Lattice Study of the Extent of the Conformal Window in Two-Color Yang-Mills Theory

We perform a lattice calculation of the Schr\"odinger functional running coupling in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory with six massless Wilson fermions in the fundamental representation. The aim of this work is to determine whether the above theory has an infrared fixed point. Due to sensitivity of the $SF$ renormalized coupling to the tuning of the fermion bare mass we were unable to reliably extract the running coupling for stronger bare couplings

The Paradox of Observing, Autopoiesis, and the Future of Social Sciences

The current debates in social sciences show that the paradox of observing—the embeddedness of observer in the process of observing—is at the heart of the controversy about their cognitive status and future. Although the problem of observing has been addressed in numerous theoretical perspectives—some of which (Habermas, Leydesdorff, Maturana, and Luhmann) are examined in this article—the prospects for resolving this paradox remain problematic. Locating a point that allows reflection on the process of autopoiesis in general, not just the operation of a particular autopoietic system, may be one condition for resolving this paradox. Such point will offer reflection on all autopoietic systems, including the observer. The dynamic balance between equilibrium and disequilibrium is the mechanism which regulates the process of autopoiesis. Since the function of regulation is essentially a reflective function, this equilibrium between equilibrium and disequilibrium, which can be identified with the concept of homeorhesis introduced by Conrad Waddington, may offer a possibility to reflect on the process of observing