2004 Presidential Election: Who Won The Popular Vote? An Examination of the Comparative Validity of Exit Poll and Vote Count Data

* There is a substantial discrepancy -- well outside the margin of error and outcomedeterminative -- between the national exit poll and the popular vote count.* The possible causes of the discrepancy would be random error, a skewed exit poll, or breakdown in the fairness of the voting process and accuracy of the vote count.* Analysis shows that the discrepancy cannot reasonably be accounted for by chance or random error.* Evidence does not support hypotheses that the discrepancy was produced by problems with the exit poll.* Widespread breakdown in the fairness of the voting process and accuracy of the vote count are the most likely explanations for the discrepancy.* In an accurate count of a free and fair election, the strong likelihood is that Kerry would have been the winner of the popular vote.This document was originally published by Verified Vote 2004, and is authored by Jonathan Simon, currently with Election Defense Alliance

Effects of finite superconducting coherence lengths and of phase gradients in topological SN and SNS junctions and rings

We study the effect of a finite proximity superconducting (SC) coherence length in SN and SNS junctions consisting of a semiconducting topological insulating wire whose ends are connected to either one or two s-wave superconductors. We find that such systems behave exactly as SN and SNS junctions made from a single wire for which some regions are sitting on top of superconductors, the size of the topological SC region being determined by the SC coherence length. We also analyze the effect of a non-perfect transmission at the NS interface on the spatial extension of the Majorana fermions. Moreover, we study the effects of continuous phase gradients in both an open and closed (ring) SNS junction. We find that such phase gradients play an important role in the spatial localization of the Majorana fermions

Universal Amplitude Ratios of The Renormalization Group: Two-Dimensional Tricritical Ising Model

The scaling form of the free-energy near a critical point allows for the definition of various thermodynamical amplitudes and the determination of their dependence on the microscopic non-universal scales. Universal quantities can be obtained by considering special combinations of the amplitudes. Together with the critical exponents they characterize the universality classes and may be useful quantities for their experimental identification. We compute the universal amplitude ratios for the Tricritical Ising Model in two dimensions by using several theoretical methods from Perturbed Conformal Field Theory and Scattering Integrable Quantum Field Theory. The theoretical approaches are further supported and integrated by results coming from a numerical determination of the energy eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the off-critical systems in an infinite cylinder.Comment: 61 pages, Latex file, figures in a separate fil

From Andreev bound states to Majorana fermions in topological wires on superconducting substrates : a story of mutation

We study the proximity effect in a topological nanowire tunnel coupled to an s-wave superconducting substrate. We use a general Green's function approach that allows us to study the evolution of the Andreev bound states in the wire into Majorana fermions. We show that the strength of the tunnel coupling induces a topological transition in which the Majorana fermionic states can be destroyed when the coupling is very strong. Moreover, we provide a phenomenologial study of the effects of disorder in the superconductor on the formation of Majorana fermions. We note a non-trivial effect of a quasiparticle broadening term which can take the wire from a topological into a non-topological phase in certain ranges of parameters. Our results have also direct consequences for a nanowire coupled to an inhomogenous superconductor

Weighted Supermembrane Toy Model

A weighted Hilbert space approach to the study of zero-energy states of supersymmetric matrix models is introduced. Applied to a related but technically simpler model, it is shown that the spectrum of the corresponding weighted Hamiltonian simplifies to become purely discrete for sufficient weights. This follows from a bound for the number of negative eigenvalues of an associated matrix-valued Schr\"odinger operator.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; to appear in Lett. Math. Phys