Quench in the 1D Bose-Hubbard model : topological defects and excitations from the Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition dynamics

Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) uses critical scaling to predict density of topological defects and other excitations created in second order phase transitions. We point out that simply inserting asymptotic critical exponents deduced from the immediate vicinity of the critical point to obtain predictions can lead to results that are inconsistent with a more careful KZM analysis based on causality – on the comparison of the relaxation time of the order parameter with the “time distance” from the critical point. As a result, scaling of quench-generated excitations with quench rates can exhibit behavior that is locally (i.e., in the neighborhood of any given quench rate) well approximated by the power law, but with exponents that depend on that rate, and that are quite different from the naive prediction based on the critical exponents relevant for asymptotically long quench times. Kosterlitz-Thouless scaling (that governs e.g. Mott insulator to superfluid transition in the Bose-Hubbard model in one dimension) is investigated as an example of this phenomenon

Between Protestant Individual and Social Ethics. On the New Biography of Jerzy Pilch

This article shows an influence of Martin Luther’s understanding of ethics on the ideas concerning these matters presented by Jerzy Pilch — a contemporary Polish writer. Ethical questions and the reflections connected with them are one of the main subjects of his considerations in Dzienniki [Diaries] (2012, 2014). In his approach towards ethical problems you can see on the one hand an individual attitude, which was called by Luther “freedom from” or practical life for God, and on the other hand — a sociable attitude or “freedom to” displayed in a disposition of living for others. Everything that is concerned with morality in Pilch’s diaries, their author comments carrying out a dialogue with Lutheran tradition and provoking its adherents of Lutheranism. These, mainly ironical statements, should nonetheless be treated as the testimony of his inner struggle with the Protestant tradition and the resulting vision of the world. Katarzyna Kubisiowska, in her monograph dedicated to Pilch, puts the reader gently to this track. However, to arrive at the core of envoi of the author of Diaries, it is necessary to employ the work of a scholar, who would be able to combine three skills in his research: literary, theological and ethical

Na manowcach humanistyki, czyli lektury w świetle krytyki i dydaktyki (O książce Doświadczenie lektury. Między krytyką literacką a dydaktyką literatury pod redakcją Krzysztofa Biedrzyckiego i Anny Janus-Sitarz)

On the peripheries of the humanities, or, reading in the context of literary criticism and teaching of literatureThe volume Doświadczenie lektury. Między krytyką literacką a dydaktyką literatury (The Experience of Reading. Between Literary Criticism and Teaching of Literature) edited by Anna Janus-Sitarz and Krzysztof Biedrzycki is an important book devoted to the question of reading as practiced by scholars, critics and teachers. The monograph contains views of historians of literature such as, for example, Anna Burzyńska, whose article opens the book, and others like Piotr Śliwiński, Wojciech Ligęza and Krzysztof Biedrzycki. Other essays focus on school as a place where books are read in an improper way. Zofi a Budrewicz, Anna Janus-Sitarz, Witold Bobiński, Leszek Jazownik, Jerzy Kaniewski write about the present situation of teenagers in the Polish system of education and their attitude to reading. Some texts are connected with two titular notions: ‘reading’ and ‘experience’. Their authors are: Barbara Myrdzik, Małgorzata Latoch-Zielińska, Anna Włodarczyk, Elżbieta Piątek, Anna Pilch, Krystyna Koziołek, Marta Rusek. The collection also contains articles presenting the issue of teaching (by Ewelina Strawa, Karolina Kwak, and Kordian Bakuła). The last part of the book is composed of essays interpreting the works of Czesław Miłosz (by Grażyna Tomaszewska), Gustave Flaubert (by Magdalena Marzec), Michał Witkowski and Dorota Masłowska (by Dorota Kozicka), Eugeniusz  Tkaczyszyn-Dycki (by Jarosław Fazan). The Experience of Reading. Between Literary Criticism and Teaching of Literature is a very modern and interesting project. It shows that the borders of these two disciplines are not far from each other

חורבנות Jewish Calamities in the Poetry of Aleksander Wat

In Judaism, calamity [Hebr. חורבן churban, plural. חורבנות churbanot] is a cultural category that is not necessarily characterized as negative. It is viewed as a form of purification, which begins a crisis that finally leads to a religious and moral recovery. Three most important churbanot are usually recognized in the history of Israel: the destruction of Salomon’s Temple by Nebuchadnezzar (586 B.C.) followed by the Babylonian captivity, the destruction of Herod’s Temple by Titus (70 A.D.) with the subsequent dispersion of Israelites (Hebr. גלות [‘galut’]) and the Holocaust (1939–1945 A.D.), a planned and methodical extermination of European Jews. All these experiences of Jewish disaster strongly resonated with the work of Aleksander Wat (1900–1967), a Polish poet with Jewish roots. Two of his poems are analyzed here. The first one (consisting of two parts), entitled Na melodie hebrajskie [‘To Hebrew Tunes’] (from the volume Wiersze [‘Poems’], 1957), explicitly mentions two churbanot: the Babylonian captivity and the diaspora of 70 A.D. The other poem is the third part of Pieśni wędrowca [‘The Songs of a Wanderer’] (from the volume Wiersze środziemnomorskie [‘Mediterranean Poems’], 1962). It allusively mentions the Holocaust as the greatest Jewish disaster. In each case, the churban helps to identify the heart of Jewish identity. Because the Shoah cannot be said to have any positive consequences, Wat treats it in mystagogical terms, i.e., as a mystery

Double universality of a quantum phase transition in spinor condensates: the Kibble-\.Zurek mechanism and a conservation law

We consider a phase transition from antiferromagnetic to phase separated ground state in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate of ultracold atoms. We demonstrate the occurrence of two scaling laws, for the number of spin fluctuations just after the phase transition, and for the number of spin domains in the final, stable configuration. Only the first scaling can be explained by the standard Kibble-\.Zurek mechanism. We explain the occurrence of two scaling laws by a model including post-selection of spin domains due to the conservation of condensate magnetization

Praca z tekstem kultury - literackim i nieliterackim na lekcjach jezyka polskiego w świetle nowej reformy programowej

Materiał ten powstał w ramach projektu „Wdrożenie reformy programowej wychowania przedszkolnego i kształcenia ogólnego w poszczególnych typach szkół. Przeszkolenie wojewódzkich ekspertów przedmiotowych." Prezentuje on tematykę związaną z wdrożeniem treści nowej podstawy programowej

Polonistyczny proces dydaktyczny w świetle nowej podstawy programowej

Materiał ten powstał w ramach projektu „Wdrożenie reformy programowej wychowania przedszkolnego i kształcenia ogólnego w poszczególnych typach szkół. Przeszkolenie wojewódzkich ekspertów przedmiotowych." Prezentuje on tematykę związaną z wdrożeniem treści nowej podstawy programowej

Nitrate in groundwater of the Jurassic aquifer in Olkusz region (southern Poland)

Jurassic aquifer represents the Major Groundwater Basin (MGWB) 326 which is located in Upper Jurassic carbonate rocks. The hydrodynamic conditions in the Jurassic aquifer are very complex, with different types of hydraulic connections with neighbouring aquifers. Therefore the quality of the Jurassic aquifer has affected groundwater quality in Quaternary and Triassic rocks. Nitrates have been the main indicator of groundwater contamination. The regime of springs located in the study area (high fluctuation of discharge and temperature) indicates local drainage. The quality of spring-water has reflected the land use of spring recharge area. The chemistry of deep well-water has shown the quality variation of regional flow system water. Nitrate variability in spring-water (period 2001-2008) and in well-water (1995-2007) has indicated the regional trends of groundwater quality changes in the Jurassic aquifer near Olkusz

Multiproxy study of anthropogenic and climatic changes in the last two millennia from a small mire in central Poland

The Żabieniec kettle hole is the first peatland in central Poland analyzed quantitatively with four biotic proxies (plant macrofossils, pollen, testate amoebae and chironomids) to reconstruct the past environmental change. Palaeoecological data were supported by historical and archaeological records. We focused on autogenic vegetation change and human impact in relation to climatic effects. The aims of our study were (a) to describe the development history of the mire during the last 2,000years, (b) to date and reconstruct the anthropogenic land-use changes and (c) to discuss a possible climatic signal in the peat archive. The combination of proxies revealed dramatic shifts that took place in the peatland since the Roman Period. Żabieniec was a very wet telmatic habitat until ca. AD 600. Then, the water table declined, and the site transformed into a Sphagnum-dominated mire. This dry shift took place mainly during the Early Medieval Period. Human impact was gradually increasing, and it was particularly emphasized by deforestation since AD 1250 (beginning of the Late Medieval Period). Consequently, surface run-off and aeolian transport from the exposed soils caused the eutrophication of the mire. Furthermore, chironomids and testate amoebae reveal the beginning of a wet shift ca. AD 1350. Openness considerably increased in the Late Medieval and the Modern Periods. The highest water table during the last 1,000years was recorded between AD 1500 and 1800. This wet event is connected with deforestation, but it could be also associated with the Little Ice Age. Our study shows plant succession in the Żabieniec peatland, which can be explained with the recent landscape transformation. However, such changes are also possibly linked with the major climatic episodes during the last two millennia, such as the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Ag

O nowej formule egzaminu maturalnego z języka polskiego

Artykuł z numeru 3/2013 internetowego czasopisma edukacyjnego ORE "Trendy