A Phenomenological Approach to the Korean "We": A Study in Social Intentionality

This paper explores the phenomenological concept “we” based on a pre-existing understanding of traditional phenomenology alongside a new aspect of the concept by introducing an analysis of “we” in Korean. The central questions of this paper are whether the “we” can be understood as more than a collection of individuals, whether the “we” can precede both “I” and “thou,” and whether the “we” as an extension of the “I” or an extended self should necessarily mean the plural of the “I.

Muon g-2 Anomaly and Dark Leptonic Gauge Boson

One of the major motivations to search for a dark gauge boson of MeV-GeV scale is the long-standing muon g-2 anomaly. Because of active searches such as fixed target experiments and rare meson decays, the muon g-2 favored parameter region has been rapidly reduced. With the most recent data, it is practically excluded now in the popular dark photon model. We overview the issue and investigate a potentially alternative model based on the gauged lepton number or U(1)_L. The muon g-2 favored parameter region of the U(1)_L survives all the constraints that were critical in the dark photon case, yet it is disfavored by the new constraints from the large flux neutrino experiments.Comment: Version to appear in PR

Long-range interaction effects on neutrino oscillation

Motivated by the recent anomaly in the muon neutrino and anti-muon neutrino disappearance experiments, we consider a long-range interaction with an extremely light gauge boson and extraordinarily weak coupling. A long-range interaction, consistent with current bounds, could have very pronounced effects on atmospheric neutrino disappearance that will be studied with the IceCube DeepCore array, currently in operation, and can have a significant effect on future high-precision long-baseline oscillation experiments.Comment: Talk given at NUFACT 11, XIIIth International Workshop on Neutrino Factories, Super beams and Beta beams, 1-6 August 2011, CERN and University of Genev

Dileptons and four leptons at Z' resonance in the early stage of the LHC

The LHC era just began. The first discovery at the LHC experiment would be arguably a new resonance pole at TeV scale, if it exists. While the discovery of the Z' would be exciting by itself, it may also suggest what other new physics signals should be looked for while the LHC experiment is still at its early stage. We argue that the four lepton resonance at the Z' pole is a well-motivated and promising signal especially in supersymmetry framework, which can serve as a supersymmetry search scheme even in the early stage of the LHC experiment.Comment: Version to appear in PL

Hard Work in the Public Sector

Recent economic turmoil has led state and local governments to seek new paths to offset budget shortfalls. Among other things, one widely discussed policy option is state employee pension reforms. These proposals seek to cut pension benefits, and, moreover, to increase the retirement age. State and local government employees generally are able to access full retirement benefits at a lower age than most other American workers, for whom the current age for eligibility for full Social Security benefits is 66 (and which will rise to 67 by 2027). Policymakers, however, must not overlook the fact that a large share of public sector workers are in physically strenuous jobs. If the retirement age were increased, many of these workers, due to the physical challenges of their jobs, would have to leave the workforce before they are eligible for full retirement benefits

Hard Work? Patterns in Physically Demanding Labor Among Older Workers

Employment in physically demanding jobs or in jobs with difficult working conditions is a major cause of early labor-market exit among older workers. Raising the retirement age is particularly concerning for near-retirement age workers with such jobs. Despite the fact that the retirement age increase is supposed to encourage workers to work longer, many workers would be physically unable to extend work lives in their jobs, and they would most likely be left with no choice but to receive reduced benefits. An increase in the retirement age or other cuts in Social Security benefits are also likely to put a greater burden on demographic groups that have higher proportions of workers in difficult jobs. In particular, physically demanding jobs and jobs that had difficult working conditions were more likely to be held by men, Latinos, the least educated (less than a high school diploma), immigrants, and the lowest wage earners