Comparing Mutuality and Solidarity in Its Application to Disaster Ethics

Often it has been observed that in disaster situations, people (including victims) become altruistic and are very willing to listen, obey and act in a manner that would help bring an end to the situation. In this chapter, linking disaster ethics and human rights, it is argued that this indeed is how it should be, disaster or otherwise, and that we have moral duties to oneself and to others. An individual exhibiting solidarity, comradery and altruism during a disaster is indeed behaving as a reasonable Self, and exercising ethical individualism as per Gewirthian philosophy. It is the duty of the State and society to act as a supportive State and a caring society. In order to do this, we need to be conditioned for ethical rationality before any whiff of disaster arises, i.e. in our day-to-day conduct and decision-making, at a personal, institutional and transnational level. Our ethical resilience during disasters can only be as robust as our rational moral compass during ‘peace-time’. This chapter argues that Gewirthian solidarity ethics (GSE) should play a role in European policy and action in order to provide a system that conditions ethical rationality and in order to fulfil human rights. This involves addressing our current understanding of human rights as distinct categories of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and to effect a shift towards a more holistic understanding of human rights, whereby the hierarchy of fulfilment does not always prioritise civil and political rights.Peer reviewe

Debris Disks: Probing Planet Formation

Debris disks are the dust disks found around ~20% of nearby main sequence stars in far-IR surveys. They can be considered as descendants of protoplanetary disks or components of planetary systems, providing valuable information on circumstellar disk evolution and the outcome of planet formation. The debris disk population can be explained by the steady collisional erosion of planetesimal belts; population models constrain where (10-100au) and in what quantity (>1Mearth) planetesimals (>10km in size) typically form in protoplanetary disks. Gas is now seen long into the debris disk phase. Some of this is secondary implying planetesimals have a Solar System comet-like composition, but some systems may retain primordial gas. Ongoing planet formation processes are invoked for some debris disks, such as the continued growth of dwarf planets in an unstirred disk, or the growth of terrestrial planets through giant impacts. Planets imprint structure on debris disks in many ways; images of gaps, clumps, warps, eccentricities and other disk asymmetries, are readily explained by planets at >>5au. Hot dust in the region planets are commonly found (<5au) is seen for a growing number of stars. This dust usually originates in an outer belt (e.g., from exocomets), although an asteroid belt or recent collision is sometimes inferred.Comment: Invited review, accepted for publication in the 'Handbook of Exoplanets', eds. H.J. Deeg and J.A. Belmonte, Springer (2018

First direct observation of the Van Hove singularity in the tunneling spectra of cuprates

In two-dimensional lattices the electronic levels are unevenly spaced, and the density of states (DOS) displays a logarithmic divergence known as the Van Hove singularity (VHS). This is the case in particular for the layered cuprate superconductors. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) probes the DOS, and is therefore the ideal tool to observe the VHS. No STM study of cuprate superconductors has reported such an observation so far giving rise to a debate about the possibility of observing directly the normal state DOS in the tunneling spectra. In this study, we show for the first time that the VHS is unambiguously observed in STM measurements performed on the cuprate Bi-2201. Beside closing the debate, our analysis proves the presence of the pseudogap in the overdoped side of the phase diagram of Bi-2201 and discredits the scenario of the pseudogap phase crossing the superconducting dome.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

SDSS-II SUPERNOVA SURVEY: AN ANALYSIS of the LARGEST SAMPLE of TYPE IA SUPERNOVAE and CORRELATIONS with HOST-GALAXY SPECTRAL PROPERTIES

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Institute of Physics via http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/821/2/115Using the largest single-survey sample of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) to date, we study the relationship between properties of SNe Ia and those of their host galaxies, focusing primarily on correlations with Hubble residuals (HRs). Our sample consists of 345 photometrically classified or spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia discovered as part of the SDSS-II Supernova Survey (SDSS-SNS). This analysis utilizes host-galaxy spectroscopy obtained during the SDSS-I/II spectroscopic survey and from an ancillary program on the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey that obtained spectra for nearly all host galaxies of SDSS-II SN candidates. In addition, we use photometric host-galaxy properties from the SDSS-SNS data release such as host stellar mass and star formation rate. We confirm the well-known relation between HR and host-galaxy mass and find a 3.6σ significance of a nonzero linear slope. We also recover correlations between HR and host-galaxy gas-phase metallicity and specific star formation rate as they are reported in the literature. With our large data set, we examine correlations between HR and multiple host-galaxy properties simultaneously and find no evidence of a significant correlation. We also independently analyze our spectroscopically confirmed and photometrically classified SNe Ia and comment on the significance of similar combined data sets for future surveys.This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-1321851. Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. M.S. and J.A.F. are supported by the Department of Energy grant DE-SC-0009890. Funding for the SDSS and SDSS-II has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England ... Funding for SDSS-III has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation ..

The Lippmann–Schwinger Formula and One Dimensional Models with Dirac Delta Interactions

We show how a proper use of the Lippmann–Schwinger equation simplifies the calculations to obtain scattering states for one dimensional systems perturbed by N Dirac delta equations. Here, we consider two situations. In the former, attractive Dirac deltas perturbed the free one dimensional Schrödinger Hamiltonian. We obtain explicit expressions for scattering and Gamow states. For completeness, we show that the method to obtain bound states use comparable formulas, although not based on the Lippmann–Schwinger equation. Then, the attractive N deltas perturbed the one dimensional Salpeter equation. We also obtain explicit expressions for the scattering wave functions. Here, we need regularisation techniques that we implement via heat kernel regularisation

Study of the impact of the post-MS evolution of the host star on the orbits of close-in planets. I. Sample definition and physical properties

Context: To date, more than 30 planets have been discovered around giant stars, but only one of them has been found to be orbiting within 0.6 AU from the host star, in direct contrast to what is observed for FGK dwarfs. This result suggests that evolved stars destroy/engulf close-in planets during the red giant phase. Aims: We are conducting a radial velocity survey of 164 bright G and K giant stars in the southern hemisphere with the aim of studying the effect of the host star evolution on the inner structure of planetary systems. In this paper we present the spectroscopic atmospheric parameters (\Teff, \logg, $\xi$, [Fe/H]) and the physical properties (mass, radius, evolutionary status) of the program stars. In addition, rotational velocities for all of our targets were derived. Methods: We used high resolution and high S/N spectra to measure the equivalent widths of many Fe{\sc\,i} and Fe{\sc\,ii} lines, which were used to derive the atmospheric parameters by imposing local thermodynamic and ionization equilibrium. The effective temperatures and metallicities were used, along with stellar evolutionary tracks to determine the physical properties and evolutionary status of each star. Results: We found that our targets are on average metal rich and they have masses between $\sim$\,1.0\,M$_\odot$ and 3.5\,M$_\odot$. In addition, we found that 122 of our targets are ascending the RGB, while 42 of them are on the HB phase.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&