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 $\alpha$ 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 $\mathbb{Z}_2$-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, $H_2+H\to H+H_2$, 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