2,799 research outputs found
Moduli Spaces of Curves with Homology Chains and c=1 Matrix Models
We show that introducing a periodic time coordinate in the models of
Penner-Kontsevich type generalizes the corresponding constructions to the case
of the moduli space of curves with homology chains
\gamma\in H_1(C,\zet_k). We make a minimal extension of the resulting models
by adding a kinetic term, and we get a new matrix model which realizes a simple
dynamics of \zet_k-chains on surfaces. This gives a representation of
matter coupled to two-dimensional quantum gravity with the target space being a
circle of finite radius, as studied by Gross and Klebanov.Comment: IFUM 459/FT (LaTeX, 9 pages; a few misprints have been corrected and
the introduction has been slightly modified
Topological Entropy of Braids on the Torus
A fast method is presented for computing the topological entropy of braids on
the torus. This work is motivated by the need to analyze large braids when
studying two-dimensional flows via the braiding of a large number of particle
trajectories. Our approach is a generalization of Moussafir's technique for
braids on the sphere. Previous methods for computing topological entropies
include the Bestvina--Handel train-track algorithm and matrix representations
of the braid group. However, the Bestvina--Handel algorithm quickly becomes
computationally intractable for large braid words, and matrix methods give only
lower bounds, which are often poor for large braids. Our method is
computationally fast and appears to give exponential convergence towards the
exact entropy. As an illustration we apply our approach to the braiding of both
periodic and aperiodic trajectories in the sine flow. The efficiency of the
method allows us to explore how much extra information about flow entropy is
encoded in the braid as the number of trajectories becomes large.Comment: 19 pages, 44 figures. SIAM journal styl
Comments on Supersymmetric Vector and Matrix Models
Some results in random matrices are generalized to supermatrices, in
particular supermatrix integration is reduced to an integration over the
eigenvalues and the resulting volume element is shown to be equivalent to a one
dimensional Coulomb gas of both positive and negative charges.It is shown
that,for polynomial potentials, after removing the instability due to the
annihilation of opposite charges, supermatrix models are indistinguishable from
ordinary matrix models, in agreement with a recent result by Alvarez-Gaume and
Manes. It is pointed out however that this may not be true for more general
potentials such as for instance the supersymmetric generalization of the Penner
model.Comment: 6 page
Sex Determination and the Human Person
Abstract: For many species that reproduce sexually, how sex is expressed at different points across lifespan is highly contingent and dependent on various environmental factors. For example, in many species of fish, environmental cues can trigger a natural process of sex transition where a female transitions to male. For many species of turtle, incubation temperature influences the likelihood that turtle eggs will hatch males or females. What is the case for Homo sapiens? Is human sex expression influenced by contingent environmental factors like we see in fish and turtles, with whom we share common ancestry and DNA? Our paper explores the current biological science of sex determination and how it applies to philosophical and theological accounts of the human person. We argue that while human sex determination is not susceptible to environmental cues to the same degree we see in other species, there is sufficient variability among the pathways of human sex development to complicate simplistic biological categories of male and female
Is Europe Evolving Toward an Integrated Research Area?
Efforts toward European research and development (R&D) integration have a long history, intensifying with the Fifth Framework Programme (FP) in 1998 (1â3) and the launch of the European Research Area (ERA) initiative at the Lisbon European Council in 2000. A key component of the European Union (EU) strategy for innovation and growth (4, 5), the ERA aims to overcome national borders through directed funding, increased mobility, and streamlined innovation policies
Two Year Summary of the Performance of Finishing Pigs in Hoop Structures and Confinement During Winter and Summer
Finishing pigs were fed for two years in bedded hoop structures and a confinement building with slotted floors in central Iowa. When summer and winter feeding periods for two years were combined, the trials showed that the finishing pigs in hoops ate more feed, grew faster, and required more feed per unit of liveweight gain than confinement pigs. The mortality rate was similar and percentage of culls was higher for hoops compared with confinement. Also, the hoop pigs were fatter with smaller loin muscle area and a lower percentage of carcass lean and carcass yield compared with confinement pigs. The efficiency of lean gain was also poorer for the hoop pigs.
Because the hoops are cold structures, there were seasonal effects. The hoop pigs ate more feed, particularly in the winter, grew faster in the summer, and were less efficient particularly in the winter than the confinement pigs. The hoop pigs were fatter in the summer only and less efficient in converting feed to lean in the winter only. Also the hoop pigs had a greater incidence of roundworm infestations particularly in the later trials, in spite of a thorough deworming regimen.
Therefore, hoop pigs may need to be fed diets somewhat differently than the diets fed to confinement pigs to optimize lean growth, and the control of internal parasites in hoop pigs may need to be more aggressive than in confinement. Bedding use was approximately 220 lb per pig on a year round basis. Approximately 204 lb of bedding was used in summer and approximately 236 lb of bedding was used in winter
Loop operators and S-duality from curves on Riemann surfaces
We study Wilson-'t Hooft loop operators in a class of N=2 superconformal
field theories recently introduced by Gaiotto. In the case that the gauge group
is a product of SU(2) groups, we classify all possible loop operators in terms
of their electric and magnetic charges subject to the Dirac quantization
condition. We then show that this precisely matches Dehn's classification of
homotopy classes of non-self-intersecting curves on an associated Riemann
surface--the same surface which characterizes the gauge theory. Our analysis
provides an explicit prediction for the action of S-duality on loop operators
in these theories which we check against the known duality transformation in
several examples.Comment: 41 page
Eyes wide shut? UK consumer perceptions on aviation climate impacts and travel decisions to New Zealand
The purview of climate change concern has implicated air travel, as evidenced in a growing body of academic literature concerned with aviation CO2 emissions. This article assesses the relevance of climate change to long haul air travel decisions to New Zealand for United Kingdom consumers. Based on 15 semi-structured open-ended interviews conducted in Bournemouth, UK during June 2009, it was found that participants were unlikely to forgo potential travel decisions to New Zealand because of concern over air travel emissions. Underpinning the intervieweesâ understandings and responses to air travelâs climate impact was a spectrum of awareness and attitudes to air travel and climate change. This spectrum ranged from individuals who were unaware of air travelâs climate impact to those who were beginning to consume air travel with a âcarbon conscienceâ. Within this spectrum were some who were aware of the impact but not willing to change their travel behaviours at all. Rather than implicating long haul air travel, the empirical evidence instead exemplifies changing perceptions towards frequent short haul air travel and voices calls for both government and media in the UK to deliver more concrete messages on air travelâs climate impact
A super-analogue of Kontsevich's theorem on graph homology
In this paper we will prove a super-analogue of a well-known result by
Kontsevich which states that the homology of a certain complex which is
generated by isomorphism classes of oriented graphs can be calculated as the
Lie algebra homology of an infinite-dimensional Lie algebra of symplectic
vector fields.Comment: 15 page
The modular geometry of Random Regge Triangulations
We show that the introduction of triangulations with variable connectivity
and fluctuating egde-lengths (Random Regge Triangulations) allows for a
relatively simple and direct analyisis of the modular properties of 2
dimensional simplicial quantum gravity. In particular, we discuss in detail an
explicit bijection between the space of possible random Regge triangulations
(of given genus g and with N vertices) and a suitable decorated version of the
(compactified) moduli space of genus g Riemann surfaces with N punctures. Such
an analysis allows us to associate a Weil-Petersson metric with the set of
random Regge triangulations and prove that the corresponding volume provides
the dynamical triangulation partition function for pure gravity.Comment: 36 pages corrected typos, enhanced introductio
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