXvP5wqSXMqHnxAJn0BKvguHDwzZbqegm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aeHbuLwBLnhiov2DGi1BTfMBaebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiyc9qr% pepeeu0dXdh9vqqj-hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0-OqFfea0dXdc9LqpGe9% FjuP0-is0dXdbba9pGe9xq-Jbba9suk9fr-xfr-xfrpeWZqaaeaabi% GaciaacaqabeaadaabauaaaOqaamaakaaabaGaeGioaGdaleqaaOGa% eSipIOZaaeWaaeaacqaIXaqmcqaIWaamcqGH3daUcqaIXaqmcqaIWa% amdaahaaWcbeqaaiabikdaYaaaaOGaayjkaiaawMcaaaaa!4D74! $$\sqrt 8 \sim \left( {10 \div 10^2 } \right)$$ GeV. For even higher energies with a correspondingly increasing mass of the lump (if such lumps exist), probably at % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfKttLearuqr1ngBPrgarmqr1ngBPrgitL% xBI9gBamXvP5wqSXMqHnxAJn0BKvguHDwzZbqegm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aeHbuLwBLnhiov2DGi1BTfMBaebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiyc9qr% pepeeu0dXdh9vqqj-hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0-OqFfea0dXdc9LqpGe9% FjuP0-is0dXdbba9pGe9xq-Jbba9suk9fr-xfr-xfrpeWZqaaeaabi% GaciaacaqabeaadaabauaaaOqaamaakaaabaGaeGioaGdaleqaaOGa% eyOpa4JaeGymaeJaeGimaaZaaWbaaSqabeaacqaIZaWmaaaaaa!47A9! $$\sqrt 8 > 10^3 $$ GeV, γ quanta (and for even larger lumps, % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfKttLearuqr1ngBPrgarmqr1ngBPrgitL% xBI9gBamXvP5wqSXMqHnxAJn0BKvguHDwzZbqegm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aeHbuLwBLnhiov2DGi1BTfMBaebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiyc9qr% pepeeu0dXdh9vqqj-hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0-OqFfea0dXdc9LqpGe9% FjuP0-is0dXdbba9pGe9xq-Jbba9suk9fr-xfr-xfrpeWZqaaeaabi% GaciaacaqabeaadaabauaaaOqaamaakaaabaGaeGioaGdaleqaaOGa% eSipIOJaeGymaeJaeGimaaZaaWbaaSqabeaacqaI0aanaaaaaa!47CC! $$\sqrt 8 \sim 10^4 $$ GeV, leptons as well) may become equal partners to hadrons in thermodynamical equilibrium. Almost all the results were published by the present author about 15 years ago in Russian (and only briefly mentioned in some of his review papers in English). In this paper they are somewhat extended and discussed in more detail in the light of new experiments on large-p T leptons and of the quark-gluon ideas.

Masses of nuclei

Abstract The study of masses of the different nuclear species is basic to the whole of nuclear physics. Because of the interchangeability of mass and energy the details of energy absorption or release are identical with mass differences or changes in the masses of participating nuclei. The systematic trends in mass value reflect therefore changes in the nuclear binding energy. It is one of the primary tasks of nuclear theory to explain the total binding energy of a lump of nuclear matter. The systematic trends in mass differences are also of basic importance in evolving models to describe the formation of the elements in our galaxy.

Prominence Studies.

view Abstract Citations (11) References Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Prominence Studies. McMath, Robert R. ; Pettit, Edison Abstract Eruptive prominences.-Data for seven new eruptive prominences conftrm the laws of motion previously stated. The end velocity is now shown to revert occasionally to a whole multiple of the second preceding velocity, which explains some apparent excep- tions to the second law. One prominence reached the unparalleled height of 1,550,000 km and another the record velocity of 728 km/sec. The former was near the north pole of the sun. The dilemma of light-pressure-A calculation of the Milne effect shows that we can- not assume that light-pressure balances gravity at the sun's surface. Velocities of more than 100 km/sec are developed in a few minutes from an initial 10 km/sec velocity. Calcium tends to separate widely from hydrogen. Prominences of class 111.-The motions in the fountain-like loops of class IIIb prominences are down both branches from the ends of the bright tops of the arches. Practically all obey the first law, and about 20 per cent the second law of prominence motion; 7 cases show no change in velocity. Ejections-Small faint lumps of chromospheric matter are sometimes ejected from a spot area, often at considerable angles to the vertical. These ejections seem to move in nearly straight trajectories and do not return. Centers of attraction-Examination of the dissolution of an active prominence pro- jected on the disk shows that centers of attraction are not visible as surface markings. With one exception, prominence streamers have always been seen to enter centers of attraction from one side only. Fifty per cent of all the streamers from class I promi- nences measured followed both laws of prominence motion. Coronal prominences -When a center of attraction becomes very active, long stream- ers not connected with the active prominence enter the center of attraction from great heights. These seem to come from space in the middle or outer corona. They obey both laws of motion of eruptive prominences Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: October 1938 DOI: 10.1086/143981 Bibcode: 1938ApJ....88..244M full text sources ADS |

The Evolution of Physics

THE interpretation of science to the lay reader—and we may quite candidly admit that ‘lay reader’ must be interpreted as including practically all men of science who do not happen to be professionally interested in the particular branch of science under consideration—is a task both important and difficult. Of books which might be described as being suitable for some “ Wonders of the Universe ” series there is an excellent supply, and very good some of them are. The universe is a wonderful place, and to explore it under the guidance of a distinguished cicerone is both pleasant and profitable. Too often, however, one lays the book down with an uneasy feeling that something is missing. It reads like a detective story from which all the middle pages are missing. The first chapter, with its neatly arranged pile of corpses, is there, and the last page or so in which the name of the villain is disclosed ; but the account of the search, and in particular, that thrilling chapter, near the end, where the 'little grey cells' come iftto play, is wanting, and the real interest of the book has vanished with it. While it is, no doubt, edifying to learn that a lump of matter is nothing but a whirl of flying electric charges, what the reader would like to know, and what it is important that he should know, is how, and by what stages, the physicist arrives at this astounding conclusion. If, as Prof. Einstein and his co-author claim, “Physics is a creation of the human mind, with freely invented ideas and concepts ”, it is this intellectual content which gives to physics one of its chief claims to cultural significance, and provides for the thoughtful non-technical reader his main source of interest in it. It is with this aspect of the subject that the authors are concerned in this very distinguished book. The Evolution of Physics: the Growth of Ideas from the Early Concepts to Relativity and Quanta. By Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld. (Cambridge Library of Modern Science.) Pp. x+319+3 plates. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1938.) 8s. 6d. net.

Allgemeine Biologie: eine Einführung in die Lehre vom Leben

IN the issue of NATURE of December 17, 1932, we had the pleasure of reviewing a bold and original work on general biology by Prof. Woltereck, and now we have before us a still longer and more elaborate work on the same subject by Dr. Hartmann, who is a member of the staff of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Experimental Biology at Dahlem. Naturally the subject is treated very differently by the two authors, for whereas Woltereck has attained world-wide fame as a zoologist and embryologist, Hartmann's claims for distinction rest chiefly on researches on the Protista (Protozoa and Protophyta) and on the Thallophyta amongst plants. Then again, Woltereck came courageously into the battle, by asserting that in all living things there is a vitalistic factor regulating their actions which is not to be accounted for by the structure or mutual positions of their constituent molecules. Hartmann, on the contrary, whilst repudiating materialism as a system of thought unworthy to be regarded as a ‘philosophy’, nevertheless holds that science can deal only with living things as lumps of matter: it must argue ‘as’ if materialism were true. Allgemeine Biologie: eine Einfuhrung in die Lehre vom Leben. Dr. Max Hartmann. Zweite, vollstandig neubearbeitete Auflage. Pp. xii + 792. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1933.) 38 gold marks.

Astronomical Topics

The Lunar Bright Rays.—Messrs. Buell and Stewart have carried out an interesting experiment to test a theory of the nature of the systems of bright rays that surround many lunar craters (Pop. Ast., May). It is well known that the rays are best seen at full moon; this applies to all parts of the disc, both those where the sun is high and where it is low. The suggestion is made that they are conspicuous when the angle between the earth and sun as seen from the moon is small, for the reason that at such a time shadows on the moon are practically absent. The authors think that the rays are due to some whitish powder filling up the interstices between larger, darker lumps of matter. At full moon we receive the full light from the powder, but at other times a large proportion of the powder is in the shadow of the lumps.

Relativity and Hyperbolic Space

OBSERVATION tells us that while gravitation dominates the history of a lump of matter moving in the vast ocean of free aether, it has practically no effect on the history of a pulse of light in similar circumstances. Since last mail I have investigated the bearings of space being hyperbolic on light-rays.

Electricity and Matter 1

THE subject I have chosen is an enormous one, but it is one of exceptional interest at the present time. It is one of general interest as well as of scientific interest to students of physics. The fundamental properties of matter are now coming to be understood in a way in which they have never been understood before. What are these fundamental properties? One is cohesion, another is gravitation, and another is inertia. Concerning gravitation, we remain pretty much in the dark. It is an empirical fact that a body has weight, that two lumps of matter attract one another, with an extremely small force when we are dealing with ordinary pieces of matter, but extremely large when we are dealing with astronomical masses, such as planets OF suns; but the cause of that gravitative attraction is not known, and at present appears to have little chance of becoming known. Cohesion ten years ago was in the same predicament, but cohesion now seems to be on the eve of yielding up its secret. The most striking fundamental property of matter, however, that we are beginning to understand in some degree, is that of inertia. Inertia is a popular term, but it is not always clearly understood what is meant by it. Let me explain the meaning. It may be defined as the power of overshooting the mark, or the power of moving against force. It is by inertia that a rifle bullet travels after it has left the gun. In the barrel it is urged by force; in the air the bullet goes on against an opposing force of friction because of its inertia—often in that case called the momentum. It is by reason of inertia that water runs uphill; we are sometimes told that water will not flow uphill, but that is a mistake. Heat will not flow uphill—heat will only flow from hot to cold; you cannot give it impetus and let it rush up of its own momentum, for heat has no momentum; it is not a substance, it only goes when it is pushed, and the instant you remove the force it stops. That is the case with heat, but that is not the case with any form of matter—it is not the case with anything possessing inertia. The water from a fountain rises because of the initial velocity imparted to it; for the same reason a cricket ball rises when it is thrown up; the propelling force has ceased, but the motion continues. It is the same with tides; for three hours the water is running uphill, for three hours it is running down-hill. The head of the inflowing water is for three hours higher than the water behind it—the first three hours of the flow impart to the water its momentum, and the last three hours destroy that momentum gradually. The swinging pendulum is another, illustration. [Having illustrated this point by a liquid in a horseshoe tube, showing the return to the position of equilibrium after a series of oscillations, the lecturer continued.] Oscillations like that are known to occur in electricity when a Leyden jar is discharged; the electricity does not go simply from the more highly charged to the less highly charged and there stop, but it goes beyond, it overshoots the mark and charges up that which was negative to positive, and then backwards and forwards, very like the oscillations in the tube. Hence it would appear as if electricity had a property resembling inertia. When I lectured here a quarter of a century ago I should have said that electricity had a property resembling inertia—I should have called it a mechanical analogue—an apparent inertia, simulating by inductive electromotive force the real inertia? of matter. I should now go further than that, and should say that electricity has real inertia, just as real as matter. I should even go still further, and should say that in all probability there is no inertia but electric inertia; that the inertia of matter itself is to be explained electrically. Irt other words, what we are now arriving at gradually is an electric theory of matter. We are endeavouring to explain the properties of matter in terms and by means of what we know concerning electricity.

A Nosological Problem.

To the Editor: —Will you kindly publish the history of the following case, allowing me to ask through the columns ofThe Journala solution of what seems to me an incomprehensible nosological problem. Ethel J., aged 8, the daughter of healthy parents, has never had any lingering or serious illness; digestion fairly good, bowels very inactive, appetite good, though capricious, sleeps well, subject to quite frequent attacks of headache. On the evening of August 20, shortly after supper, was seized with an attack of nausea and vomiting. The ejected matter consisted of partially digested food and a membranous substance of an irregular shape, six inches in length by five inches in width. On one side here and there were little lumps of fatty matter the size of a small pea. I have never in practice or in literature met with anything like it, and would be pleased to learn