Momentum operators in quantum mechanics

Momentum operators in quantum mechanic

A problem on summation over histories in quantum mechanics

Transition amplitude corresponding to Dirac particle evaluated as sum over histories - quantum mechanic

Path-integrals in dynamics

Path integrals in dynamics - quantum mechanics and classical wave motion in one dimensio

Brands, markets and charitable ethics: MTVs EXIT campaign

This case study of MTV’s EXIT campaign to raise awareness about the trafficking of women highlights the difficulties faced by charitable organisations when using audience research to evaluate the effectiveness of their media campaigns. If they were to follow the advice to connect with audiences whose ethical and political commitments have been shaped within a media saturated, capitalist culture, they risk reinforcing the positioning of women’s bodies as consumable products in a pleasure-oriented service economy and further normalisation of the practices the campaigners are seeking to prevent. To be effective in the longer term charities require an ethical approach to media campaigns that recognises their political dimension and the shift in values required. The short term emotional impact on audiences needs to be weighed against these larger ethical and political considerations to avoid the resulting films becoming too individualistic and parochial, a mirror image of their audience’s ‘unreconstructed’ selves

Windows Into Public Attitudes Towards Redistribution

redistribution, income taxation, public opinion

Full counting statistics of weak measurement

A weak measurement consists in coupling a system to a probe in such a way that constructive interference generates a large output. So far, only the average output of the probe and its variance were studied. Here, the characteristic function for the moments of the output is provided. The outputs considered are not limited to the eigenstates of the pointer or of its conjugate variable, so that the results apply to any observable \Hat{o} of the probe. Furthermore, a family of well behaved complex quantities, the normal weak values, is introduced, in terms of which the statistics of the weak measurement can be described. It is shown that, within a good approximation, the whole statistics of weak measurement is described by a complex parameter, the weak value, and a real one.Comment: Expanded version: 9 pages, 3 Figs. Now the validity of the expansion for the moments is analysed. Introduced a one-parameter family of weak values, useful to express the correct characteristic function. More figures added. Thanks to Referee C of PRL for asking stimulating question

Celebrity capital in the political field: Russell Brand's migration from stand-up comedy to Newsnight

Our case study of charismatic celebrity comedian Russell Brand’s turn to political activism uses Bourdieu’s field theory to understand the process of celebrity migration across social fields. We investigate how Brand’s capital as a celebrity performer, storyteller and self-publicist translated from comedy to politics. To judge how this worked in practice, we analysed the comedic strategies used in his stand up show Messiah Complex and a Conversational Analysis of his notorious interview with Jeremy Paxman on the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme Newsnight . We argue that Brand was able to secure political legitimacy by creatively constituting himself as an authentic anti-austerity spokesperson for the disenfranchised left in UK. In order to do so he repurposed his celebrity capital to political ends and successfully deployed the cultural and social capital he had developed as a celebrity comedian to secure widespread engagement with his media performances

Sequential measurement of conjugate variables as an alternative quantum state tomography

It is shown how it is possible to reconstruct the initial state of a one-dimensional system by measuring sequentially two conjugate variables. The procedure relies on the quasi-characteristic function, the Fourier-transform of the Wigner quasi-probability. The proper characteristic function obtained by Fourier-transforming the experimentally accessible joint probability of observing "position" then "momentum" (or vice versa) can be expressed as a product of the quasi-characteristic function of the two detectors and that, unknown, of the quantum system. This allows state reconstruction through the sequence: data collection, Fourier-transform, algebraic operation, inverse Fourier-transform. The strength of the measurement should be intermediate for the procedure to work.Comment: v2, 5 pages, no figures, substantial improvements in the presentation, thanks to an anonymous referee. v3, close to published versio

Introduction

This special edition of the osgoode hall law journal presents a collection of articles originally delivered at a symposium in 2013 celebrating John McCamus’s 40 years as a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. The conference might equally have celebrated other milestones in John’s remarkable professional life: forty years—give or take—since his first venture in law reform as a member of a research team; twenty years since his appointment as a member (subsequently Chair) of the Ontario Law Reform Commission; twenty years or so as Chair of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association; twenty years as well since the publication of his monumental work, The Law of Restitution (with the late Peter Maddaugh); ten years since his even more monumental work, The Law of Contracts , appeared; and five years as Chair of Legal Aid Ontario, the logical culmination of his work in the field reaching back to 1996 when he was appointed to head up a review of the province’s legal aid scheme