57 research outputs found
Cosmological Avatars of the Landscape II: CMB and LSS Signatures
This is the second paper in the series that confronts predictions of a model
of the landscape with cosmological observations. We show here how the
modifications of the Friedmann equation due to the decohering effects of long
wavelength modes on the wavefunction of the Universe defined on the landscape
leave unique signatures on the CMB spectra and large scale structure (LSS). We
show that the effect of the string corrections is to suppress and
the CMB spectrum at large angles, thereby bringing WMAP and SDSS data for
into agreement. We find interesting features imprinted on the matter
power spectrum : power is suppressed at large scales indicating the
possibility of primordial voids competing with the ISW effect. Furthermore,
power is enhanced at structure and substructure scales, . Our smoking gun for discriminating this proposal from others
with similar CMB and LSS predictions come from correlations between cosmic
shear and temperature anisotropies, which here indicate a noninflationary
channel of contribution to LSS, with unique ringing features of nonlocal
entanglement displayed at structure and substructure scales.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Gravitational lensing: a unique probe of dark matter and dark energy
I review the development of gravitational lensing as a powerful tool of the observational cosmologist. After the historic eclipse expedition organized by Arthur Eddington and Frank Dyson, the subject lay observationally dormant for 60 years. However, subsequent progress has been astonishingly rapid, especially in the past decade, so that gravitational lensing now holds the key to unravelling the two most profound mysteries of our Universeâthe nature and distribution of dark matter, and the origin of the puzzling cosmic acceleration first identified in the late 1990s. In this non-specialist review, I focus on the unusual history and achievements of gravitational lensing and its future observational prospects
Who wants to talk to terrorists?
Interviewing terrorists or former terrorists has become an increasingly popular research method in terrorism studies. What terrorists say can shed light on motivations, decision-making processes and operational details that without first-hand testimony could only be inferred. In this chapter, a selection of these studies is reviewed alongside a consideration of global trends in terrorism and developments in terrorism research
Statistics and Terrorism: Insights into Lethality of Terrorism Through Bayesian Modeling
What would you do?:Everyday conceptions and constructions of counter-terrorism
This article explores findings from focus group research in which UK publics were asked: If you were in government, what would you do about terrorism? After situating our research within contemporary âbottom-upâ work on counter-terrorism, we discuss the diversity of answers we received to this question, which included improving education, addressing social fracture, and the need for more punitive counterterrorism powers. These exercises in public political imagination are important, we argue, for several reasons. These include the questions they pose for widespread claims about public disconnection from (security) politics, as well as their likely impact on the everyday lives of our research participants
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