18,870 research outputs found
Training the imagination to go visiting
Jon Nixon’s article, ‘Learning the Language of Deliberative Democracy’ explored languages of hope in relation to the discourses of deliberative democracy. Ours continues this theme of finding languages of hope. Like his article, ours makes people central. It explores a neglected area of epistemology: knowing people. It suggests that we take a critical perspective on the metaphors we live and then re-configure them to think again about the public and private spaces in the universities where we work
The cluster environments of radio loud quasars
We have carried out multi-colour imaging of the fields of a statistically
complete sample of low-frequency selected radio loud quasars at 0.6<z<1.1, in
order to determine the characteristics of their environments. The largest radio
sources are located in the field, and smaller steep-spectrum sources are more
likely to be found in richer environments, from compact groups through to
clusters. This radio-based selection (including source size) of high redshift
groups and clusters is a highly efficient method of detecting rich environments
at these redshifts. Although our single filter clustering measures agree with
those of other workers, we show that these statistics cannot be used reliably
on fields individually, colour information is required for this.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, contribution to "Tracing Cosmic Evolution with
Galaxy Clusters" (Sesto 2001), ASP Conference Serie
The race for supersymmetry: using mT2 for discovery
We describe how one may employ a very simple event selection, using only the
kinematic variable mT2, to search for new particles at the LHC. The method is
useful when searching for evidence of models (such as R-parity conserving
supersymmetry) which have a Z2 parity and a weakly-interacting lightest
parity-odd particle. We discuss the kinematic properties which make this
variable an excellent discriminant against the great majority of Standard Model
backgrounds. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that this approach could be used
to discover supersymmetry with somewhat smaller integrated luminosities (or
perhaps lower center-of-mass energies) than would be required for other
comparable analyses.Comment: 8 page
Natural Gauge Hierarchy in SO(10)
It is shown that a natural gauge hierarchy and doublet-triplet splitting can
be achieved in SO(10) using the Dimopoulos-Wilczek mechanism. Artificial
cancellations (fine-tuning) and arbitrary forms of the superpotential are
avoided, the superpotential being the most general compatible with a symmetry.
It is shown by example that the Dimopoulos-Wilczek mechanism can be protected
against the effects of higher-dimension operators possibly induced by
Planck-scale physics. Natural implementation of the mechanism leads to an
automatic Peccei-Quinn symmetry. The same local symmetries that would protect
the gauge hierarchy against Planck-scale effects tend to protect the axion
also. It is shown how realistic quark and lepton masses might arise in this
framework. It is also argued that ``weak suppression'' of proton decay can be
implemented more economically than can ``strong suppression'', offering some
grounds to hope (in the context of SO(10)) that proton decay could be seen at
Superkamiokande.Comment: 26 pages in plain LaTeX, 5 figures available on request, BA-94-0
Tunable-filter imaging of quasar fields at z ~ 1. II. The star-forming galaxy environments of radio-loud quasars
We have scanned the fields of six radio-loud quasars using the Taurus Tunable
Filter to detect redshifted [OII] 3727 line-emitting galaxies at redshifts 0.8
< z < 1.3. Forty-seven new emission-line galaxy (ELG) candidates are found.
This number corresponds to an average space density about 100 times that found
locally and, at L([OII]) < 10^{42} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2}, is 2 - 5 times greater
than the field ELG density at similar redshifts, implying that radio-loud
quasars inhabit sites of above-average star formation activity. The implied
star-formation rates are consistent with surveys of field galaxies at z ~ 1.
However, the variation in candidate density between fields is large and
indicative of a range of environments, from the field to rich clusters. The ELG
candidates also cluster -- both spatially and in terms of velocity -- about the
radio sources. In fields known to contain rich galaxy clusters, the ELGs lie at
the edges and outside the concentrated cores of red, evolved galaxies,
consistent with the morphology-density relation seen in low-redshift clusters.
This work, combined with other studies, suggests that the ELG environments of
powerful AGN look very much the same from moderate to high redshifts, i.e. 0.8
< z < 4.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures, uses emulateapj.cls. Accepted for publication
in A
Raman gain against a background of non-thermal ion fluctuations in a plasma
A complex stimulated Raman scattering event against a background of non-thermal ion acoustic waves in an inhomogeneous plasma is described. We obtain analytic forms for the Raman gain due to a five-wave interaction consisting of conventional three-wave Raman scattering followed by the decay of the Raman Langmuir wave into a second Langmuir wave (or a second scattered light wave) and an ion acoustic wave. Very modest levels of ion waves produce a. significant effect on Raman convective gain. A combination of plasma inhomogeneity and suprathermal ion fluctuations may offer a means for the control of Raman gain
The anthropic principle and the mass scale of the Standard Model
In theories in which different regions of the universe can have different
values of the the physical parameters, we would naturally find ourselves in a
region which has parameters favorable for life. We explore the range of
anthropically allowed values of the mass parameter in the Higgs potential,
. For , the requirement that complex elements be formed
suggests that the Higgs vacuum expectation value must have a magnitude less
than 5 times its observed value. For , baryon stability requires that
, the Planck Mass. Smaller values of may or may not be
allowed depending on issues of element synthesis and stellar evolution. We
conclude that the observed value of is reasonably typical of the
anthropically allowed range, and that anthropic arguments provide a plausible
explanation for the closeness of the QCD scale and the weak scale.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX. No changes from version originally submitted to
archive, except that problem with figure file has been correcte
Simulating Impacts of Extreme Weather Events on Urban Transport Infrastructure in the UK
Urban areas face many risks from future climate change and their infrastructure will be placed under more pressure
due to changes in climate extremes. Using the Tyndall Centre Urban Integrated Assessment Framework, this paper
describes a methodology used to assess the impacts of future climate extremes on transport infrastructure in
London. Utilising high-resolution projections for future climate in the UK, alongside stochastic weather generators
for downscaling, urban temperature and flooding models are used to provide information on the likelihood of future
extremes. These are then coupled with spatial network models of urban transport infrastructure and, using thresholds
to define the point at which systems cease to function normally, disruption to the networks can be simulated.
Results are shown for both extreme heat and urban surface water flooding events and the impacts on the travelling
population, in terms of both disruption time and monetary cost
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