3,180 research outputs found
HOW TO AVOID SOLIPSISM WHILE REMAINING AN IDEALIST: LESSONS FROM BERKELEY AND DHARMAKIRTI
This essay examines the strategies that Berkeley and Dharmakirti utilize to deny that idealism entails solipsism. Beginning from similar arguments for the non-existence of matter, the two philosophers employ markedly different strategies for establishing the existence of other minds. This difference stems from their responses to the problem of intersubjective agreement. While Berkeley\u27s reliance on his Cartesian inheritance does allow him to account for intersubjective agreement without descending into solipsism, it nevertheless prevents him from establishing the existence of other finite minds. I argue that Dharmakirti, in accounting for intersubjective agreement causally, is able to avoid Berkeley\u27s shortcoming. I conclude by considering a challenge to Dharmakirti\u27s use of inference that Ratnakirti, a Buddhist successor of Dharmakirti, advances in his Disproof of the Existence of Other Minds and briefly exploring a possible response that someone who wants to advocate an idealist position could give
On the spectral distribution of photons between planar interfaces
Using a phenomenological approach to field quantization, an expression for
the Keldysh function of photons between two planar interfaces (Casimir
geometry) is found for any stationary quantum state of the two bodies. The case
of one interface sliding against the other is considered in detail
Two-time autocorrelation function in phase-ordering kinetics from local scale-invariance
The time-dependent scaling of the two-time autocorrelation function of spin
systems without disorder undergoing phase-ordering kinetics is considered. Its
form is shown to be determined by an extension of dynamical scaling to a local
scale-invariance which turns out to be a new version of conformal invariance.
The predicted autocorrelator is in agreement with Monte-Carlo data on the
autocorrelation function of the 2D kinetic Ising model with Glauber dynamics
quenched to a temperature below criticality.Comment: Latex2e, 7 pages with 2 figures, with epl macro, final from, to
appear in EP
On the feasibility of studying vortex noise in 2D superconductors with cold atoms
We investigate the feasibility of using ultracold neutral atoms trapped near
a thin superconductor to study vortex noise close to the
Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii transition temperature. Alkali atoms such as
rubidium probe the magnetic field produced by the vortices. We show that the
relaxation time of the Zeeman sublevel populations can be conveniently
adjusted to provide long observation times. We also show that the transverse
relaxation times for Zeeman coherences are ideal for studying the vortex
noise. We briefly consider the motion of atom clouds held close to the surface
as a method for monitoring the vortex motion.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions and a Nonequilibrium Critical Point from Anti-de Sitter Space and Conformal Field Theory Correspondence
We find novel phase transitions and critical phenomena that occur only
outside the linear-response regime of current-driven nonequilibrium states. We
consider the strongly-interacting (3+1)-dimensional N=4 large-Nc SU(Nc)
supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with a single flavor of fundamental N=2
hypermultiplet as a microscopic theory. We compute its nonlinear non-ballistic
quark-charge conductivity by using the AdS/CFT correspondence. We find that the
system exhibits a novel nonequilibrium first-order phase transition where the
conductivity jumps and the sign of the differential conductivity flips at
finite current density. A nonequilibrium critical point is discovered at the
end point of the first-order regime. We propose a nonequilibrium steady-state
analogue of thermodynamic potential in terms of the gravity-dual theory in
order to define the transition point. Nonequilibrium analogues of critical
exponents are proposed as well. The critical behavior of the conductivity is
numerically confirmed on the basis of these proposals. The present work
provides a new example of nonequilibrium phase transitions and nonequilibrium
critical points.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; v2: slightly short version is published in PRL.
The title is changed in the PRL forma
Research in the development of an improved multiplier phototube Final report
Counting efficiency, noise factor measurement, dark noise, gain and counting rate, optical enhancemen
Kinetics of the long-range spherical model
The kinetic spherical model with long-range interactions is studied after a
quench to or to . For the two-time response and correlation
functions of the order-parameter as well as for composite fields such as the
energy density, the ageing exponents and the corresponding scaling functions
are derived. The results are compared to the predictions which follow from
local scale-invariance.Comment: added "fluctuation-dissipation ratios"; fixed typo
Tuning spreading and avalanche-size exponents in directed percolation with modified activation probabilities
We consider the directed percolation process as a prototype of systems
displaying a nonequilibrium phase transition into an absorbing state. The model
is in a critical state when the activation probability is adjusted at some
precise value p_c. Criticality is lost as soon as the probability to activate
sites at the first attempt, p1, is changed. We show here that criticality can
be restored by "compensating" the change in p1 by an appropriate change of the
second time activation probability p2 in the opposite direction. At
compensation, we observe that the bulk exponents of the process coincide with
those of the normal directed percolation process. However, the spreading
exponents are changed, and take values that depend continuously on the pair
(p1, p2). We interpret this situation by acknowledging that the model with
modified initial probabilities has an infinite number of absorbing states.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure
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