Connecting US

Imagine experiencing multiple different cities and cultures within a single day. In Europe, this is easily accessible, partly because of the close proximity and small scale of countries, but also because of their means of travel. The ease and speed of their train system make traveling between countries almost effortless, so what has prevented the United States from doing so as well? The distance, as the crow flies, from London to Paris is about 212 miles, similar to Fargo to Minneapolis at 207 miles. However, the drive from Fargo approaches four hours, whereas a train ride from London barely breaks two (and also crosses an ocean, might I add.) In this document, I want to explore the reasoning as to why the United States has not developed an advanced rail system. Through my process, I want to analyze why the U.S. has not adapted this system, and what cost it would be at. A major aspect of the project I plan to examine is the environmental impact. The United States alone contributes to almost 25% of the worlds ?passenger transport-related? carbon emissions. As for the physical design, I will take what I learned from my research to create a universal, modular train station that can be adapted to different situations. For example, based on a city?s population, there are different sizes of the station that can be built; in a large city with the need of a large train hub, there could be the train platforms, ticket station, retail, dining, maybe even a hotel, whereas in a smaller city like Fargo, there may just be the platforms, ticket station, and dining. Overall, I hope to prove that train travel is a worthy investment for both people and planet, because it will allow people to take part of new experiences and lower carbon emissions

Gravitons and Lightcone Fluctuations II: Correlation Functions

A model of a fluctuating lightcone due to a bath of gravitons is further investigated. The flight times of photons between a source and a detector may be either longer or shorter than the light propagation time in the background classical spacetime, and will form a Gaussian distribution centered around the classical flight time. However, a pair of photons emitted in rapid succession will tend to have correlated flight times. We derive and discuss a correlation function which describes this effect. This enables us to understand more fully the operational significance of a fluctuating lightcone. Our results may be combined with observational data on pulsar timing to place some constraints on the quantum state of cosmological gravitons.Comment: 16 pages and two figures, uses eps

The exact three-dimensional half-shell t-matrix for a sharply cut-off Coulomb potential in the screening limit

The three-dimensional half-shell t-matrix for a sharply cut-off Coulomb potential is analytically derived together with its asymptotic form without reference to partial wave expansion. The numerical solutions of the three-dimensional Lippmann-Schwinger equation for increasing cut-off radii provide half-shell t-matrices which are in quite a good agreement with the asymptotic values.Comment: 15 pages, 4 eps figure

Under which conditions is quantum brownian motion observable in a microscope?

We investigate under which conditions we can expect to observe quantum brownian motion in a microscope. Using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, we investigate quantum brownian motion in an ohmic bath, and estimate temporal and spatial accuracy required to observe a crossover from classical to quantum behavior

Finite Size Effects in the Anisotropic \lambda/4!(\phi^4_1 + \phi^4_2)_d Model

We consider the $\frac{\lambda}{4!}(\phi^{4}_{1}+\phi^{4}_{2})$ model on a d-dimensional Euclidean space, where all but one of the coordinates are unbounded. Translation invariance along the bounded coordinate, z, which lies in the interval [0,L], is broken because of the boundary conditions (BC's) chosen for the hyperplanes z=0 and z=L. Two different possibilities for these BC's boundary conditions are considered: DD and NN, where D denotes Dirichlet and N Newmann, respectively. The renormalization procedure up to one-loop order is applied, obtaining two main results. The first is the fact that the renormalization program requires the introduction of counterterms which are surface interactions. The second one is that the tadpole graphs for DD and NN have the same z dependent part in modulus but with opposite signs. We investigate the relevance of this fact to the elimination of surface divergences.Comment: 33 pages, 2 eps figure

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry - Application in the clinical laboratory

This review provides a concise survey of liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LCTMS) as an emerging technology in clinical chemistry. The combination of two mass spectrometers with an interposed collision cell characterizes LCTMS as an analytical technology on its own and not just as a more specific detector for HPLC compared with conventional techniques. In LCTMS, liquid chromatography is rather used for sample preparation but not for complete resolution of compounds of interest. The instrument technology of LCTMS is complex and comparatively expensive; however, in routine use, methods are far more rugged compared to conventional chromatographic techniques and enable highthroughput analyses with very limited manual handling steps. Moreover, compared to both gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GCMS) and conventional HPLC techniques, LCTMS is substantially more versatile with respect to the spectrum of analyzable compounds. For these reasons it is likely that LCTMS will gain far more widespread use in the clinical laboratory than HPLC and GCMS ever did. In this article, the key features of LCTMS are described, method development is explained, typical fields of application are discussed, and personal experiences are related

The unphysical nature of "Warp Drive"

We will apply the quantum inequality type restrictions to Alcubierre's warp drive metric on a scale in which a local region of spacetime can be considered ``flat''. These are inequalities that restrict the magnitude and extent of the negative energy which is needed to form the warp drive metric. From this we are able to place limits on the parameters of the ``Warp Bubble''. It will be shown that the bubble wall thickness is on the order of only a few hundred Planck lengths. Then we will show that the total integrated energy density needed to maintain the warp metric with such thin walls is physically unattainable.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, latex. This revision corrects a typographical sign error in Eq. (3

Experiencing Psycholoy: AP/IB Psychology for High School Students

We developed a series of experiential activities to increase students’ analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of psychology concepts. These application activities can enhance existing curriculum units on Personality, States of Consciousness, and Dysfunctional Behavior. Three lessons are presented. The first is a lecture and partner application activity that can serve as a bridge between a curriculum unit on States of Consciousness and a curriculum unit on Personality. In this partner application activity, students record their dreams, then work with partners to analyze those dreams from the perspectives of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and the modern psychologist Clara Hill. The second activity is a discussion and debate exercise to encourage students to explore issues surrounding controversial changes to the new DSM-5. The third activity is a DSM-5 psychological disorder role-playing activity, in which students learn about criteria for various mental disorders and do small-group role-plays from the perspective of each disorder

Numerical Simulation of Quantum Field Fluctuations

The quantum fluctuations of fields can exhibit subtle correlations in space and time. As the interval between a pair of measurements varies, the correlation function can change sign, signaling a shift between correlation and anti-correlation. A numerical simulation of the fluctuations requires a knowledge of both the probability distribution and the correlation function. Although there are widely used methods to generate a sequence of random numbers which obey a given probability distribution, the imposition of a given correlation function can be more difficult. Here we propose a simple method in which the outcome of a given measurement determines a shift in the peak of the probability distribution, to be used for the next measurement. We illustrate this method for three examples of quantum field correlation functions, and show that the resulting simulated function agree well with the original, analytically derived function. We then discuss the application of this method to numerical studies of the effects of correlations on the random walks of test particles coupled to the fluctuating field.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

A Theory for the Conformal Factor in Quantum R2R^2 Gravity

A new theory for the conformal factor in R$^2$-gravity is developed. The infrared phase of this theory, which follows from the one-loop renormalization group equations for the whole quantum R$^2$-gravity theory is described. The one-loop effective potential for the conformal factor is found explicitly and a mechanism for inducing Einstein gravity at the minimum of the effective potential for the conformal factor is suggested. A comparison with the effective theory of the conformal factor induced by the conformal anomaly, and also aiming to describe quantum gravity at large distances, is done.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX file, June 1-199