'The world is full of big bad wolves': investigating the experimental therapeutic spaces of R.D. Laing and Aaron Esterson

In conjunction with the recent critical assessments of the life and work of R.D. Laing, this paper seeks to demonstrate what is revealed when Laing’s work on families and created spaces of mental health care are examined through a geographical lens. The paper begins with an exploration of Laing’s time at the Tavistock Clinic in London during the 1960s, and of the co-authored text with Aaron Esterson entitled, Sanity, Madness and the Family (1964). The study then seeks to demonstrate the importance Laing and his colleague placed on the time-space situatedness of patients and their worlds. Finally, an account is provided of Laing’s and Esterson’s spatial thinking in relation to their creation of both real and imagined spaces of therapeutic care

An Attempt to Probe the Radio Jet Collimation Regions in NGC 4278, NGC 4374 (M84), and NGC 6166

NRAO Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of NGC 4278, NGC 4374 (M84), NGC 6166, and M87 (NGC 4486) have been made at 43 GHz in an effort to image the jet collimation region. This is the first attempt to image the first three sources at 43 GHz using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) techniques. These three sources were chosen because their estimated black hole mass and distance implied a Schwarzschild radius with large angular size, giving hope that the jet collimation regions could be studied. Phase referencing was utilize for the three sources because of their expected low flux densities. M87 was chosen as the calibrator for NGC 4374 because it satisfied the phase referencing requirements: nearby to the source and sufficiently strong. Having observed M87 for a long integration time, we have detected its sub-parsec jet, allowing us to confirm previous high resolution observations made by Junor, Biretta & Livio, who have indicated that a wide opening angle was seen near the base of the jet. Phase referencing successfully improved our image sensitivity, yielding detections and providing accurate positions for NGC 4278, NGC 4374 and NGC 6166. These sources are point dominated, but show suggestions of extended structure in the direction of the large-scale jets. However, higher sensitivity will be required to study their sub-parsec jet structure

On the Use of Group Theoretical and Graphical Techniques toward the Solution of the General N-body Problem

Group theoretic and graphical techniques are used to derive the N-body wave function for a system of identical bosons with general interactions through first-order in a perturbation approach. This method is based on the maximal symmetry present at lowest order in a perturbation series in inverse spatial dimensions. The symmetric structure at lowest order has a point group isomorphic with the S_N group, the symmetric group of N particles, and the resulting perturbation expansion of the Hamiltonian is order-by-order invariant under the permutations of the S_N group. This invariance under S_N imposes severe symmetry requirements on the tensor blocks needed at each order in the perturbation series. We show here that these blocks can be decomposed into a basis of binary tensors invariant under S_N. This basis is small (25 terms at first order in the wave function), independent of N, and is derived using graphical techniques. This checks the N^6 scaling of these terms at first order by effectively separating the N scaling problem away from the rest of the physics. The transformation of each binary tensor to the final normal coordinate basis requires the derivation of Clebsch-Gordon coefficients of S_N for arbitrary N. This has been accomplished using the group theory of the symmetric group. This achievement results in an analytic solution for the wave function, exact through first order, that scales as N^0, effectively circumventing intensive numerical work. This solution can be systematically improved with further analytic work by going to yet higher orders in the perturbation series.Comment: This paper was submitted to the Journal of Mathematical physics, and is under revie

Energy Injection Episodes in Gamma Ray Bursts: The Light Curves and Polarization Properties of GRB 021004

Several GRB afterglow light curves deviate strongly from the power law decay observed in most bursts. We show that these variations can be accounted for by including refreshed shocks in the standard fireball model previously used to interpret the overall afterglow behavior. As an example we consider GRB 021004 that exhibited strong light curve variations and has a reasonably well time-resolved polarimetry. We show that the light curves in the R-band, X-rays and in the radio can be accounted for by four energy injection episodes in addition to the initial event. The polarization variations are shown to be a consequence of the injections.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in ApJ

Relativistic Landau damping of longitudinal waves in isotropic pair plasmas

Landau damping is described in relativistic electron-positron plasmas. Relativistic electron-positron plasma theory contains important new effects when compared with classical plasmas. For example, there are undamped superluminal wave modes arising from both a continuous and discrete mode structure, the former even in the classical limit. We present here a comprehensive analytical treatment of the general case resulting in a compact and useful form for the dispersion relation. The classical pair-plasma case is addressed, for completeness, in an appendix

Polarization in the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows

Synchrotron is considered the dominant emission mechanism in the production of gamma-ray burst photons in the prompt as well as in the afterglow phase. Polarization is a characteristic feature of synchrotron and its study can reveal a wealth of information on the properties of the magnetic field and of the energy distribution in gamma-ray burst jets. In this paper I will review the theory and observations of gamma-ray bursts polarization. While the theory is well established, observations have prove difficult to perform, due to the weakness of the signal. The discriminating power of polarization observations, however, cannot be overestimated.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in the New Journal of Physics focus issue on Gamma Ray Burst

A Chandra detection of diffuse hard X-ray emission associated with the lobes of the radio galaxy 3C 452

An 80 ksec Chandra ACIS observation of the radio galaxy 3C 452 is reported. A diffuse X-ray emission associated with the lobes has been detected with high statistical significance, together with the X-ray nucleus of the host galaxy. The 0.5--5 keV ACIS spectrum of the diffuse emission is described by a two-component model, consisting of a soft thermal plasma emission from the host galaxy halo and a hard non-thermal power-law component. The hard component is ascribed to the inverse Comptonization of cosmic microwave background photons by the synchrotron emitting electrons in the lobes, because its spectral energy index, 0.68+-0.28, is consistent with the radio synchrotron index, 0.78. These results reveal a significant electron dominance in the lobes. The electrons are inferred to have a relatively uniform distribution, while the magnetic field is compressed toward the lobe periphery.Comment: 4 figures, 2 tables, Accepted by ApJL (to appear in the December 1 issue

The XMM-Newton Detection of Diffuse Inverse Compton X-rays from Lobes of the FR-II Radio Galaxy 3C98

The XMM-Newton observation of the nearby FR-II radio galaxy 3C 98 is reported. In two exposures on the target, faint diffuse X-ray emission associated with the radio lobes was significantly detected, together with a bright X-ray active nucleus, of which the 2 -- 10 keV intrinsic luminosity is (4 -- 8) \times 10^{42} erg s-1. The EPIC spectra of the northern and southern lobes are reproduced by a single power law model modified by the Galactic absorption, with a photon index of 2.2-0.5+0.6 and 1.7-0.6+0.7 respectively. These indices are consistent with that of the radio synchrotron spectrum, 1.73 +- 0.01 The luminosity of the northern and southern lobes are measured to be 8.3-2.6+3.3 \times 10^{40} erg s-1 and 9.2-4.3+5.7 \times 10^{40} erg s-1, respectively, in the 0.7 -- 7 keV range. The diffuse X-ray emission is interpreted as an inverse-Compton emission, produced when the synchrotron-emitting energetic electrons in the lobes scatter off the cosmic microwave background photons. The magnetic field in the lobes is calculated to be about 1.7 \mu G, which is about 2.5 times lower than the value estimated under the minimum energy condition. The energy density of the electrons is inferred to exceed that in the magnetic fields by a factor of 40 -- 50.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa