Andrew I. Thompson - From Tragedy to Policy: Representations of Muslims and Islam in U.S. Mainstream Media

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11th came a flood of criticism of Islam and Muslims in the U.S. media. Many saw Islam as the root cause of the attacks, but failed to assess the political or social issues in the Middle East, or even the United States’ role in the region. An example of this is the New York Times’ section that ran immediately after the attacks entitled ‘A Nation Challenged,’ which included titles such as: “Yes, this is about Islam,” “This is a religious war,” “Barbarians at the gate,” and “The one true faith.” This project analyzes the mainstream print media’s—New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, and USA Today—representation of Muslims and Islam from September 11, 2001 to December 31, 2001 and its relation to U.S. foreign policy. My assertion is that the mainstream media employed rhetorical emulating, and sometimes mimicking, of Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations theory when representing Muslims and Islam, which in turn supported aggressive military action in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In support of my assertion, I find that Huntington’s clash of civilizations absolves the US of all guilt regarding the attacks. Once the theory is adopted it becomes a given, something intrinsic to politics, thus making the ‘clash’ seem inevitable. The Clash of Civilizations theory also supports aggressive military action because of the implicit and explicit denunciation of all ‘civilizations’ that are not ‘Western.’https://epublications.marquette.edu/mcnair_2013/1016/thumbnail.jp

Fundamental Constant Observational Bounds on the Variability of the QCD Scale

Many physical theories beyond the Standard Model predict time variations of basic physics parameters. Direct measurement of the time variations of these parameters is very difficult or impossible to achieve. By contrast, measurements of fundamental constants are relatively easy to achieve, both in the laboratory and by astronomical spectra of atoms and molecules in the early universe. In this work measurements of the proton to electron mass ratio $\mu$ and the fine structure constant $\alpha$ are combined to place mildly model dependent limits on the fractional variation of the Quantum Chromodynamic Scale and the sum of the fractional variations of the Higgs Vacuum Expectation Value and the Yukawa couplings on time scales of more than half the age of the universe. The addition of another model parameter allows the fractional variation of the Higgs VEV and the Yukawa couplings to be computed separately. Limits on their variation are found at the level of less than $5 \times 10^{-5}$ over the past seven gigayears. A model dependent relation between the expected fractional variation of $\alpha$ relative to $\mu$ tightens the limits to $10^{-7}$ over the same time span. Limits on the present day rate of change of the constants and parameters are then calculated using slow roll quintessence. A primary result of this work is that studies of the dimensionless fundamental constants such as $\alpha$ and $\mu$, whose values depend on the values of the physics parameters, are excellent monitors of the limits on the time variation of these parameters.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 8 pages, 5 figure

Confronting Cosmology and New Physics with Fundamental Constants

The values of the fundamental constants such as $\mu = m_P/m_e$, the proton to electron mass ratio and $\alpha$, the fine structure constant, are sensitive to the product $\sqrt{\zeta_x^2(w+1)}$ where $\zeta_x$ is a coupling constant between a rolling scalar field responsible for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe and the electromagnetic field with x standing for either $\mu$ or $\alpha$. The dark energy equation of state $w$ can assume values different than $-1$ in cosmologies where the acceleration of the expansion is due to a scalar field. In this case the value of both $\mu$ and $\alpha$ changes with time. The values of the fundamental constants, therefore, monitor the equation of state and are a valuable tool for determining $w$ as a function of redshift. In fact the rolling of the fundamental constants is one of the few definitive discriminators between acceleration due to a cosmological constant and acceleration due to a quintessence rolling scalar field. $w$ is often given in parameterized form for comparison with observations. In this manuscript the predicted evolution of $\mu$, is calculated for a range of parameterized equation of state models and compared to the observational constraints on $\Delta \mu / \mu$. We find that the current limits on $\Delta \mu / \mu$ place significant constraints on linear equation of state models and on thawing models where $w$ deviates from $-1$ at late times. They also constrain non-dynamical models that have a constant $w$ not equal to $-1$. These constraints are an important compliment to geometric tests of $w$ in that geometric tests are sensitive to the evolution of the universe before the epoch of observation while fundamental constants are sensitive to the evolution of the universe after the observational epoch. Abstract truncated.Comment: To appear in the conference proceedings of the Sesto Conference on Fundamental Constants and Coupling

The Relation Between Fundamental Constants and Particle Physics Parameters

The observed constraints on the variability of the proton to electron mass ratio $\mu$ and the fine structure constant $\alpha$ are used to establish constraints on the variability of the Quantum Chromodynamic Scale and a combination of the Higgs Vacuum Expectation Value and the Yukawa couplings. Further model dependent assumptions provide constraints on the Higgs VEV and the Yukawa couplings separately. A primary conclusion is that limits on the variability of dimensionless fundamental constants such as $\mu$ and $\alpha$ provide important constraints on the parameter space of new physics and cosmologies.Comment: Published in the proceedings of the Conference on Varying Constants and Fundamental Cosmology VARCOSMOFUN16. Modified from the Universe style to process properly in arXi

Beta Function Quintessence Cosmological Parameters and Fundamental Constants I: Power and Inverse Power Law Dark Energy Potentials

This investigation explores using the beta function formalism to calculate analytic solutions for the observable parameters in rolling scalar field cosmologies. The beta function in this case is the derivative of the scalar $\phi$ with respect to the natural log of the scale factor $a$, $\beta(\phi)=\frac{d \phi}{d \ln(a)}$. Once the beta function is specified, modulo a boundary condition, the evolution of the scalar $\phi$ as a function of the scale factor is completely determined. A rolling scalar field cosmology is defined by its action which can contain a range of physically motivated dark energy potentials. The beta function is chosen so that the associated "beta potential" is an accurate, but not exact, representation of the appropriate dark energy model potential. The basic concept is that the action with the beta potential is so similar to the action with the model potential that solutions using the beta action are accurate representations of solutions using the model action. The beta function provides an extra equation to calculate analytic functions of the cosmologies parameters as a function of the scale factor that are that are not calculable using only the model action. As an example this investigation uses a quintessence cosmology to demonstrate the method for power and inverse power law dark energy potentials. An interesting result of the investigation is that the Hubble parameter H is almost completely insensitive to the power of the potentials and that $\Lambda$CDM is part of the family of quintessence cosmology power law potentials with a power of zero.Comment: Accepted for publication by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Scattering by a semi-infinite lattice and the excitation of Bloch waves

The interaction of a time-harmonic plane wave with a semi-infinite lattice of identical circular cylinders is considered. No assumptions about the radius of the cylinders, or their scattering properties, are made. Multipole expansions and Graf’s addition theorem are used to reduce the boundary value problem to an infinite linear system of equations. Applying the z transform and disregarding interaction effects due to certain strongly damped modes then leads to a matrix Wiener–Hopf equation with rational elements. This is solved by a straightforward method that does not require matrix factorisation. Implementation of the method requires that the zeros of the matrix determinant be located numerically, and once this is achieved, all far field quantities can be calculated. Numerical results that show the proportion of energy reflected back from the edge are presented for several different lattice geometries. 1

Spinning in the NAPLAN ether: 'Postscript on the control societies' and the seduction of education in Australia

This paper applies concepts Deleuze developed in his ‘Postscript on the Societies of Control’, especially those relating to modulatory power, dividuation and control, to aspects of Australian schooling to explore how this transition is manifesting itself. Two modulatory machines of assessment, NAPLAN and My Schools, are examined as a means to better understand how the disciplinary institution is changing as a result of modulation. This transition from discipline to modulation is visible in the declining importance of the disciplinary teacher/student relationship as a measure of the success of the educative process. The transition occurs through seduction because that which purports to measure classroom quality is in fact a serpent of modulation that produces simulacra of the disciplinary classroom. The effect is to sever what happens in the disciplinary space from its representations in a luminiferous ether that overlays the classroom

E2 component in subcoulomb breakup of ^{8}B

We calculate the angular distribution and total cross section of the ^{7}Be fragment emitted in the break up reaction of ^{8}B on ^{58}Ni and ^{208}Pb targets at the subCoulomb beam energy of 25.8 MeV, within the non-relativistic theory of Coulomb excitation with proper three-body kinematics. The relative contributions of the E1, E2 and M1 multipolarities to the cross sections are determined. The E2 component makes up about 65% and 40% of the ^{7}Be total cross section for the ^{58}Ni and ^{208}Pb targets respectively. We find that the extraction of the astrophysical S-factor, S_{17}(0), for the ^{7}Be(p,\gamma)^8B reaction at solar energies from the measurements of the cross sections of the ^{7}Be fragment in the Coulomb dissociation of ^{8}B at sub-Coulomb energies is still not free from the uncertainties of the E2 component.Comment: Revised version (correcting earlier errors) submitted to Phys. Letts.