Abstract: Using numerical methods, we investigate the absorption properties of a family of nonsingular solutions which arise in different metric-affine theories, such as quadratic and Born-Infeld gravity. These solutions continuously interpolate between Schwarzschild black holes and naked solitons with wormhole topology. The resulting spectrum is characterized by a series of quasibound states excitations, associated with the existence of a stable photonsphere.

Abstract: The framed Standard Model (FSM) predicts a 0(+) boson with mass around 20 MeV in the “hidden sector,” which mixes at tree level with the standard Higgs hW and hence acquires small couplings to quarks and leptons which can be calculated in the FSM apart from the mixing parameter rho Uh. The exchange of this mixed state U will contribute to g – 2 and to the Lamb shift. By adjusting rho Uh alone, it is found that the FSM can satisfy all present experimental bounds on the g – 2 and Lamb shift anomalies for μand e, and for the latter for both hydrogen and deuterium. The FSM predicts also a 1(-) boson in the “hidden sector” with a mass of 17 MeV, that is, right on top of the Atomki anomaly X. This mixes with the photon at 1-loop level and couples thereby like a dark photon to quarks and leptons. It is however a compound state and is thought likely to possess additional compound couplings to hadrons. By adjusting the mixing parameter and the X's compound coupling to nucleons, the FSM can reproduce the production rate of the X in beryllium decay as well as satisfy all the bounds on X listed so far in the literature. The above two results are consistent in that the U, being 0(+), does not contribute to the Atomki anomaly if parity and angular momentum are conserved, while X, though contributing to g – 2 and Lamb shift, has smaller couplings than U and can, at first instance, be neglected there. Thus, despite the tentative nature of the three anomalies in experiment on the one hand and of the FSM as theory on the other, the accommodation of the former in the latter has strengthened the credibility of both. Indeed, if this FSM interpretation were correct, it would change the whole aspect of the anomalies from just curiosities to windows into a vast hitherto hidden sector comprising at least in part the dark matter which makes up the bulk of our universe.

Abstract: An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) was moored at the deep-sea site of the ANTARES neutrino telescope near Toulon, France, thus providing a unique opportunity to compare high-resolution acoustic and optical observations between 70 and 170 m above the sea bed at 2475 m. The ADCP measured downward vertical currents of magnitudes up to 0.03 m s(-1) in late winter and early spring 2006. In the same period, observations were made of enhanced levels of acoustic reflection, interpreted as suspended particles including zooplankton, by a factor of about 10 and of horizontal currents reaching 0.35 m s(-1). These observations coincided with high light levels detected by the telescope, interpreted as increased bioluminescence. During winter 2006 deep dense-water formation occurred in the Ligurian subbasin, thus providing a possible explanation for these observations. However, the 10-20 days quasi-periodic episodes of high levels of acoustic reflection, light and large vertical currents continuing into the summer are not direct evidence of this process. It is hypothesized that the main process allowing for suspended material to be moved vertically later in the year is local advection, linked with topographic boundary current instabilities along the rim of the 'Northern Current'.