372,805 research outputs found
A rigourous demonstration of the validity of Boltzmann's scenario for the spatial homogenization of a freely expanding gas and the equilibration of the Kac ring
Boltzmann provided a scenario to explain why individual macroscopic systems
composed of a large number of microscopic constituents are inevitably
(i.e., with overwhelming probability) observed to approach a unique macroscopic
state of thermodynamic equilibrium, and why after having done so, they are then
observed to remain in that state, apparently forever. We provide here rigourous
new results that mathematically prove the basic features of Boltzmann's
scenario for two classical models: a simple boundary-free model for the spatial
homogenization of a non-interacting gas of point particles, and the well-known
Kac ring model. Our results, based on concentration inequalities that go back
to Hoeffding, and which focus on the typical behavior of individual macroscopic
systems, improve upon previous results by providing estimates, exponential in
, of probabilities and time scales involved
The dS/dS Correspondence
We present a holographic duality for the de Sitter static patch which
consolidates basic features of its geometry and the behavior of gravity and
brane probes, valid on timescales short compared to the decay or Poincare
recurrence times. Namely de Sitter spacetime in dimensions with
curvature radius is holographically dual to two conformal field theories on
, cut off at an energy scale 1/R where they couple to each other
and to dimensional gravity. As part of our analysis, we study brane
probes in de Sitter and thermal Anti de Sitter spaces, and interpret the terms
in the corresponding DBI action via strongly coupled thermal field theory. This
provides a dual field theoretic interpretation of the fact that probes take
forever to reach a horizon in general relativity.Comment: 29 pages, harvmac big; 3 figures; v2: references added, minor typo
fixe
Visions of a Martian Future
As we look beyond our terrestrial boundary to a multi-planetary future for humankind, it becomes
paramount to anticipate the challenges of various human factors on the most likely scenario
for this future: permanent human settlement of Mars. Even if technical hurdles are circumvented
to provide adequate resources for basic physiological and psychological needs, Homo
sapiens will not survive on an alien planet if a dysfunctional psyche prohibits the utilization of
these resources. No matter how far we soar into the stars, our psychologies for future generations
will be forever tethered to the totality of our surroundings. By shaping our environment toward
survival and welfare during the voyage to Mars and in a Martian colony, we indirectly shape our
psyches and prepare them for a mission of unprecedented alienation and duration. Once on Mars,
human factors such as leadership structure, social organization and code of conduct, group size,
gender balance, developmental cycle, mobility, length of stay and the ecological settings and type
and manner of subsistence, will create a novel Martian culture. The degree that settlers are
severed from the Earth will affect how radically foreign this culture will be when compared with
cultures on Earth
Healing Waters
When Ryan Jones graduated from Gardner-Webb University in May of last year, he made plans to tour the country with a friend before starting life in the ‘real world.’ He never imagined that a car accident would change his plans and perspective forever. A year later, he is fully recovered, but is now motivated to make life better for those without access to the basic necessity of clean water.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/gardner-webb-newscenter-archive/2786/thumbnail.jp
Termination Criteria for Solving Concurrent Safety and Reachability Games
We consider concurrent games played on graphs. At every round of a game, each
player simultaneously and independently selects a move; the moves jointly
determine the transition to a successor state. Two basic objectives are the
safety objective to stay forever in a given set of states, and its dual, the
reachability objective to reach a given set of states. We present in this paper
a strategy improvement algorithm for computing the value of a concurrent safety
game, that is, the maximal probability with which player~1 can enforce the
safety objective. The algorithm yields a sequence of player-1 strategies which
ensure probabilities of winning that converge monotonically to the value of the
safety game.
Our result is significant because the strategy improvement algorithm
provides, for the first time, a way to approximate the value of a concurrent
safety game from below. Since a value iteration algorithm, or a strategy
improvement algorithm for reachability games, can be used to approximate the
same value from above, the combination of both algorithms yields a method for
computing a converging sequence of upper and lower bounds for the values of
concurrent reachability and safety games. Previous methods could approximate
the values of these games only from one direction, and as no rates of
convergence are known, they did not provide a practical way to solve these
games
Care Work in Massachusetts: A Call for Racial and Economic Justice for a Neglected Sector
Care work has forever been critical to the health and basic functioning of our society. With the steady aging of our population, care jobs are also among the fastest growing in our economy. These jobs are staffed predominantly by immigrant women and women of color, so despite their societal importance, racial prejudice and gender discrimination have led to a systematic devaluation of this sort of labor. In this paper, Boston Indicators and SkillWorks provide a demographic profile of care workers in Massachusetts and pairs that with a job quality analysis for a few key subsectors
Resurrecting Keynes to Revamp the International Monetary System
There is a broad consensus that the current, large U.S. current-account deficits financed with foreign capital inflows at low interest rates cannot continue forever; there is much less consensus on when the system is likely to end and how badly it will end. The paper resurrects the basic principles of the plan Keynes wrote for the Bretton Woods Conference to propose an alternative to the current international monetary system. We argue for the creation of a supranational bank money that would coexist along side national currencies and for the establishment of a new international clearing union. The new international money would be created against domestic earning assets of the Fed and the ECB. In addition to recording credit and debit entries of the supranational bank money, the new agency would determine the size of quotas, the size and time length of overdrafts, and the coordination of monetary policies. The substitution of supranational bank money for dollars would harden the external constraint of the United States and resolve the n-1 redundancy problem.Keynes Plan, external imbalances, exchange rates, international monetary system, key currency, supranational bank money
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