Personal propulsion unit Patent

Lightweight propulsion unit for movement of personnel and equipment across lunar surfac

An algebraic interpretation of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation

We make a direct connection between the construction of three dimensional topological state sums from tensor categories and three dimensional quantum gravity by noting that the discrete version of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation is exactly the pentagon for the associator of the tensor category, the Biedenharn-Elliott identity. A crucial role is played by an asymptotic formula relating 6j-symbols to rotation matrices given by Edmonds.Comment: 10 pages, amstex, uses epsf.tex. New version has improved presentatio

Perturbative Effective Theory in an Oscillator Basis?

The effective interaction/operator problem in nuclear physics is believed to be highly nonperturbative, requiring extended high-momentum spaces for accurate solution. We trace this to difficulties that arise at both short and long distances when the included space is defined in terms of a basis of harmonic oscillator Slater determinants. We show, in the simplest case of the deuteron, that both difficulties can be circumvented, yielding highly perturbative results in the potential even for modest (~6hw) included spaces.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Building Blocks in the Economics of Mandates

The paper constructs an asymmetric information model to investigate the efficiency and equity cases for government mandated benefits. A mandate can improve workers' insurance, and may also redistribute in favour of more "deserving" workers. The risk is that it may also reduce output. The more diverse are free market contracts – separating the various worker types – the more likely it is that such output effects will on balance serve to reduce welfare. It is shown that adverse effects can be reduced by restricting mandates to larger firms. An alternative to a mandate is direct government provision. We demonstrate that direct government provision has the advantage over mandates of preserving separations.asymmetric information, labour mandates, compensation packages

Area Regge Calculus and Discontinuous Metrics

Taking the triangle areas as independent variables in the theory of Regge calculus can lead to ambiguities in the edge lengths, which can be interpreted as discontinuities in the metric. We construct solutions to area Regge calculus using a triangulated lattice and find that on a spacelike hypersurface no such discontinuity can arise. On a null hypersurface however, we can have such a situation and the resulting metric can be interpreted as a so-called refractive wave.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

The Construction of Sorkin Triangulations

Some time ago, Sorkin (1975) reported investigations of the time evolution and initial value problems in Regge calculus, for one triangulation each of the manifolds $R*S^3$ and $R^4$. Here we display the simple, local characteristic of those triangulations which underlies the structure found by Sorkin, and emphasise its general applicability, and therefore the general validity of Sorkin's conclusions. We also make some elementary observations on the resulting structure of the time evolution and initial value problems in Regge calculus, and add some comments and speculations.Comment: 5 pages (plus one figure not included, available from author on request), Plain Tex, no local preprint number (Only change: omitted "\magnification" command now replaced

6J Symbols Duality Relations

It is known that the Fourier transformation of the square of (6j) symbols has a simple expression in the case of su(2) and U_q(su(2)) when q is a root of unit. The aim of the present work is to unravel the algebraic structure behind these identities. We show that the double crossproduct construction H_1\bowtie H_2 of two Hopf algebras and the bicrossproduct construction H_2^{*}\lrbicross H_1 are the Hopf algebras structures behind these identities by analysing different examples. We study the case where D= H_1\bowtie H_2 is equal to the group algebra of ISU(2), SL(2,C) and where D is a quantum double of a finite group, of SU(2) and of U_q(su(2)) when q is real.Comment: 28 pages, 2 figure

Finiteness and Dual Variables for Lorentzian Spin Foam Models

We describe here some new results concerning the Lorentzian Barrett-Crane model, a well-known spin foam formulation of quantum gravity. Generalizing an existing finiteness result, we provide a concise proof of finiteness of the partition function associated to all non-degenerate triangulations of 4-manifolds and for a class of degenerate triangulations not previously shown. This is accomplished by a suitable re-factoring and re-ordering of integration, through which a large set of variables can be eliminated. The resulting formulation can be interpreted as a ``dual variables'' model that uses hyperboloid variables associated to spin foam edges in place of representation variables associated to faces. We outline how this method may also be useful for numerical computations, which have so far proven to be very challenging for Lorentzian spin foam models.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Observation of spinor dynamics in optically trapped 87Rb Bose-Einstein Condensates

We measure spin mixing of F=1 and F=2 spinor condensates of 87Rb atoms confined in an optical trap. We determine the spin mixing time to be typically less than 600 ms and observe spin population oscillations. The equilibrium spin configuration in the F=1 manifold is measured for different magnetic fields and found to show ferromagnetic behavior for low field gradients. An F=2 condensate is created by microwave excitation from F=1 manifold, and this spin-2 condensate is observed to decay exponentially with time constant 250 ms. Despite the short lifetime in the F=2 manifold, spin mixing of the condensate is observed within 50 ms.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure