Vacuum Bubble in an Inhomogeneous Cosmology

We study the propagation of bubbles of new vacuum in a radially inhomogeneous Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi background that includes a cosmological constant. This exemplifies the classical evolution of a tunneling bubble through a metastable state with curvature inhomogeneities, and will be relevant in the context of the Landscape. We demand that the matter profile in the LTB background satisfy the weak energy condition. For sample profiles that satisfy this restriction, we find that the evolution of the bubble (in terms of the physically relevant coordinates intrinsic to the shell) is largely unaffected by the prsence of local inhomogeneities. Our setup should also be a useful toy model for capturing the effects of ambient inhomogeneities on an inflating region.Comment: 31 pages, 21(!) figures, v2: minor changes, figures re-sized (might require zoom on some systems), references adde

Wild dances and dying wolves: simulation, essentialization, and national identity at the Eurovision Song Contest

This paper examines Eurovision as a site for the public representation of the nation and explores the tendency towards simulation in such representations. The contest’s transnational audience and implication in commercial practices create pressures towards representing the nation through simplified, well-known images. A critique of globalization from south-east Europe argues that cultural production from marginalized countries which emphasizes local distinctiveness is a sign of structural inequality. This critique is tested against representational strategies from Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia. Eurovision is then related to tourism through an analysis of the representation of the Mediterranean in Eurovision performances, which reflect symbolic hierarchies constructed by travel writing since the Enlightenment. Finally, the paper considers the overarching representational power exerted by host states