21,280 research outputs found
Theories of Technological Progress and the British Textile Industry from Kay to Cartwright
Editada en la Fundación Empresa PúblicaLa industria textil británica continúa en el centro del debate sobre la revolución industrial. Las innovaciones técnicas en el período produjeron una aceleración extraordinaria del crecimiento del output y una considerable reducción de los precios de los tejidos. En este trabajo presentamos un estudio de la comunidad de los inventores responsables de la transformación tecnológica, lo que nos permite alcanzar una serie de conclusiones nuevas sobre el ritmo y dirección de la actividad innovadora durante la revolución industrialThe cotton textile industry remains central to all accounts of the first industrial revolution. Innovations in this period precipitated an extraordinary acceleration in the growth of output and a steep decline in the cost of producing all varieties of cloth. In this paper we outline an explanation through an analysis of the community of inventors responsible for the technological transformation, which enables us to offer some generalizations of the pace and pattern of the inventive activity in this period.Publicad
Quantum Locality?
Robert Griffiths has recently addressed, within the framework of a
'consistent quantum theory' that he has developed, the issue of whether, as is
often claimed, quantum mechanics entails a need for faster-than-light transfers
of information over long distances. He argues that the putative proofs of this
property that involve hidden variables include in their premises some
essentially classical-physics-type assumptions that are fundamentally
incompatible with the precepts of quantum physics. One cannot logically prove
properties of a system by establishing, instead, properties of a system
modified by adding properties alien to the original system. Hence Griffiths'
rejection of hidden-variable-based proofs is logically warranted. Griffiths
mentions the existence of a certain alternative proof that does not involve
hidden variables, and that uses only macroscopically described observable
properties. He notes that he had examined in his book proofs of this general
kind, and concluded that they provide no evidence for nonlocal influences. But
he did not examine the particular proof that he cites. An examination of that
particular proof by the method specified by his 'consistent quantum theory'
shows that the cited proof is valid within that restrictive version of quantum
theory. An added section responds to Griffiths' reply, which cites general
possibilities of ambiguities that make what is to be proved ill-defined, and
hence render the pertinent 'consistent framework' ill defined. But the vagaries
that he cites do not upset the proof in question, which, both by its physical
formulation and by explicit identification, specify the framework to be used.
Griffiths confirms the validity of the proof insofar as that framework is used.
The section also shows, in response to Griffiths' challenge, why a putative
proof of locality that he has described is flawed.Comment: This version adds a response to Griffiths' reply to my original. It
notes that Griffiths confirms the validity of my argument if one uses the
framework that I use. Griffiths' objection that other frameworks exist is not
germaine, because I use the unique one that satisfies the explicitly stated
conditions that the choices be macroscopic choices of experiments and
outcomes in a specified orde
The Contribution of Late-type/Irregulars to the Faint Galaxy Counts from HST Medium Deep Survey Images
We present a complete morphologically classified sample of 144 faint field
galaxies from the HST Medium Deep Survey with 20.0 < I <22.0 mag. We compare
the global properties of the ellipticals, early and late-type spirals, and find
a non-negligible fraction (13/144) of compact blue [(V-I) < 1.0 mag] systems
with -profiles. We give the differential galaxy number counts for
ellipticals and early-type spirals independently, and find that the data are
consistent with no-evolution predictions based on conventional flat Schechter
luminosity functions (LF's) and a standard cosmology.
Conversely, late-type/Irregulars show a steeply rising differential number
count with slope . No-evolution
models based on the Loveday et al. (1992) and Marzke et al. (1994b) {\it local}
luminosity functions under-predict the late-type/Irregular counts by 1.0 and
0.5 dex, respectively, at I = 21.75 mag. Examination of the Irregulars alone
shows that % appear inert and the remainder have multiple cores. If
the inert galaxies represent a non-evolving late-type population, then a
Loveday-like LF () is ruled out for these types, and a LF
with a steep faint-end () is suggested. If multiple core
structure indicates recent star-formation, then the observed excess of faint
blue field galaxies is likely due to {\it evolutionary} processes acting on a
{\it steep} field LF for late-type/Irregulars. The evolutionary mechanism is
unclear, but 60% of the multiple-core Irregulars show close companions. To
reconcile a Marzke-like LF with the faint redshift surveys, this evolution must
be preferentially occurring in the brightest late-type galaxies with z > 0.5 at
I = 21.75 mag.Comment: 29 pages, 1 catalog and 10 figures. The figures and catalog can be
found at http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~spd/bib.htm
REGULAR SUPPRESSION OF P,T-VIOLATING NUCLEAR MATRIX ELEMENTS
In heavy nuclei there is a parametrical suppression, , of
T-odd, P-odd matrix elements as compared to T-even, P-odd ones.Comment: 3 page
Geometry of Universal Magnification Invariants
Recent work in gravitational lensing and catastrophe theory has shown that
the sum of the signed magnifications of images near folds, cusps and also
higher catastrophes is zero. Here, it is discussed how Lefschetz fixed point
theory can be used to interpret this result geometrically. It is shown for the
generic case as well as for elliptic and hyperbolic umbilics in gravitational
lensing.Comment: RevTEX4, 13 pages, submitted to J. Math. Phy
Optimal Eavesdropping in Quantum Cryptography. II. Quantum Circuit
It is shown that the optimum strategy of the eavesdropper, as described in
the preceding paper, can be expressed in terms of a quantum circuit in a way
which makes it obvious why certain parameters take on particular values, and
why obtaining information in one basis gives rise to noise in the conjugate
basis.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, Latex, the second part of quant-ph/970103
Introduction to Arithmetic Mirror Symmetry
We describe how to find period integrals and Picard-Fuchs differential
equations for certain one-parameter families of Calabi-Yau manifolds. These
families can be seen as varieties over a finite field, in which case we show in
an explicit example that the number of points of a generic element can be given
in terms of p-adic period integrals. We also discuss several approaches to
finding zeta functions of mirror manifolds and their factorizations. These
notes are based on lectures given at the Fields Institute during the thematic
program on Calabi-Yau Varieties: Arithmetic, Geometry, and Physics
Extent of simultaneous parity and time violation in 182W
In order to relate nuclear gamma-ray distributions to the fundamental parity-time- (PT-) and parity- (P-) violating meson-nucleon interaction, we analyze the case of the mixed (E1,M2,E3) 1189-keV gamma ray in 182W which is populated in the decay of cryogenically oriented 182Ta. Within the framework of the quasiparticle random-phase approximation we calculate the value of the complex ‘‘irregular’’ mixing ratio ɛ(E2¯/M2) for this transition. We estimate that this mixing ratio will have a P-violating real part of ‖ɛ‖cosη≃5×10-5 which implies an observable forward-backward asymmetry (〈J〉⋅k) in the 1189-keV gamma-ray directional distribution of OP≃2×10^-5 at 10 mK. For the PT-violating imaginary part we find ‖ɛ‖sinη≃200g̃ πNN(I=1), where g̃ πNN(I=1) is the strength of the isovector PT-violating pion-nucleon coupling. An upper limit to this constant of ≲3×10^-10 may be obtained from the electric dipole moment of the neutron. Whence we conclude that at 10 mK one needs to measure the PT-violating correlation (〈J〉⋅k2)(〈J〉⋅k1×k2) to an accuracy of OPT≲2×10^-8 in order to improve the limit on g̃ πNN(I=1) set by the neutron electric dipole moment
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