Very Special Relativity

By Very Special Relativity (VSR) we mean descriptions of nature whose space-time symmetries are certain proper subgroups of the Poincar\'e group. These subgroups contain space-time translations together with at least a 2-parameter subgroup of the Lorentz group isomorphic to that generated by $K_{x}+J_{y}$ and $K_{y}-J_{x}$. We find that VSR implies special relativity (SR) in the context of local quantum field theory or of CP conservation. Absent both of these added hypotheses, VSR provides a simulacrum of SR for which most of the consequences of Lorentz invariance remain wholly or essentially intact, and for which many sensitive searches for departures from Lorentz invariance must fail. Several feasible experiments are discussed for which Lorentz-violating effects in VSR may be detectable.Comment: 3 pages, revte

Disentangling Neutrino Oscillations

The theory underlying neutrino oscillations has been described at length in the literature. The neutrino state produced by a weak decay is usually portrayed as a linear superposition of mass eigenstates with, variously, equal energies or equal momenta. We point out that such a description is incomplete, that in fact, the neutrino is entangled with the other particle or particles emerging from the decay. We offer an analysis of oscillation phenomena involving neutrinos (applying equally well to neutral mesons) that takes entanglement into account. Thereby we present a theoretically sound proof of the universal validity of the oscillation formulae ordinarily used. In so doing, we show that the departures from exponential decay reported by the GSI experiment cannot be attributed to neutrino mixing. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the `Mossbauer' neutrino oscillation experiment proposed by Raghavan, while technically challenging, is correctly and unambiguously describable by means of the usual oscillation formalae.Comment: 16 page

Captain Jeremiah O’Brien: Maine Mariner

In contrast to most of the major army campaigns, clashes, leadership personalities, effectiveness levels, and strategies of the major land combatants during the American Revolution, Patriot naval activities have not received the overall attention they deserve. William J. Morgan, a former editor of the monumental series, Naval Documents of the American Revolution, has noted, “all too frequently historians of the American Revolution have ignored the maritime aspects of the conflict, or, at best have reflected slight understanding of that decisive element.” Morgan\u27s observations, made several decades ago, can be verified by surveying the contents then found in prominent writings of the American Revolution. Whereas the lives, exploits, and achievements of such prominent maritime men such as John Paul Jones, Esek Hopkins, Joshua Barney, Abraham Whipple, Dudley Saltonstall, and John Barry have received scholarly attention, there were many others in naval annals that deserve mention in maritime annals. Searches for such American maritime heroes reveal the names of several little known seamen from New England in particular. These Yankee ship captains include unheralded men, such as Robert Niles of Connecticut, John P. Rathbun of Rhode Island, Thomas Simpson of Massachusetts, and John B. Hopkins of Rhode Island. Added to such lesser known New Englanders, this article focuses on the career of Jeremiah O’Brien, (1744-1818), an Irishman who spent most of his life in Maine. O’Brien led a fascinating life, and the readers of this work should surely see that, though he was one of the least remembered, he was a great man who hailed from what Mainers today—with justifiable pride—refer to as “Down East.” Sheldon S. Cohen graduated from Yale University in 1953. He received his master’s degree from Harvard in 1956 and his doctorate in early American history from New York University in 1963. Since then, he has taught at New York University, Bradley University, and from 1969 until his retirement in 1999, at Loyola University in Chicago. He has published several articles on topics in early American history in journals such as William and Mary Quarterly, New England Quarterly, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,and Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. He has also written three books relating to the naval matters and Loyalists during the American Revolution

Strategic Regulatory Planning in the Management of Hazardous Materials

The failure to coordinate policy formulation with policy implementation in hazardous waste regulation has hindered the identification of potential obstacles to achieving compliance. In an effort to integrate policy formulation with implementation, this paper develops a strategic regulatory planning model and applies it to a specific case, the underground storage tank provision of the 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments. The final plan, submitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, emphasises 'induced compliance'. The study shows that the model provides policymakers with a practical tool for combining policy formulation with implementation and identifying possible impediments to achieving compliance