Weitzenböck's torsion, Fermi coordinates, and adapted frames

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.

Analytic determination of high-order post-Newtonian self-force contributions to gravitational spin precession

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.

Dynamics of extended bodies in a Kerr spacetime with spin-induced quadrupole tensor

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.

Effect of an arbitrary spin orientation on the quadrupolar structure of an extended body in a Schwarzschild spacetime

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.

Massless Dirac particles in the vacuum C-metric

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.

Sales forecasting models in the fresh food supply chain

We address the problem of supply chain management for a set of fresh and highly perishable products. Our activity mainly concerns forecasting sales. The study involves 19 retailers (small and medium size stores) and a set of 156 different fresh products. The available data is made of three year sales for each store from 2011 to 2013. The forecasting activity started from a pre-processing analysis to identify seasonality, cycle and trend components, and data filtering to remove noise.

Global existence and asymptotic stability of smooth solutions to a fluid dynamics model of biofilms in one space dimension

In this paper, we present an analytical study, in the one space dimensional case, of the fluid dynamics system proposed in [3] to model the formation of biofilms. After showing the hyperbolicity of the system, we show that, in an open neighborhood of the physical parameters, the system is totally dissipative near its unique non-vanishing equilibrium point.