Supersymmetric analysis for the Dirac equation with spin-symmetric and pseudo-spin-symmetric interactions

A supersymmetric analysis is presented for the d-dimensional Dirac equation with central potentials under spin-symmetric (S(r) = V(r)) and pseudo-spin-symmetric (S(r) = - V(r)) regimes. We construct the explicit shift operators that are required to factorize the Dirac Hamiltonian with the Kratzer potential. Exact solutions are provided for both the Coulomb and Kratzer potentials.Comment: 12 page

Altruism and Voluntary Provision of Public Goods.

We study how people's predisposition towards altruism, as measured by tools developed by psychologists, affects their behaviour in a voluntary contributions public good environment. Earlier experiments provide evidence against the strong free rider hypothesis; however, contributions to the public good decrease with repetition. We investigate whether a high level of contributions can be sustained in groups of subjects who have been pre-selected on the basis of their altruistic inclinations. In the first stage of the experiment, each subject responds to a psychology questionnaire that measures various dimensions of one's personality. The subjects are then matched in groups according to their altruism scores, and engage in a voluntary contribution game. We consider whether the levels and dynamics of group contributions differ significantly between the groups with altruists and non-altruists. We find that subjects' altruism has a weak but positive effect on group behaviour in the public good game.PUBLIC OWNERSHIP ; BEHAVIOUR ; GAMES

Part of the D - dimensional Spiked harmonic oscillator spectra

The pseudoperturbative shifted - l expansion technique PSLET [5,20] is generalized for states with arbitrary number of nodal zeros. Interdimensional degeneracies, emerging from the isomorphism between angular momentum and dimensionality of the central force Schrodinger equation, are used to construct part of the D - dimensional spiked harmonic oscillator bound - states. PSLET results are found to compare excellenly with those from direct numerical integration and generalized variational methods [1,2].Comment: Latex file, 20 pages, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. & Ge

Study and development of acoustic treatment for jet engine tailpipes

A study and development program was accomplished to attenuate turbine noise generated in the JT3D turbofan engine. Analytical studies were used to design an acoustic liner for the tailpipe. Engine ground tests defined the tailpipe environmental factors and laboratory tests were used to support the analytical studies. Furnace-brazed, stainless steel, perforated sheet acoustic liners were designed, fabricated, installed, and ground tested in the tailpipe of a JT3D engine. Test results showed the turbine tones were suppressed below the level of the jet exhaust for most far field polar angles

Spiked oscillators: exact solution

A procedure to obtain the eigenenergies and eigenfunctions of a quantum spiked oscillator is presented. The originality of the method lies in an adequate use of asymptotic expansions of Wronskians of algebraic solutions of the Schroedinger equation. The procedure is applied to three familiar examples of spiked oscillators

Perturbation expansions for a class of singular potentials

Harrell's modified perturbation theory [Ann. Phys. 105, 379-406 (1977)] is applied and extended to obtain non-power perturbation expansions for a class of singular Hamiltonians H = -D^2 + x^2 + A/x^2 + lambda/x^alpha, (A\geq 0, alpha > 2), known as generalized spiked harmonic oscillators. The perturbation expansions developed here are valid for small values of the coupling lambda > 0, and they extend the results which Harrell obtained for the spiked harmonic oscillator A = 0. Formulas for the the excited-states are also developed.Comment: 23 page

General energy bounds for systems of bosons with soft cores

We study a bound system of N identical bosons interacting by model pair potentials of the form V(r) = A sgn(p)r^p + B/r^2, A > 0, B >= 0. By using a variational trial function and the `equivalent 2-body method', we find explicit upper and lower bound formulas for the N-particle ground-state energy in arbitrary spatial dimensions d > 2 for the two cases p = 2 and p = -1. It is demonstrated that the upper bound can be systematically improved with the aid of a special large-N limit in collective field theory

d-Dimensional generalization of the point canonical transformation for a quantum particle with position-dependent mass

The d-dimensional generalization of the point canonical transformation for a quantum particle endowed with a position-dependent mass in Schrodinger equation is described. Illustrative examples including; the harmonic oscillator, Coulomb, spiked harmonic, Kratzer, Morse oscillator, Poschl-Teller and Hulthen potentials are used as reference potentials to obtain exact energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for target potentials at different position-dependent mass settings.Comment: 14 pages, no figures, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Comment on 'Non-equilibrium thermodynamics of light absorption'

A recent paper by Meszéna and Westerhoff (1999 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 32 301) has aimed to address what is referred to as a principal question of biological thermodynamics, the possibility of describing photosynthesis in terms of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. The issue is associated with a misrepresentation of the fundamental photophysics involved, and as a result the analysis is invalid