20,003 research outputs found
A Rigorous Derivation of Electromagnetic Self-force
During the past century, there has been considerable discussion and analysis
of the motion of a point charge, taking into account "self-force" effects due
to the particle's own electromagnetic field. We analyze the issue of "particle
motion" in classical electromagnetism in a rigorous and systematic way by
considering a one-parameter family of solutions to the coupled Maxwell and
matter equations corresponding to having a body whose charge-current density
and stress-energy tensor scale to zero size
in an asymptotically self-similar manner about a worldline as . In this limit, the charge, , and total mass, , of the body go to
zero, and goes to a well defined limit. The Maxwell field
is assumed to be the retarded solution associated with
plus a homogeneous solution (the "external field") that varies
smoothly with . We prove that the worldline must be a
solution to the Lorentz force equations of motion in the external field
. We then obtain self-force, dipole forces, and spin force
as first order perturbative corrections to the center of mass motion of the
body. We believe that this is the first rigorous derivation of the complete
first order correction to Lorentz force motion. We also address the issue of
obtaining a self-consistent perturbative equation of motion associated with our
perturbative result, and argue that the self-force equations of motion that
have previously been written down in conjunction with the "reduction of order"
procedure should provide accurate equations of motion for a sufficiently small
charged body with negligible dipole moments and spin. There is no corresponding
justification for the non-reduced-order equations.Comment: 52 pages, minor correction
The Pierre Auger Observatory: Results on Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays
The focus of this article is on recent results on ultra-high energy cosmic
rays obtained with the Pierre Auger Observatory. The world's largest instrument
of this type and its performance are described. The observations presented here
include the energy spectrum, the primary particle composition, limits on the
fluxes of photons and neutrinos and a discussion of the anisotropic
distribution of the arrival directions of the most energetic particles.
Finally, plans for the construction of a Northern Auger Observatory in
Colorado, USA, are discussed.Comment: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Advances in Cosmic Ray
Science, Waseda University, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, March 2008; to be
published in the Journal of the Physical Society of Japan (JPSJ) supplemen
An Index Theorem for Domain Walls in Supersymmetric Gauge Theories
The supersymmetric abelian Higgs model with N scalar fields admits multiple
domain wall solutions. We perform a Callias-type index calculation to determine
the number of zero modes of this soliton. We confirm that the most general
domain wall has 2(N-1) zero modes, which can be interpreted as the positions
and phases of (N-1) constituent domain walls. This implies the existence of
moduli for a D-string interpolating between N D5-branes in IIB string theory.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX4; v2: reference adde
Moderate temperature rechargeable sodium batteries
Cells utilizing the organic electrolyte, NaI in triglyme, operated at approx. 130 C with Na(+) - intercalating cathodes. However, their rate and stability were inadequate. NaAlCl4 was found to be a highly useful electrolyte for cell operation at 165-190 C. Na(+) intercalating chalcogenides reacted with NaAlCl4 during cycling to form stable phases. Thus, VS2 became essentially VS2Cl, with reversible capacity of approx 2.8 e(-)/V, and a mid-discharge voltage of approx 2.5V and 100 deep discharge cycles were readily achieved. A positive electrode consisting of VCl3 and S plus NaAlCl4 was subjected to deep-discharge cycles 300 times and it demonstrated identity with the in-situ-formed BSxCly cathode. NiS2 and NiS which are not Na(+)-intercalating structures formed highly reversible electrodes in NaAlCl4. The indicated discharge mechanism implies a theoretical capacity 4e(-)/Ni for NiS2 and 2e(-)/Ni for NiS. The mid-discharge potentials are, respectively, 2.4V and 2.1V. A Na/NiS2 cell cycling at a C/5 rate has exceeded 500 deep discharge cycles with 2.5e(-)/Ni average utilization. A 4 A-hr nominal capacity prototype Na/NiS2 cell was tested at 190 C. It was voluntarily terminated after 80 cycles. Further development, particularly of cathode structure and hardware should produce a battery capable of at least 50-W-hr/lb and more than 1000 cycles
Influence of Small Scale Businesses on Decision Making Capacity of Rural Women in Ethiopia: - The Case of Edget Bandinet Saving and Credit Cooperative in Muketuri
Ethiopia‘s poor have suffered from the global economic crisis, as the price of goods consumed increase. Rural women and girls bear the greatest burdens of this situation, since they have a role in livestock maintenance and management, crop production and marketing of agricultural produce (EMFA, 2010). Ethiopian women suffer from low literacy levels and poor access to public services, and most of them derive their income from small scale production. Lacks of investment make it difficult for women to earn a living from agriculture. Financially independence of women‘s doesn‘t always lead in decision making on issues related income utilization and choices of life. This research aimed to assess the influence of small scale business on women‘s decision making capacity. For the assessment the case of a credit and saving association in Muketure was taken. Using simple random sampling method 52 members were selected. 10 non-members were included as check. The tools of data collection were interview and questionnaires. Employment opportunities were extremely limited due to gender-based factors. As a result of tradition and a stereotyped gender division of labour between men and women, women and girls were placed in a subordinate position. The lack of access to and control over resources has forced females to bear the burden of poverty, be dependent on men and powerless to make decisions on family‘s incomes. Women were subjected to various types of gender based violence. The study showed that the flow of capital in women‘s hands has improved their decision making capacity on issues related with the family and community. Women were able to generate income from their business, buy materials for the family, and meet and bargain with people without the consent of their husbands. However, women‘s decision making capacity has depended on the family background. The study found out that small scale business has pragmatic and significant impact in improving women‘s decision making capacity within the family as well as in the community. Key words: small scale business; decision making capacity; saving and credit and povert
Casimir interactions in Ising strips with boundary fields: exact results
An exact statistical mechanical derivation is given of the critical Casimir
forces for Ising strips with arbitrary surface fields applied to edges. Our
results show that the strength as well as the sign of the force can be
controled by varying the temperature or the fields. An interpretation of the
results is given in terms of a linked cluster expansion. This suggests a
systematic approach for deriving the critical Casimir force which can be used
in more general models.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
New two-sided bound on the isotropic Lorentz-violating parameter of modified Maxwell theory
There is a unique Lorentz-violating modification of the Maxwell theory of
photons, which maintains gauge invariance, CPT, and renormalizability.
Restricting the modified-Maxwell theory to the isotropic sector and adding a
standard spin-one-half Dirac particle p^\pm with minimal coupling to the
nonstandard photon \widetilde{\gamma}, the resulting
modified-quantum-electrodynamics model involves a single dimensionless
"deformation parameter," \widetilde{\kappa}_{tr}. The exact tree-level decay
rates for two processes have been calculated: vacuum Cherenkov radiation p^\pm
\to p^\pm \widetilde{\gamma} for the case of positive \widetilde{\kappa}_{tr}
and photon decay \widetilde{\gamma} \to p^+ p^- for the case of negative
\widetilde{\kappa}_{tr}. From the inferred absence of these decays for a
particular high-quality ultrahigh-energy-cosmic-ray event detected at the
Pierre Auger Observatory and an excess of TeV gamma-ray events observed by the
High Energy Stereoscopic System telescopes, a two-sided bound on
\widetilde{\kappa}_{tr} is obtained, which improves by eight orders of
magnitude upon the best direct laboratory bound. The implications of this
result are briefly discussed.Comment: 18 pages, v5: published version in preprint styl
Polarizations and differential calculus in affine spaces
Within the framework of mappings between affine spaces, the notion of -th
polarization of a function will lead to an intrinsic characterization of
polynomial functions. We prove that the characteristic features of derivations,
such as linearity, iterability, Leibniz and chain rules, are shared -- at the
finite level -- by the polarization operators. We give these results by means
of explicit general formulae, which are valid at any order , and are based
on combinatorial identities. The infinitesimal limits of the -th
polarizations of a function will yield its -th derivatives (without
resorting to the usual recursive definition), and the above mentioned
properties will be recovered directly in the limit. Polynomial functions will
allow us to produce a coordinate free version of Taylor's formula
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