15,557 research outputs found
Consistent Quantum Counterfactuals
An analysis using classical stochastic processes is used to construct a
consistent system of quantum counterfactual reasoning. When applied to a
counterfactual version of Hardy's paradox, it shows that the probabilistic
character of quantum reasoning together with the ``one framework'' rule
prevents a logical contradiction, and there is no evidence for any mysterious
nonlocal influences. Counterfactual reasoning can support a realistic
interpretation of standard quantum theory (measurements reveal what is actually
there) under appropriate circumstances.Comment: Minor modifications to make it agree with published version. Latex 8
pages, 2 figure
Gambling in Great Britain:a response to Rogers
A recent issue of Practice: Social Work in Action featured a paper by Rogers that examined whether the issue of problem gambling was a suitable case for social work. Rogers’ overview was (in various places) out of date, highly selective, contradictory, presented unsupported claims and somewhat misleading. Rogers’ paper is to be commended for putting the issue of problem gambling on the social work agenda. However, social workers need up-to-date information and contextually situated information if they are to make informed decisions in helping problem gamblers
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
Weak Lensing Determination of the Mass in Galaxy Halos
We detect the weak gravitational lensing distortion of 450,000 background
galaxies (20<R<23) by 790 foreground galaxies (R<18) selected from the Las
Campanas Redshift Survey (LCRS). This is the first detection of weak lensing by
field galaxies of known redshift, and as such permits us to reconstruct the
shear profile of the typical field galaxy halo in absolute physical units
(modulo H_0), and to investigate the dependence of halo mass upon galaxy
luminosity. This is also the first galaxy-galaxy lensing study for which the
calibration errors are negligible. Within a projected radius of 200 \hkpc, the
shear profile is consistent with an isothermal profile with circular velocity
164+-20 km/s for an L* galaxy, consistent with typical disk rotation at this
luminosity. This halo mass normalization, combined with the halo profile
derived by Fischer et al (2000) from lensing analysis SDSS data, places a lower
limit of (2.7+-0.6) x 10^{12}h^{-1} solar masses on the mass of an L* galaxy
halo, in good agreement with satellite galaxy studies. Given the known
luminosity function of LCRS galaxies, and the assumption that for galaxies, we determine that the mass within 260\hkpc of normal
galaxies contributes to the density of the Universe (for
) or for . These lensing data suggest
that (95% CL), only marginally in agreement with the usual
Faber-Jackson or Tully-Fisher scaling. This is the most
complete direct inventory of the matter content of the Universe to date.Comment: 18 pages, incl. 3 figures. Submitted to ApJ 6/7/00, still no response
from the referee after four months
Cyanobacteria blooms cannot be controlled by effective microorganisms (EM) from mud- or Bokashi-balls
In controlled experiments, the ability of ‘‘Effective Microorganisms (EM, in the form of mudballs or Bokashi-balls)’’ was tested for clearing waters from cyanobacteria. We found suspensions of EM-mudballs up to 1 g l-1 to be ineffective in reducing cyanobacterial growth. In all controls and EM-mudball treatments up to 1 g l-1 the cyanobacterial chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations increased within 4 weeks from&120 to 325–435 lg l-1. When pieces of EM-mudballs (42.5 g) were added to 25-l lake water with cyanobacteria, no decrease of cyanobacteria as compared to untreated controls was observed. In contrast, after 4 weeks cyanobacterial Chl-a concentrations were significantly higher in EM-mudball treatments (52 lg l-1) than in controls (20 lg l-1). Only when suspensions with extremely high EM-mudball concentrations were applied (i.e., 5 and 10 g l-1), exceeding the recommended concentrations by orders of magnitude, cyanobacterial growth was inhibited and a bloom forming concentration was reduced strongly. In these high dosing treatments, the oxygen concentration dropped initially to very low levels of 1.8 g l-1. This was most probably through forcing strong light limitation on the cyanobacteria caused by the high amount of clay and subsequent high turbidity of the water. Hence, this study yields no support for the hypothesis that EM is effective in preventing cyanobacterial proliferation or in terminating blooms. We consider EM products to be ineffective because they neither permanently bind nor remove phosphorus from eutroficated systems, they have no inhibiting effect on cyanobacteria, and they could even be an extra source of nutrients
Consistent Resolution of Some Relativistic Quantum Paradoxes
A relativistic version of the (consistent or decoherent) histories approach
to quantum theory is developed on the basis of earlier work by Hartle, and used
to discuss relativistic forms of the paradoxes of spherical wave packet
collapse, Bohm's formulation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen, and Hardy's paradox.
It is argued that wave function collapse is not needed for introducing
probabilities into relativistic quantum mechanics, and in any case should never
be thought of as a physical process. Alternative approaches to stochastic time
dependence can be used to construct a physical picture of the measurement
process that is less misleading than collapse models. In particular, one can
employ a coarse-grained but fully quantum mechanical description in which
particles move along trajectories, with behavior under Lorentz transformations
the same as in classical relativistic physics, and detectors are triggered by
particles reaching them along such trajectories. States entangled between
spacelike separate regions are also legitimate quantum descriptions, and can be
consistently handled by the formalism presented here. The paradoxes in question
arise because of using modes of reasoning which, while correct for classical
physics, are inconsistent with the mathematical structure of quantum theory,
and are resolved (or tamed) by using a proper quantum analysis. In particular,
there is no need to invoke, nor any evidence for, mysterious long-range
superluminal influences, and thus no incompatibility, at least from this
source, between relativity theory and quantum mechanics.Comment: Latex 42 pages, 7 figures in text using PSTrick
EPR, Bell, and Quantum Locality
Maudlin has claimed that no local theory can reproduce the predictions of
standard quantum mechanics that violate Bell's inequality for Bohm's version
(two spin-half particles in a singlet state) of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen
problem. It is argued that, on the contrary, standard quantum mechanics itself
is a counterexample to Maudlin's claim, because it is local in the appropriate
sense (measurements at one place do not influence what occurs elsewhere there)
when formulated using consistent principles in place of the inconsistent
appeals to "measurement" found in current textbooks. This argument sheds light
on the claim of Blaylock that counterfactual definiteness is an essential
ingredient in derivations of Bell's inequality.Comment: Minor revisions to previous versio
The Top Ten List of Gravitational Lens Candidates from the HST Medium Deep Survey
A total of 10 good candidates for gravitational lensing have been discovered
in the WFPC2 images from the HST Medium Deep Survey (MDS) and archival primary
observations. These candidate lenses are unique HST discoveries, i.e. they are
faint systems with sub-arcsecond separations between the lensing objects and
the lensed source images. Most of them are difficult objects for ground-based
spectroscopic confirmation or for measurement of the lens and source redshifts.
Seven are ``strong lens'' candidates which appear to have multiple images of
the source. Three are cases where the single image of the source galaxy has
been significantly distorted into an arc. The first two quadruply lensed
candidates were reported in Ratnatunga et al 1995 (ApJL, 453, L5) We report on
the subsequent eight candidates and describe them with simple models based on
the assumption of singular isothermal potentials. Residuals from the simple
models for some of the candidates indicate that a more complex model for the
potential will probably be required to explain the full structural detail of
the observations once they are confirmed to be lenses. We also discuss the
effective survey area which was searched for these candidate lens objects.Comment: 26 pages including 12 figures and 10 tables. AJ Vol. 117, No.
A proper understanding of Millikan
Ruth Millikan’s teleological theory of mental content is complex and often misunderstood. This paper motivates and clarifies some of the complexities of the theory, and shows that paying careful attention to its details yields answers to a number of common objections to teleological theories, in particular, the problem of novel mental states, the problem of functionally false beliefs, and problems about indeterminacy or multiplicity of function
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