3,096 research outputs found
Conductor\u27s Guide to Mark Camphouse\u27s To Build A Fire
This thesis is a guide to understanding and performing Mark Camphouse’s composition, To Build A Fire. The thesis includes a biography of Jack London and a literary analysis of London’s short story “To Build A Fire,” upon which the composition is based. Musical analysis of the Camphouse composition, rehearsal considerations, and performance considerations are also discussed. The literary analysis provides background for the composition and a starting platform for the musical analysis. The musical analysis parallels the composition with the short story. This analysis also provides some technical considerations of the instrumental parts. The rehearsal considerations include a rehearsal plan, discussion of the conductor’s preparation, and some rehearsal guidelines. The performance consideration section includes ensemble seating and how to introduce the audience to the work. The conclusion of the thesis states that when the steps used for score study are applied to the Camphouse piece, the information uncovered is valuable to the performance
Diverging equilibration times in long-range quantum spin models
The approach to equilibrium is studied for long-range quantum Ising models
where the interaction strength decays like r^{-\alpha} at large distances r
with an exponent not exceeding the lattice dimension. For a large
class of observables and initial states, the time evolution of expectation
values can be calculated. We prove analytically that, at a given instant of
time t and for sufficiently large system size N, the expectation value of some
observable (t) will practically be unchanged from its initial value (0).
This finding implies that, for large enough N, equilibration effectively occurs
on a time scale beyond the experimentally accessible one and will not be
observed in practice.Comment: 4+ pages, 1 figur
Shutters, Boxes, But No Paradoxes: Time Symmetry Puzzles in Quantum Theory
The ``N-Box Experiment'' is a much-discussed thought experiment in quantum
mechanics. It is claimed by some authors that a single particle prepared in a
superposition of N+1 box locations and which is subject to a final
``post-selection'' measurement corresponding to a different superposition can
be said to have occupied ``with certainty'' N boxes during the intervening
time. However, others have argued that under closer inspection, this surprising
claim fails to hold. Aharonov and Vaidman have continued their advocacy of the
claim in question by proposing a variation on the N-box experiment, in which
the boxes are replaced by shutters and the pre- and post-selected particle is
entangled with a photon. These authors argue that the resulting ``N-shutter
experiment'' strengthens their original claim regarding the N-box experiment.
It is argued in this paper that the apparently surprising features of this
variation are no more robust than those of the N-box experiment and that it is
not accurate to say that the particle is ``with certainty'' in all N shutters
at any given time.Comment: Presentation improved; to appear in International Studies in
Philosophy of Scienc
A simple topological model with continuous phase transition
In the area of topological and geometric treatment of phase transitions and
symmetry breaking in Hamiltonian systems, in a recent paper some general
sufficient conditions for these phenomena in -symmetric systems
(i.e. invariant under reflection of coordinates) have been found out. In this
paper we present a simple topological model satisfying the above conditions
hoping to enlighten the mechanism which causes this phenomenon in more general
physical models. The symmetry breaking is testified by a continuous
magnetization with a nonanalytic point in correspondence of a critical
temperature which divides the broken symmetry phase from the unbroken one. A
particularity with respect to the common pictures of a phase transition is that
the nonanalyticity of the magnetization is not accompanied by a nonanalytic
behavior of the free energy.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
Analysing the relationship between ectomycorrhizal infection and forest decline using marginal models
This statistical survey originates from the problem of discovering which relationship exists between root ectomycorrhizal infection and health status of forest plants. The sampling scheme takes observations from roots that come from sectors around the tree resulting in a hierarchical association structure of the observations. Marginal regression models are used to analyze the mean effect of the ectomycorrhizal state on a response variable proxy for the health degree of the plants
Electronic phase diagrams of carriers in self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots: violation of Hund's rule and the Aufbau principle for holes
We study the orbital and spin configurations of up to six electrons or holes
charged into self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots via single-particle
pseudopotential and many-particle configuration interaction method. We find
that while the charging of {\it electrons} follows both Hund's rule and the
Aufbau principle, the charging of {\it holes} follows a non-trivial charging
pattern which violates both the Aufbau principle and Hund's rule, and is robust
against the details of the quantum dot size. The predicted hole charging
sequence offers a new interpretation of recent charging experiments
Spitzer IRS Spectra of Luminous 8 micron Sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud: Testing color-based classifications
We present archival Spitzer IRS spectra of 19 luminous 8 micron selected
sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The object classes derived from
these spectra and from an additional 24 spectra in the literature are compared
with classifications based on 2MASS/MSX (J, H, K, and 8 micron) colors in order
to test the "JHK8" classification scheme (Kastner et al. 2008). The IRS spectra
confirm the classifications of 22 of the 31 sources that can be classified
under the JHK8 system. The spectroscopic classification of 12 objects that were
unclassifiable in the JHK8 scheme allow us to characterize regions of the
color-color diagrams that previously lacked spectroscopic verification,
enabling refinements to the JHK8 classification system. The results of these
new classifications are consistent with previous results concerning the
identification of the most infrared-luminous objects in the LMC. In particular,
while the IRS spectra reveal several new examples of asymptotic giant branch
(AGB) stars with O-rich envelopes, such objects are still far outnumbered by
carbon stars (C-rich AGB stars). We show that Spitzer IRAC/MIPS color-color
diagrams provide improved discrimination between red supergiants and
oxygen-rich and carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch stars relative to those
based on 2MASS/MSX colors. These diagrams will enable the most luminous IR
sources in Local Group galaxies to be classified with high confidence based on
their Spitzer colors. Such characterizations of stellar populations will
continue to be possible during Spitzer's warm mission, through the use of IRAC
[3.6]-[4.5] and 2MASS colors.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures, to be published in A
Modelling chemical reactions using semiconductor quantum dots
We propose using semiconductor quantum dots for a simulation of chemical
reactions as electrons are redistributed among such artificial atoms. We show
that it is possible to achieve various reaction regimes and obtain different
reaction products by varying the speed of voltage changes applied to the gates
forming quantum dots. Considering the simplest possible reaction, , we show how the necessary initial state can be obtained and what
voltage pulses should be applied to achieve a desirable final product. Our
calculations have been performed using the Pechukas gas approach, which can be
extended for more complicated reactions
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