On Inhomogeneity of a String Bit Model for Quantum Gravity

We study quantum gravitational effect on a two-dimensional open universe with one particle by means of a string bit model. We find that matter is necessarily homogeneously distributed if the influence of the particle on the size of the universe is optimized.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX2

Account of the Journey of Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, a Genovese (1495-1496) edited by R. H. Major, re-edited and introduced by Michael W. Charney

This translation of Hieronimo di Santo Stefano’s journey to Pegu in 1495-1496 was originally published in India in the Fifteenth Century Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India, edited by R. H. Major, in 1857. The account was written in the form of a letter to Messer Giovan Jacobo Mainer. Only those portions related to Burma have been included in the version below

Entanglement signature in the mode structure of a single photon

It is shown that entanglement, which is a quantum correlation property of at least two subsystems, is imprinted in the mode structure of a single photon. The photon, which is emitted by two coupled cavities, carries the information on the concurrence of the two intracavity fields. This can be useful for recording the entanglement dynamics of two cavity fields and for entanglement transfer.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Reconstructed Intentions in Collaborative Problem Solving Dialogues

We provide evidence that speech act recognition, is 1) difficult for humans to do and 2) likely to misidentify proposals involving reconstructed intentions. We examine the reliability of coding for speech acts in collaborative dialogues and we present an approach for recognizing reconstructed proposals using domain context and other more easily recognized features. 1 Introduction Speech act recognition plays a prominent role in dialogue understanding, in traditional approaches that infer a plan using plan construction operators [PA80], [LA90], [LC91, LC92], and in more recent techniques relying on statistical correlations or finite state machines [RM95, QDL + 97]. Both approaches recognize surface speech acts, using surface form and information provided by the discourse context and the discourse operators, or by a finite state approximation of the planning information. These approaches assume that it is (relatively) simple to recognize speech acts, and that speech acts are a requi..

The world-sheet description of A and B branes revisited

We give a manifest supersymmetric description of A and B branes on Kahler manifolds using a completely local N=2 superspace formulation of the world-sheet nonlinear sigma-model in the presence of a boundary. In particular, we show that an N=2 superspace description of type A boundaries is possible, at least when the background is Kahler. This leads to an elegant and concrete setting for studying coisotropic A branes. Here, apgesan important role is played by the boundary potential, whose precise physical meaning remains to be fully understood. Duality transformations relating A and B branes in the presence of isometries are studied as well.Comment: LaTeX, 32 page

Cavity-assisted spontaneous emission as a single-photon source: Pulse shape and efficiency of one-photon Fock state preparation

Within the framework of exact quantum electrodynamics in dispersing and absorbing media, we have studied the quantum state of the radiation emitted from an initially in the upper state prepared two-level atom in a high-$Q$ cavity, including the regime where the emitted photon belongs to a wave packet that simultaneously covers the areas inside and outside the cavity. For both continuing atom--field interaction and short-term atom--field interaction, we have determined the spatio-temporal shape of the excited outgoing wave packet and calculated the efficiency of the wave packet to carry a one-photon Fock state. Furthermore, we have made contact with quantum noise theories where the intracavity field and the field outside the cavity are regarded as approximately representing independent degrees of freedom such that two separate Hilbert spaces can be introduced.Comment: 16 pages, 7 eps figures; improved version as submitted to Phys. Rev.

The Globular Cluster Luminosity Function and Specific Frequency in Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies

The globular cluster luminosity function, specific globular cluster frequency, S_N, specific globular cluster mass, T_MP, and globular cluster mass fraction in dwarf elliptical galaxies are explored using the full 69 galaxy sample of the HST WFPC2 Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy Snapshot Survey. The GCLFs of the dEs are well-represented with a t_5 function with a peak at M_{V,Z}^0(dE,HST) = -7.3 +/- 0.1. This is ~0.3 magnitudes fainter than the GCLF peaks in giant spiral and elliptical galaxies, but the results are consistent within the uncertainties. The bright-end slope of the luminosity distribution has a power-law form with slope alpha = -1.9 +/- 0.1. The trend of increasing S_N or T_MP with decreasing host galaxy luminosity is confirmed. The mean value for T_MP in dE,N galaxies is about a factor of two higher than the mean value for non-nucleated galaxies and the distributions of T_MP in dE,N and dE,noN galaxies are statistically different. These data are combined with results from the literature for a wide range of galaxy types and environments. At low host galaxy masses the distribution of T_MP for dE,noN and dI galaxies are similar. This supports the idea that one pathway for forming dE,noN galaxies is by the stripping of dIs. The formation of nuclei and the larger values of T_MP in dE,N galaxies may be due to higher star formation rates and star cluster formation efficiencies due to interactions in galaxy cluster environments.Comment: 53 pages, 13 figures, 12 tables, accepted by the Astrophysical Journa

Chandra observations of the recurrent nova CI Aql after its April 2000 outburst

We report the results of two Chandra observations of the recurrent nova CI Aql at 14 and 16 months after its outburst in April 2000, respectively. The X-ray emission is faint in both cases, without any noticeable change in spectrum or intensity. Although the emission is very soft, it is not luminous enough to be due to late-time H-burning. This implies that the luminous supersoft phase ended even before the time predicted by the most recent calculations. The details of the X-ray spectrum, together with the fact that the observed X-ray intensity is brighter than pre-outburst (1992/1993), suggest that the observed X-ray emission is either due to ionization of the circumstellar material or due to the shocks within the wind and/or with the surrounding medium.Comment: 10 pages ApJ style with 5 figures; accepted for publication in Ap