We formulate a smoothed-particle hydrodynamics numerical method, traditionally used for the Euler equations for fluid dynamics in the context of astrophysical simulations, to solve the nonlinear Schrodinger equation in the Madelung formulation. The probability density of the wave function is discretized into moving particles, whose properties are smoothed by a kernel function. The traditional fluid pressure is replaced by a quantum pressure tensor, for which a robust discretization is found. We demonstrate our numerical method on a variety of numerical test problems involving the simple harmonic oscillator, soliton-soliton collision, Bose-Einstein condensates, collapsing singularities, and dark matter halos governed by the Gross-Pitaevskii-Poisson equation. Our method is conservative, applicable to unbounded domains, and is automatically adaptive in its resolution, making it well suited to study problems with collapsing solutions.

Numerical simulations were conducted to determine the effects of flat-edge and curved-edge channel wall obstacles on the vortex entrapment of uniform-size particles in a microchannel with a T-shape divergent flow zone at different flow Reynolds numbers (Re). Two-particle simulations with a non-pulsating flow indicated that although particles were consistently entrapped in a vortex zone in a microchannel with flat-edge wall obstacles at all Re studied, vortex zone entrapment of particles occurred only at the lowest Re in a microchannel with curved-edge wall obstacles. In a microchannel with flat-edge obstacles, small particles avoided entrapment in vortices in a non-pulsating flow where large particles got trapped. Interparticle and particle-wall repulsive interaction potentials prevented vortex entrapment of particles in a microchannel with flat-edge wall obstacles only at high flow Re, revealing the existence of a threshold inertial force for particle liberation, if combined inertial and repulsive forces are considered in non-pulsating flow simulations. Pulsating flow enhanced the chance for liberation of particles that were otherwise trapped in vortices, but did not always ensure the particle liberation. Simulations with larger particle concentrations demonstrated that the location of particle-trapping vortices varied with changes in particle concentration. Simulation results further demonstrated the significance of particle retaining capabilities of vortices in a T-shape divergent zone within a microchannel.

We present a new approach to find accurate solutions to the Poisson equation, as obtained from the steady-state limit of a diffusion equation with strong source terms. For this purpose, we start from Boltzmann's kinetic theory and investigate the influence of higher-order terms on the resulting macroscopic equations. By performing an appropriate expansion of the equilibrium distribution, we provide a method to remove the unnecessary terms up to a desired order and show that it is possible to find, with high level of accuracy, the steady-state solution of the diffusion equation for sizeable Knudsen numbers. In order to test our kinetic approach, we discretize the Boltzmann equation and solve the Poisson equation, spending up to six order of magnitude less computational time for a given precision than standard lattice Boltzmann methods (LBMs).

Based on the past twenty-five years of lattice Boltzmann research, we venture into a far-flung prediction for the next twenty-five, with past and future privileged over the present state of affairs. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2015

Gaussian quadrature has been extensively studied in literature and several error estimates have been proved under dierent smoothness assumptions of the integrand function. In this talk we are going to state a general error estimate for Gauss-Jacobi quadrature, based on the weighted moduli of smoothness introduced by Z. Ditzian and V. Totik in [1]. Such estimate improves a previous result in [1, Theorem 7.4.1] and it includes several error bounds from literature as particular cases. Its proof has been achieved by using certain delayed means of the Fourier projections (de la Vallee Poussin means), which approximation properties will be also discussed. References [1] Z.Ditzian, V.Totik, Moduli of smoothness, SCMG Springer{Verlag, New York, 1987.

One of the most popular discrete approximating polynomials is the Lagrange interpolation polynomial and the Jacobi zeros provide a particularly convenient choice of the interpolation knots on [?1, 1]. However, it is well known that there is no point system such that the associate sequence of Lagrange polynomials, interpolating an arbitrary function f, would converge to f w.r.t. any weighted uniform or L1 norm. To overcome this problem, some discrete approximating polynomials have been originated from certain delayed arithmetic means of the Fourier-Jacobi partial sums (de la Vallee Poussin means) by approximating the Fourier coefficients with a Gaussian quadrature rule. The uniform convergence of these polynomials in suitable spaces of continuous functions has been recently proved. In this talk we complete the study by analyzing the approximation error w.r.t. the weighted L1 norm. In the main estimate we state, we use Ditzian-Totik moduli of smoothness.

We show that causality violation in a Kerr naked singularity spacetime is constrained by the existence of (radial) potential barriers. We extend to the class of vortical non-equatorial null geodesics confined to $$\theta $$? $$=$$= constant hyperboloids (boreal orbits) previous results concerning timelike ones (Calvani et al. in Gen Rel Gravit 9:155, 1978), showing that within this class of orbits, the causality principle is rigorously satisfied.

We study the motion of test particles in the metric of a localized and slowly rotating astronomical source, within the framework of linear gravitoelectromagnetism, grounded on a Post-Minkowskian approximation of general relativity. Special attention is paid to gravitational inductive effects due to time-varying gravitomagnetic fields. We show that, within the limits of the approximation mentioned above, there are cumulative effects on the orbit of the particles either for planetary sources or for binary systems. They turn out to be negligible.

We study the behavior of massless Dirac particles in the vacuum C-metric spacetime, representing the nonlinear superposition of the Schwarzschild black hole solution and the Rindler flat spacetime associated with uniformly accelerated observers. Under certain conditions, the C-metric can be considered as a unique laboratory to test the coupling between intrinsic properties of particles and fields with the background acceleration in the full (exact) strong-field regime. The Dirac equation is separable by using, e.g., a spherical-like coordinate system, reducing the problem to one-dimensional radial and angular parts. Both radial and angular equations can be solved exactly in terms of general Heun functions. We also provide perturbative solutions to first order in a suitably defined acceleration parameter, and compute the acceleration-induced corrections to the particle absorption rate as well as to the angle-averaged cross section of the associated scattering problem in the low-frequency limit. Furthermore, we show that the angular eigenvalue problem can be put in one-to-one correspondence with the analogous problem for a Kerr spacetime, by identifying a map between these 'acceleration' harmonics and Kerr spheroidal harmonics. Finally, in this respect we discuss the nature of the coupling between intrinsic spin and spacetime acceleration in comparison with the well known Kerr spin-rotation coupling.

The features of equatorial motion of an extended body in Kerr spacetime are investigated in the framework of the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon model. The body is assumed to stay at quasiequilibrium and respond instantly to external perturbations. Besides the mass, it is completely determined by its spin, the multipolar expansion being truncated at the quadrupole order, with a spin-induced quadrupole tensor. The study of the radial effective potential allows us to analytically determine the innermost stable circular orbit shift due to spin and the associated frequency of the last circular orbit.

A general framework is developed to investigate the properties of useful choices of stationary spacelike slicings of stationary spacetimes whose congruences of timelike orthogonal trajectories are interpreted as the world lines of an associated family of observers, the kinematical properties of which in turn may be used to geometrically characterize the original slicings. On the other hand, properties of the slicings themselves can directly characterize their utility motivated instead by other considerations like the initial value and evolution problems in the 3-plus-1 approach to general relativity. An attempt is made to categorize the various slicing conditions or "time gauges" used in the literature for the most familiar stationary spacetimes: black holes and their flat spacetime limit.

An extended body orbiting a compact object undergoes tidal deformations by the background gravitational field. Tidal invariants built up with the Riemann tensor and their derivatives evaluated along the worldline of the body are essential tools to investigate both geometrical and physical properties of the tidal interaction. For example, one can determine the tidal potential in the neighborhood of the body by constructing a body-fixed frame, which requires Fermi-type coordinates attached to the body itself, the latter being in turn related to the spacetime metric and curvature along the considered worldline. Similarly, in an effective field theory description of extended bodies, finite size effects are taken into account by adding to the point mass action certain nonminimal couplings which involve integrals of tidal invariants along the orbit of the body. In both cases such a computation of tidal tensors is required. Here we consider the case of a spinning body also endowed with a nonvanishing quadrupole moment in a Kerr spacetime. The structure of the body is modeled by a multipolar expansion around the "center-of-mass line" according to the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon model truncated at the quadrupolar order. The quadrupole tensor is assumed to be quadratic in spin, accounting for rotational deformations. The behavior of tidal invariants of both electric and magnetic type is discussed in terms of gauge-invariant quantities when the body is moving along a circular orbit as well as in the case of an arbitrary (equatorial) motion. The analysis is completed by examining the associated eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the tidal tensors. The limiting situation of the Schwarzschild solution is also explored both in the strong field regime and in the weak field limit.

Continuing our analytic computation of the first-order self-force contribution to the "geodetic" spin precession frequency of a small spinning body orbiting a large (nonspinning) body, we provide the exact expressions of the 10 and 10.5 post-Newtonian terms. We also introduce a new approach to the analytic computation of self-force regularization parameters based on a WKB analysis of the radial and angular equations satisfied by the metric perturbations.

We study Weitzenböck's torsion and discuss its properties. Specifically, we calculate the measured components of Weitzenböck's torsion tensor for a frame field adapted to static observers in a Fermi normal coordinate system that we establish along the world line of an arbitrary accelerated observer in general relativity. A similar calculation is carried out in the standard Schwarzschild-like coordinates for static observers in the exterior Kerr spacetime; we then compare our results with the corresponding curvature components. Our work supports the contention that in the extended general relativistic framework involving both the Levi-Civita and Weitzenböck connections, curvature and torsion provide complementary representations of the gravitational field.

Continuing our analytic computation of the first-order self-force contribution to Detweiler's redshift variable we provide the exact expressions of the ninth and ninth-and-a-half post-Newtonian terms.

The influence of an arbitrary spin orientation on the quadrupolar structure of an extended body moving in a Schwarzschild spacetime is investigated. The body dynamics is described by the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon model, without any restriction on the motion or simplifying assumption on the associated spin vector and quadrupole tensor, generalizing previous works. The equations of motion are solved analytically in the limit of small values of the characteristic length scales associated with the spin and quadrupole variables with respect to the characteristic length of the background curvature. The solution provides all corrections to the circular geodesic on the equatorial plane taken as the reference trajectory due to both the dipolar and quadrupolar structures of the body as well as the conditions which the nonvanishing components of the quadrupole tensor must fulfill in order for the problem to be self-consistent.

Modulated enhanced diffraction (MED) is a technique allowing the dynamic structural characterization of crystalline materials subjected to an external stimulus, which is particularly suited for in situ and operando structural investigations at synchrotron sources. Contributions from the (active) part of the crystal system that varies synchronously with the stimulus can be extracted by an offline analysis, which can only be applied in the case of periodic stimuli and linear system responses. In this paper a new decomposition approach based on multivariate analysis is proposed. The standard principal component analysis (PCA) is adapted to treat MED data: specific figures of merit based on their scores and loadings are found, and the directions of the principal components obtained by PCA are modified to maximize such figures of merit. As a result, a general method to decompose MED data, called optimum constrained components rotation (OCCR), is developed, which produces very precise results on simulated data, even in the case of nonperiodic stimuli and/or nonlinear responses. The multivariate analysis approach is able to supply in one shot both the diffraction pattern related to the active atoms (through the OCCR loadings) and the time dependence of the system response (through the OCCR scores). When applied to real data, OCCR was able to supply only the latter information, as the former was hindered by changes in abundances of different crystal phases, which occurred besides structural variations in the specific case considered. To develop a decomposition procedure able to cope with this combined effect represents the next challenge in MED analysis.

We establish a comparison result for solutions to nonlinear fully anisotropic elliptic problems by means of anisotropic symmetrization. As consequence we deduce a priori estimates for norms of the relevant solutions.

We obtain a comparison result for solutions to nonlinear fully anisotropic elliptic problems by means of anisotropic symmetrization. As consequence we deduce a priori estimates for norms of the relevant solutions.

A sharp integrability condition on the right-hand side of the p-Laplace system for all its solutions to be continuous is exhibited. Their uniform continuity is also analyzed and estimates for their modulus of continuity are provided. The relevant estimates are shown to be optimal as the right-hand side ranges in classes of rearrangement-invariant spaces, such as Lebesgue, Lorentz, Lorentz-Zygmund, and Marcinkiewicz spaces, as well as some customary Orlicz spaces.