8,720 research outputs found
The Electrodynamics of Inhomogeneous Rotating Media and the Abraham and Minkowski Tensors II: Applications
Applications of the covariant theory of drive-forms are considered for a
class of perfectly insulating media. The distinction between the notions of
"classical photons" in homogeneous bounded and unbounded stationary media and
in stationary unbounded magneto-electric media is pointed out in the context of
the Abraham, Minkowski and symmetrized Minkowski electromagnetic
stress-energy-momentum tensors. Such notions have led to intense debate about
the role of these (and other) tensors in describing electromagnetic
interactions in moving media. In order to address some of these issues for
material subject to the Minkowski constitutive relations, the propagation of
harmonic waves through homogeneous and inhomogeneous, isotropic plane-faced
slabs at rest is first considered. To motivate the subsequent analysis on
accelerating media two classes of electromagnetic modes that solve Maxwell's
equations for uniformly rotating homogeneous polarizable media are enumerated.
Finally it is shown that, under the influence of an incident monochromatic,
circularly polarized, plane electromagnetic wave, the Abraham and symmetrized
Minkowski tensors induce different time-averaged torques on a uniformly
rotating materially inhomogeneous dielectric cylinder. We suggest that this
observation may offer new avenues to explore experimentally the covariant
electrodynamics of more general accelerating media.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Proc. Roy. Soc.
Energy conservation for dynamical black holes
An energy conservation law is described, expressing the increase in
mass-energy of a general black hole in terms of the energy densities of the
infalling matter and gravitational radiation. For a growing black hole, this
first law of black-hole dynamics is equivalent to an equation of Ashtekar &
Krishnan, but the new integral and differential forms are regular in the limit
where the black hole ceases to grow. An effective gravitational-radiation
energy tensor is obtained, providing measures of both ingoing and outgoing,
transverse and longitudinal gravitational radiation on and near a black hole.
Corresponding energy-tensor forms of the first law involve a preferred time
vector which plays the role for dynamical black holes which the stationary
Killing vector plays for stationary black holes. Identifying an energy flux,
vanishing if and only if the horizon is null, allows a division into
energy-supply and work terms, as in the first law of thermodynamics. The energy
supply can be expressed in terms of area increase and a newly defined surface
gravity, yielding a Gibbs-like equation, with a similar form to the so-called
first law for stationary black holes.Comment: 4 revtex4 pages. Many (mostly presentational) changes; emphasizes the
definition of gravitational radiation in the strong-field regim
Momentum of an electromagnetic wave in dielectric media
Almost a hundred years ago, two different expressions were proposed for the
energy--momentum tensor of an electromagnetic wave in a dielectric. Minkowski's
tensor predicted an increase in the linear momentum of the wave on entering a
dielectric medium, whereas Abraham's tensor predicted its decrease. Theoretical
arguments were advanced in favour of both sides, and experiments proved
incapable of distinguishing between the two. Yet more forms were proposed, each
with their advocates who considered the form that they were proposing to be the
one true tensor. This paper reviews the debate and its eventual conclusion:
that no electromagnetic wave energy--momentum tensor is complete on its own.
When the appropriate accompanying energy--momentum tensor for the material
medium is also considered, experimental predictions of all the various proposed
tensors will always be the same, and the preferred form is therefore
effectively a matter of personal choice.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX 4. Removed erroneous factor of mu/mu_0
from Eq.(44
The value of health
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A major problem in cost-effectiveness studies is where to draw the line between interventions which are cost-effective and those who are not. Lacking a notion about the value of a QALY, all ultimate values to the cost-effectiveness ratio are essentially arbitrary.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This paper presents a simple empirical model to estimate the compensating income variation of diseases and health problems. The model is estimated using data for the Netherlands.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The compensating income variation is between €20,000 and €90,000. This is higher than most of the ultimate values used by policy-makers to decide whether an intervention is cost-effective. Our figures are roughly similar to those found in studies about the value of a statistical life year.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Estimates on the compensating income variation of diseases and health problems may provide useful information on the maximum acceptable cost-effectiveness ratio of medical interventions than those currently used by policy makers.</p
The benefits of joint and separate financial management of couples
Financial management differs across households with consequences for financial outcomes and well-being of partners in households. A large-sample study has been performed, investigating the relationship between financial management of households and the occurrence of financial problems. To our knowledge, this is the first study on this relationship. Data from both partners was collected on having joint and separate bank accounts, on financial decision making, on drivers of financial management, and on financial outcomes. Based on the data, four financial management styles were derived: syncratic/joint, male-dominant, female-dominant, and autonomous financial management. In the syncratic style, partners have a joint bank account and take most financial decisions together. In the male/female-dominant styles, one partner (husband or wife) takes the main financial decisions. In the autonomous style, both partners have their own bank accounts and make their own decisions. As a conclusion, we find that syncratic financial management and having a joint instead of a separate bank account correlates with fewer financial problems, as compared with male-dominant money management and having separate bank accounts. Deciding together as partners is beneficial for the quality of financial management and for avoiding financial problems.</p
Lorentz Violating Supersymmetric Quantum Electrodynamics
Theory of Supersymmetric Quantum Electrodynamics is extended by interactions
with external vector and tensor backgrounds, that are assumed to be generated
by some Lorentz-violating (LV) dynamics at an ultraviolet scale perhaps related
to the Planck scale. Exact supersymmetry requires that such interactions
correspond to LV operators of dimension five or higher, providing a solution to
the naturalness problem in the LV sector. We classify all dimension five and
six LV operators, analyze their properties at the quantum level and describe
observational consequences of LV in this theory. We show that LV operators do
not induce destabilizing D-terms, gauge anomaly and the Chern-Simons term for
photons. We calculate the renormalization group evolution of dimension five LV
operators and their mixing with dimension three LV operators, controlled by the
scale of the soft-breaking masses. Dimension five LV operators are constrained
by the low-energy precision measurements at 10^{-10}-10^{-5} level in units of
the inverse Planck scale, while the Planck-scale suppressed dimension six LV
operators are allowed by observational data.Comment: 37 pages LaTeX, minor revisions, and typos correcte
Electromagnetic self-forces and generalized Killing fields
Building upon previous results in scalar field theory, a formalism is
developed that uses generalized Killing fields to understand the behavior of
extended charges interacting with their own electromagnetic fields. New notions
of effective linear and angular momenta are identified, and their evolution
equations are derived exactly in arbitrary (but fixed) curved spacetimes. A
slightly modified form of the Detweiler-Whiting axiom that a charge's motion
should only be influenced by the so-called "regular" component of its
self-field is shown to follow very easily. It is exact in some interesting
cases, and approximate in most others. Explicit equations describing the
center-of-mass motion, spin angular momentum, and changes in mass of a small
charge are also derived in a particular limit. The chosen approximations --
although standard -- incorporate dipole and spin forces that do not appear in
the traditional Abraham-Lorentz-Dirac or Dewitt-Brehme equations. They have,
however, been previously identified in the test body limit.Comment: 20 pages, minor typos correcte
The Great North Sea Flood of 1953, The Deltaworks and the spatial distribution of people
Large shocks, such as natural disasters, are often found to have little or no effect on the equilibrium distribution of economic activity across space. Two apparently competing theoretical explanations for this phenomenon are the increasing returns theory and the locational fundamentals theory. This study investigates the population dynamics resulting from the flood that hit the Netherlands in 1953 and from the mitigation measures that followed it.A dynamic difference-in-differences analysis reveals that the flood had an immediate negative impact on population growth, but limited long term effects. The mitigation efforts, gathered under the Deltaworks Programme, are on the other hand found to have had positive effects that are persisting through time. Our results are consistent with both the theory of increasing returns and that of locational fundamentals. The results also suggest that the combined long term effect of the flood in 1953 and the mitigation measures that followed was an increased concentration of population in vulnerable areas
Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics: Structural Relaxation, Fictive temperature and Tool-Narayanaswamy phenomenology in Glasses
Starting from the second law of thermodynamics applied to an isolated system
consisting of the system surrounded by an extremely large medium, we formulate
a general non-equilibrium thermodynamic description of the system when it is
out of equilibrium. We then apply it to study the structural relaxation in
glasses and establish the phenomenology behind the concept of the fictive
temperature and of the empirical Tool-Narayanaswamy equation on firmer
theoretical foundation.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur
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