Thermoregulation in rats: Effects of varying duration of hypergravic fields

The effects of hypergravitational fields on the thermoregulatory system of the rat are examined. The question underlying the investigation was whether the response of the rat to the one hour cold exposure depends only upon the amplitude of the hypergravic field during the period of cold exposure or whether the response is also dependent on the amplitude and duration of the hypergravic field prior to cold exposure. One hour of cold exposure applied over the last hour of either a 1, 4, 7, 13, 19, 25, or 37 hr period of 3G evoked a decrease in core temperature (T sub c) of about 3 C. However, when rats were subjected concurrently to cold and acceleration following 8 days at 3G, they exhibited a smaller fall in T sub c, suggesting partial recovery of the acceleration induced impairment of temperature regulation. In another series of experiments, the gravitational field profile was changed in amplitude in 3 different ways. Despite the different gravitational field profiles used prior to cold, the magnitude of the fall in T sub c over the 1 hr period of cold exposure was the same in all cases. These results suggest that the thermoregulatory impairment has a rapid onset, is a manifestation of an ongoing effect of hypergravity, and is not dependent upon the prior G profile

Effect of altered gravity on temperature regulation in mammals: Investigation of gravity effect on temperature regulation in mammals

Male, Long-Evans hooded rats were instrumented for monitoring core and hypothalamic temperatures as well as shivering and nonshivering thermogenesis in response to decreased ambient temperature in order to characterize the nature of the neural controller of temperature in rats at 1G and evaluate chronic implantation techniques for the monitoring of appropriate parameters at hypergravic fields. The thermoregulatory responses of cold-exposed rats at 2G were compared to those at 1G. A computer model was developed to simulate the thermoregulatory system in the rat. Observations at 1 and 2G were extended to acceleration fields of 1.5, 3.0 and 4.0G and the computer model was modified for application to altered gravity conditions. Changes in the acceleration field resulted in inadequate heat generation rather than increased heat loss. Acceleration appears to impair the ability of the neurocontroller to appropriately integrate input signals for body temperature maintenance

A Chiral Spin Theory in the Framework of an Invariant Evolution Parameter Formalism

We present a formulation for the construction of first order equations which describe particles with spin, in the context of a manifestly covariant relativistic theory governed by an invariant evolution parameter; one obtains a consistent quantized formalism dealing with off-shell particles with spin. Our basic requirement is that the second order equation in the theory is of the Schr\"{o}dinger-Stueckelberg type, which exhibits features of both the Klein-Gordon and Schr\"{o}dinger equations. This requirement restricts the structure of the first order equation, in particular, to a chiral form. One thus obtains, in a natural way, a theory of chiral form for massive particles, which may contain both left and right chiralities, or just one of them. We observe that by iterating the first order system, we are able to obtain second order forms containing the transverse and longitudinal momentum relative to a time-like vector $t_{\mu}t^{\mu}=-1$ used to maintain covariance of the theory. This time-like vector coincides with the one used by Horwitz, Piron, and Reuse to obtain an invariant positive definite space-time scalar product, which permits the construction of an induced representation for states of a particle with spin. We discuss the currents and continuity equations, and show that these equations of motion and their currents are closely related to the spin and convection parts of the Gordon decomposition of the Dirac current. The transverse and longitudinal aspects of the particle are complementary, and can be treated in a unified manner using a tensor product Hilbert space. Introducing the electromagnetic field we find an equation which gives rise to the correct gyromagnetic ratio, and is fully Hermitian under the proposed scalar product. Finally, we show that the original structure of Dirac'sComment: Latex, 61 pages. Minor revisions. To be published in J. Math. Phy

Hypercomplex quantum mechanics

The fundamental axioms of the quantum theory do not explicitly identify the algebraic structure of the linear space for which orthogonal subspaces correspond to the propositions (equivalence classes of physical questions). The projective geometry of the weakly modular orthocomplemented lattice of propositions may be imbedded in a complex Hilbert space; this is the structure which has traditionally been used. This paper reviews some work which has been devoted to generalizing the target space of this imbedding to Hilbert modules of a more general type. In particular, detailed discussion is given of the simplest generalization of the complex Hilbert space, that of the quaternion Hilbert module.Comment: Plain Tex, 11 page

Generalized Boltzmann Equation in a Manifestly Covariant Relativistic Statistical Mechanics

We consider the relativistic statistical mechanics of an ensemble of $N$ events with motion in space-time parametrized by an invariant ``historical time'' $\tau .$ We generalize the approach of Yang and Yao, based on the Wigner distribution functions and the Bogoliubov hypotheses, to find the approximate dynamical equation for the kinetic state of any nonequilibrium system to the relativistic case, and obtain a manifestly covariant Boltzmann-type equation which is a relativistic generalization of the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) equation for indistinguishable particles. This equation is then used to prove the $H$-theorem for evolution in $\tau .$ In the equilibrium limit, the covariant forms of the standard statistical mechanical distributions are obtained. We introduce two-body interactions by means of the direct action potential $V(q),$ where $q$ is an invariant distance in the Minkowski space-time. The two-body correlations are taken to have the support in a relative $O( 2,1)$-invariant subregion of the full spacelike region. The expressions for the energy density and pressure are obtained and shown to have the same forms (in terms of an invariant distance parameter) as those of the nonrelativistic theory and to provide the correct nonrelativistic limit

Foundations of a spacetime path formalism for relativistic quantum mechanics

Quantum field theory is the traditional solution to the problems inherent in melding quantum mechanics with special relativity. However, it has also long been known that an alternative first-quantized formulation can be given for relativistic quantum mechanics, based on the parametrized paths of particles in spacetime. Because time is treated similarly to the three space coordinates, rather than as an evolution parameter, such a spacetime approach has proved particularly useful in the study of quantum gravity and cosmology. This paper shows how a spacetime path formalism can be considered to arise naturally from the fundamental principles of the Born probability rule, superposition, and Poincar\'e invariance. The resulting formalism can be seen as a foundation for a number of previous parametrized approaches in the literature, relating, in particular, "off-shell" theories to traditional on-shell quantum field theory. It reproduces the results of perturbative quantum field theory for free and interacting particles, but provides intriguing possibilities for a natural program for regularization and renormalization. Further, an important consequence of the formalism is that a clear probabilistic interpretation can be maintained throughout, with a natural reduction to non-relativistic quantum mechanics.Comment: RevTex 4, 42 pages; V6 is as accepted for publication in the Journal of Mathematical Physics, updated in response to referee comments; V7 includes final editorial correction

Equilibrium Relativistic Mass Distribution for Indistinguishable Events

A manifestly covariant relativistic statistical mechanics of the system of $N$ indistinguishable events with motion in space-time parametrized by an invariant ``historical time'' $\tau$ is considered. The relativistic mass distribution for such a system is obtained from the equilibrium solution of the generalized relativistic Boltzmann equation by integration over angular and hyperbolic angular variables. All the characteristic averages are calculated. Expressions for the pressure and the density of events are found and the relativistic equation of state is obtained. The Galilean limit is considered; the theory is shown to pass over to the usual nonrelativistic statistical mechanics of indistinguishable particles.Comment: TAUP-2115-9

Approximate resonance states in the semigroup decomposition of resonance evolution

The semigroup decomposition formalism makes use of the functional model for $C_{.0}$ class contractive semigroups for the description of the time evolution of resonances. For a given scattering problem the formalism allows for the association of a definite Hilbert space state with a scattering resonance. This state defines a decomposition of matrix elements of the evolution into a term evolving according to a semigroup law and a background term. We discuss the case of multiple resonances and give a bound on the size of the background term. As an example we treat a simple problem of scattering from a square barrier potential on the half-line.Comment: LaTex 22 pages 3 figure

INTRINSIC MECHANISM FOR ENTROPY CHANGE IN CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM EVOLUTION

It is shown that the existence of a time operator in the Liouville space representation of both classical and quantum evolution provides a mechanism for effective entropy change of physical states. In particular, an initially effectively pure state can evolve under the usual unitary evolution to an effectively mixed state.Comment: 20 pages. For more information or comments contact E. Eisenberg at [email protected] (internet)