21 research outputs found
Abundance and American democracy: a test of dire predictions
The American political system was severely tested in the 1970s and it is not yet obvious that the system's response to those tests was adequate. Some scholars have argued that the confusion we witnessed in energy, environmental and economic policies was symptomatic of even worse situations to come. Their consensus is that our style of democratic politics is incapable of dealing with the problems we increasingly face. Consequently, they predict that democracy's days are numbered. Furthermore, many Americans sense that the "joy ride" may be over, and that our economy may be hard pressed to maintain standards, much less continue its historic growth. One poll showed a 34 percent increase, since 1977, in respondents who believe, "The United States is in deep and serious trouble," and a well known economist, employing the terminology of game theory, has suggested that ours has become a "Zero-Sum society.
Absolute Proper Motions to B~22.5: V. Detection of Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Debris in the Direction of the Galactic Anticenter
We have detected a population of predominantly blue (B-V <= 1.1) stars in the
direction l = 167 deg., b = -35 deg. (Kapteyn Selected Area 71) that cannot be
accounted for by standard starcount models. Down to V ~ 20, the colors and
magnitudes of these stars are similar to those of the southern overdensity
detected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and identified as stripped material
from the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy. We present absolute proper
motions for the stars in SA 71, and we find that the excess blue stars
represent a distinct, kinematically cooler component than the Galactic field,
and in reasonable agreement with predictions of Sgr disruption models. The
density of the excess SA 71 stars at V ~ 18.8 and B-V <=1.1 is within a factor
of two of the density of the SDSS-south Sgr stripped material, and of that
predicted by the Helmi and White disruption model. Three additional anticenter
fields (SA 29, 45 and 118) show very good agreement with standard starcount
models.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJL, accepted for Ap