Weiterleben nach dem Tod: Gedanken eines Naturwissenschaftlers

"Die gegenwärtige Hirnforschung wird oft mit einem naturalistischen Menschenbild verbunden, das den Gedanken einer 'unsterblichen Seele' nicht kennt. Beachtet man jedoch, dass die heutige Neurobiologie fast vollständig auf klassischer Physik beruht, so stellt sich die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von Körper und Geist völlig neu, wenn ein durch die Quantenphysik gewandeltes Weltbild zugrunde gelegt wird. Wir erläutern das allgemein ausgehend von Werner Heisenbergs Buch Ordnung der Wirklichkeit und speziell hirnbiologisch mit einem zu erwartenden chaostheoretisch begründeten Vordringen der Quantentheorie in die Neuroforschung. Die Überzeugung von einem Weiterleben nach dem Tod wird hirnbiologisch nicht widerlegt." (Autorenreferat)"Nowadays brain research often is linked to a naturalistic view of human which does not accept the idea of an immortal soul. If one regards, however, that present neurobiology almost completely is based on classical physics, the question of how body and soul are related is posed in a completely new way, provided a world view changed by quantum physics is assumed. This we explain in a general frame based on Werner Heisenberg’s book 'Ordnung der Wirklichkeit' and specifically with respect to brain biology by an upcoming chaos-based impact of quantum theory on neural research. The conviction that life after death does exist is not falsified by brain biology." (author's abstract

Nahtoderfahrung und Transdifferenz

'Nahtoderfahrungen sind durch bestimmte Merkmale (Außerkörpererfahrung, Tunnel-Licht-Erlebnis, euphorische Glücksempfindungen usw.) gekennzeichnete Grenzerlebnisse, nicht notwendigerweise in Todesnähe, die meist sehr tief in das Leben der Betroffenen eingreifen und diese zu einer soziologisch schwer fassbaren Gruppe werden lassen. Die Methode der Transdifferenz (wie etwa von Lösch beschrieben) erscheint geeignet, zur Erforschung dieser Gruppe beizutragen. Der Verfasser beschränkt sich im Wesentlichen darauf, Nahtoderfahrungen zu beschreiben und an Beispielen zu konkretisieren.' (Autorenreferat)'Near-death experience is a border experience characterized by distinctive marks like the experience of being out of the body, the tunnel-light-experience, euphoric feelings etc., which necessarily is not restricted to a near-death experience. Rather it is an experience of human narrowness that deeply intervenes in the lives of people and so alienates them. As sociological group they are hardly to grasp, but transdifference seems to be a suitable method to contribute to its understanding. In the article the author restrains himself on descriptions of near-death experiences.' (author's abstract)

Teacher-pupil Systems in teaching-leanring-research

Lehr-Lern-Forschung beschäftigt sich traditionell mit den kognitiven Prozessen schulischen Lernens. Parallel dazu besteht ein Forschungszweig, der die sozialen Bezüge unterrichtlichen Geschehens untersucht. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird die Notwendigkeit einer Verknüpfung kognitiver und sozialer Variablen betont. Auf dem Hintergrund systemtheoretischer Annahmen werden anhand von Beispielen aus der Unterrichtsforschung Überlegungen angestellt, wie sich die Vernetzung der Variablen möglicherweise auswirkt und wie die Methodologie solcher Untersuchungen aussehen müßte.Teaching-learning-research is preoccupied with cognitive processes of learning in classrooms. Social relations in schools are investigated separately. This paper concentrates on the necessity to connect cognitive and social-emotional variables. Based on a Systems approach suggestions are discussed concerning the effects of a network conception of variables in educational research and its methodological implications

Semisimplicity of the quantum cohomology for smooth Fano toric varieties associated with facet symmetric polytopes

The degree zero part of the quantum cohomology algebra of a smooth Fano toric symplectic manifold is determined by the superpotential function, W, of its moment polytope. In particular, this algebra is semisimple, i.e. splits as a product of fields, if and only if all the critical points of W are non-degenerate. In this paper we prove that this non-degeneracy holds for all smooth Fano toric varieties with facet-symmetric duals to moment polytopes.Comment: 16 pages; corrected version, published in Electron. Res. Announc. Math. Sc

Lattice polygons and families of curves on rational surfaces

First we solve the problem of finding minimal degree families on toric surfaces by reducing it to lattice geometry. Then we describe how to find minimal degree families on, more generally, rational complex projective surfaces

Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background from Cosmological Supernovae

Based on new developments in the understanding of supernovae (SNe) as gravitational-wave (GW) sources we estimate the GW background from all cosmic SNe. For a broad range of frequencies around 1 Hz, this background is crudely comparable to the GW background expected from standard inflationary models. While our estimate remains uncertain within several orders of magnitude, the SN GW background may become detectable by second-generation space-based interferometers such as the proposed Big-Bang Observatory (BBO). By the same token, the SN GWs may become a foreground for searches of the inflationary GWs, in particular for sub-Hz frequencies where the SN background is Gaussian and where the BBO will be most sensitive. SN simulations lasting far beyond the usual cutoff of about 1 second are needed for more robust predictions in the sub-Hz frequency band. An even larger GW background can arise from a hypothetical early population of massive stars, although their GW source strength as well as their abundance are currently poorly understood.Comment: 9 revtex pages, 8 ps figures included, considerably extended version with detailed discussion of uncertainties due to supernova physics and rate

Few smooth d-polytopes with n lattice points

We prove that, for fixed n there exist only finitely many embeddings of Q-factorial toric varieties X into P^n that are induced by a complete linear system. The proof is based on a combinatorial result that for fixed nonnegative integers d and n, there are only finitely many smooth d-polytopes with n lattice points. We also enumerate all smooth 3-polytopes with at most 12 lattice points. In fact, it is sufficient to bound the singularities and the number of lattice points on edges to prove finiteness.Comment: 20+2 pages; major revision: new author, new structure, new result

Combinatorial convexity and algebraic geometry

xiv, 372 p. : ill. ; 24 c