A psychoanalytic concept illustrated: Will, must, may, can — revisiting the survival function of primitive omnipotence

The author explores the linear thread connecting the theory of Freud and Klein, in terms of the central significance of the duality of the life and death instinct and the capacity of the ego to tolerate contact with internal and external reality. Theoretical questions raised by later authors, informed by clinical work with children who have suffered deprivation and trauma in infancy, are then considered. Theoretical ideas are illustrated with reference to observational material of a little boy who suffered deprivation and trauma in infancy. He was first observed in the middle of his first year of life while he was living in foster care, and then later at the age of two years and three months, when he had been living with his adoptive parents for more than a year

Inclination-dependent spectral and timing properties in transient black hole X-ray binaries

We use a simple one-dimensional parameterisation of timing properties to show that hard and hard-intermediate state transient black hole X-ray binaries with the same power-spectral shape have systematically harder X-ray power-law emission in higher-inclination systems. We also show that the power-spectral shape and amplitude of the broadband noise (with low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations, QPOs, removed) is independent of inclination, confirming that it is well-correlated with the intrinsic structure of the emitting regions and that the "type C" QPO, which is inclination-dependent, has a different origin to the noise, probably geometric. Our findings suggest that the power-law emission originates in a corona which is flattened in the plane of the disc, and not in a jet-like structure which would lead to softer spectra at higher inclinations. However, there is tentative evidence that the inclination-dependence of spectral shape breaks down deeper into the hard state. This suggests either a change in the coronal geometry and possible evidence for contribution from jet emission, or alternatively an even more optically thin flow in these states.Comment: 6 Pages, 4 Figures, accepted as a Letter by MNRA

Power-Colours: Simple X-ray Binary Variability Comparison

We demonstrate a new method of variability classification using observations of black hole X-ray binaries. Using `power colours' -- ratios of integrated power in different Fourier frequency bands -- we can clearly differentiate different canonical black hole states as the objects evolve during outburst. We analyse (~ 2400) Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations of 12 transient low mass black hole X-ray binaries and find that the path taken around the power colour-colour diagram as the sources evolve is highly consistent from object to object. We discuss how the consistency observed in the power colour-colour diagram between different objects allows for easy state classification based on only a few observations, and show how the power-spectral shapes can be simply classified using a single parameter, the power-spectral `hue'. To illustrate the benefits of our simple model-independent approach, we show that the persistent high mass X-ray binary Cyg X-1 shows very similar power-spectral evolution to the transient black hole sources, with the main difference being caused by a combination of a lack of quasi-periodic oscillations and an excess of low-frequency power-law noise in the Cyg X-1 power spectra during the transitional state. We also compare the transient objects to the neutron star atoll source Aquila X-1, demonstrating that it traces a different path in the power colour-colour plot. Thus, power-colours could be an effective method to classify newly discovered X-ray binaries.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted by MNRA

Possible solution of the Coriolis attenuation problem

The most consistently useful simple model for the study of odd deformed nuclei, the particle-rotor model (strong coupling limit of the core-particle coupling model) has nevertheless been beset by a long-standing problem: It is necessary in many cases to introduce an ad hoc parameter that reduces the size of the Coriolis interaction coupling the collective and single-particle motions. Of the numerous suggestions put forward for the origin of this supplementary interaction, none of those actually tested by calculations has been accepted as the solution of the problem. In this paper we seek a solution of the difficulty within the framework of a general formalism that starts from the spherical shell model and is capable of treating an arbitrary linear combination of multipole and pairing forces. With the restriction of the interaction to the familiar sum of a quadrupole multipole force and a monopole pairing force, we have previously studied a semi-microscopic version of the formalism whose framework is nevertheless more comprehensive than any previously applied to the problem. We obtained solutions for low-lying bands of several strongly deformed odd rare earth nuclei and found good agreement with experiment, except for an exaggerated staggering of levels for K=1/2 bands, which can be understood as a manifestation of the Coriolis attenuation problem. We argue that within the formalism utilized, the only way to improve the physics is to add interactions to the model Hamiltonian. We verify that by adding a magnetic dipole interaction of essentially fixed strength, we can fit the K=1/2 bands without destroying the agreement with other bands. In addition we show that our solution also fits 163Er, a classic test case of Coriolis attenuation that we had not previously studied.Comment: revtex, including 7 figures(postscript), submitted to Phys.Rev.

Threshold expansion of massive coloured particle cross sections

Pair production of massive coloured particles in hadron collisions is accompanied by potentially large radiative corrections related to the suppression of soft gluon emission and enhanced Coulomb exchange near the production threshold. We recently developed a framework to sum both series of corrections for the partonic cross section using soft-collinear and non-relativistic effective theory. If it can be argued that the resummed cross section approximates the complete result over a significant kinematic range, an improvement of the hadronic cross section results, even when the production is not kinematically constrained to the threshold. This is discussed here for the case of top quark production.Comment: 5 pages, to appear in: Proceedings of the 10th DESY Workshop on Elementary Particle Theory: Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory 2010, W\"orlitz, Germany, 25-30 Apr 201

Derivation and assessment of strong coupling core-particle model from the Kerman-Klein-D\"onau-Frauendorf theory

We review briefly the fundamental equations of a semi-microscopic core-particle coupling method that makes no reference to an intrinsic system of coordinates. We then demonstrate how an intrinsic system can be introduced in the strong coupling limit so as to yield a completely equivalent formulation. It is emphasized that the conventional core-particle coupling calculation introduces a further approximation that avoids what has hitherto been the most time-consuming feature of the full theory, and that this approximation can be introduced either in the intrinsic system, the usual case, or in the laboratory system, our preference. A new algorithm is described for the full theory that largely removes the difference in complexity between the two types of calculation. Comparison of the full and approximate theories for some representative cases provides a basis for the assessment of the accuracy of the traditional approach. We find that for well-deformed nuclei, e.g. 157Gd and 157Tb, the core-coupling method and the full theory give similar results.Comment: revtex, 3 figures(postscript), submitted to Phys.Rev.

Jet reconstruction and jet background classification with the ALICE experiment in PbPb collisions at the LHC

For a quantitative interpretation of reconstructed jet properties in heavy-ion collisions it is paramount to characterize the contribution from the underlying event and the influence of background fluctuations on the jet signal. In addition to the pure number fluctuations, region-to-region correlated background within one event can enhance or deplete locally the level of background and modify the jet energy. We show a first detailed assessment of background effects using different probes embedded into heavy-ion data and quantify their influence on the reconstructed jet spectrum.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings for the XXII International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Quark Matter 2011, Annec

How robust is a thermal photon interpretation of the ALICE low-p_T data?

We present a rigorous theoretical analysis of the ALICE measurement of low-p_T direct-photon production in central lead-lead collisions at the LHC with a centre-of-mass energy of \sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76 TeV. Using NLO QCD, we compute the relative contributions to prompt-photon production from different initial and final states and the theoretical uncertainties coming from independent variations of the renormalisation and factorisation scales, the nuclear parton densities and the fragmentation functions. Based on different fits to the unsubtracted and prompt-photon subtracted ALICE data, we consistently find T = 304 \pm 58 MeV and 309 \pm 64 MeV for the effective temperature of the quark-gluon plasma (or hot medium) at p_T \in [0.8;2.2] GeV and p_T \in [1.5;3.5] GeV as well as a power-law (p_T^{-4}) behavior for p_T > 4 GeV as predicted by QCD hard scattering.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl