Separation of the Galactic Synchrotron Foreground and the CMB Polarization Measurements

The polarization of the CMBR represents a powerful test for modern cosmology. It allows to break the degeneracy of fundamental cosmological parameters, and also to observe the contribution of gravitational waves background to the CMBR anisotropy. To observe the CMBR polarization several experiments are either in progress or planned and SPOrt is one of the most promising planned by ESA. At the same time the observation of the CMBR polarization is a difficult task and one of the reasons is the presence of polarized foreground emission. For instance, galactic polarized synchrotron emission (according to some estimates) can completely mimic the polarization of the CMBR. Nevertheless, one can use mathematical properties of the spherical harmonics of the distribution of radiation over the sky to separate different contributions. In this paper the mathematical properties of the polarized synchrotron foreground and the physical mechanism that produces it are discussed. The separation of synchrotron polarization from the polarization generated by density cosmological perturbations is discussed as well.Comment: 10 LaTeX pages, acceptted to AIP Conference Proceedin

Stylistic peculiarities in self-translation

The paper deals with stylistic peculiarities which are characteristic of V. Nabokov’s self-translation of “Lolita”, his most famous novel. We analyze how the writer translates phraseological units that, on the one hand, are widely used in the source text and, on the other hand, present a real challenge for translators. The research identifies the reasons that caused the writer to translate his novel himself and studies the translation techniques employed by V. Nabokov. Reproducing “Lolita” in the Russian language the writer creates a new text targeting at the Russian reader. He overcomes the asymmetry of the positions in artistic freedom and creative independence of an author and a professional translator. His auto-translation represents “ideal” translation since the author is in a better position than any ordinary translator because he knows his creation as nobody else and has the authority to allow himself shifts in the translation which might not have been ‘allowed’ by another translator. The results of V. Nabokov’s self-translation can be regarded as certain “gold standards” for others to make use of.peer-reviewe

Lens candidates in the Capodimonte Deep Field in the vicinity of the CSL1 object

CSL1 is a peculiar object discovered in the OACDF. Photometric and spectroscopic investigation strongly suggest that it may be the first case of gravitational lensing by cosmic string. In this paper we derive and discuss a statistical excess of a gravitational lens candidates present in OACDF region surrounding CSL1. This excess cannot be explained on the basis of conventional gravitational lens statistic alone, but is compatible with the proposed cosmic string scenario.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Pis'ma v Astron. Zhurnal (russian

CSL-1: a chance projection effect or serendipitous discovery of a gravitational lens induced by a cosmic string?

CSL-1 (Capodimonte--Sternberg--Lens Candidate, No.1) is an extragalactic double source detected in the OAC-DF (Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte - Deep Field). It can be interpreted either as the chance alignment of two identical galaxies at z=0.46 or as the first case of gravitational lensing by a cosmic string. Extensive modeling shows in fact that cosmic strings are the only type of lens which (at least at low angular resolution) can produce undistorted double images of a background source. We propose an experimentum crucis to disentangle between these two possible explanations. If the lensing by a cosmic string should be confirmed, it would provide the first measurements of energy scale of symmetry breaking and of the energy scale of Grand Unified Theory (GUT).Comment: Accepted for publication in the Mon. Not. Royal Astron. Societ

Personal Informatics, Self-Insight, and Behavior Change: A Critical Review of Current Literature

Personal Informatics (PI) systems allow users to collect and review personally relevant information. The purpose commonly envisioned for these systems is that they provide users with actionable, data-driven self-insight to help them change their behavioral patterns for the better. Here, we review relevant theory as well as empirical evidence for this ‘Self-Improvement Hypothesis’. From a corpus of 6568 only 24 studies met the selection criteria of being a peer-reviewed empirical study reporting on actionable, data-driven insights from PI data, using a ‘clean’ PI system with no other intervention techniques (e.g. additional coaching) on a non-clinical population. First results are promising—many of the selected articles report users gaining actionable insights—but we do note a number of methodological issues that make these results difficult to interpret. We conclude that more work is needed to investigate the Self-Improvement Hypothesis and provide a set of recommendations for future work

Possible Observation of a Cosmic String

Abstract The Capodimonte-Sternberg-Lens candidate No. 1 (CSL-1) is a peculiar double source discovered in the Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte -Deep Field (OACDF). Based on the OACDF data, follow-up spectroscopy and gravitational lensing models, we have ruled out all interpretations other than two: the unlikely projection effect of two identical galaxies at z=0.46, or the first case of gravitational lensing by a cosmic string. Detailed modeling shows that these two scenarios can be easily disentangled by using high angular resolution imaging. We also discussed a statistical excess of gravitational lens candidates present in OACDF region surrounding CSL-1. The excess of gravitational lenses (if it will be confirmed by more precise spectroscopic investigations) can not be explain on the basis of conventional gravitational lens statistic alone, but is compatible with the proposed cosmic string scenario. Confirmation of the cosmic string hypothesis