We haven't got a seat on the bus for you or All the seats are mine: Narratives and career transitions in professional golf

In this article we explore how the stories an athlete tells throughout life in sport affect her career transition experiences. We base our enquiry on a social constructionist conception of narrative theory which holds that storytelling is integral to the creation and maintenance of identity and sense of self. Life stories were gathered through interviews with two professional women golfers (Christiana and Kandy) over a six‐year period. Through a narrative analysis of structure and form we explored each participant’s stories of living in and withdrawing from professional golf. We suggest Christiana told monological performance‐oriented stories which, while aligning with the culture of elite sport, resulted in an exclusive athletic identity and foreclosure of alternative selves and roles. On withdrawal, Christiana experienced narrative wreckage, identity collapse, mental health difficulties and considerable psychological trauma. In contrast, Kandy told dialogical discovery‐oriented stories which, while being in tension with the dominant performance narrative, created and sustained a multidimensional identity and self. Her stories and identity remained intact, authentic and continuous on withdrawal from tournament golf and she experienced few psychological problems

Stories of success: Cultural narratives and personal stories of elite and professional athletes

Using a narrative methodology to explore the stories Olympic and elite athletes tell about success, we identified three alternatives to the dominant conception of success as the achievement of performance outcomes. In these alternatives, success is storied as: (1) ‘I did the best that I could’ – a controllable and sustainable story of effort and application; (2) ‘It’s the closest thing you can get to flying’ – a story where success relates to embodied experience and discovery; (3) ‘People I made the journey with’ – which prioritises relationships and connection between people. We reflect on three key insights: (1) success is a multidimensional concept, broader than the singular conception encapsulated within the dominant performance narrative; (2) through various narrative strategies, experienced athletes resist cultural pressures towards a singular conception of success; (3) for long-term performance and well-being, it is necessary to work towards multiple forms of success over time and across contexts

The Large-NN Limit of the Two-Hermitian-matrix model by the hidden BRST method

This paper discusses the large N limit of the two-Hermitian-matrix model in zero dimensions, using the hidden BRST method. A system of integral equations previously found is solved, showing that it contained the exact solution of the model in leading order of large $N$.Comment: 19 pages, Latex,CERN--TH-6531/9

Fredholm Determinants, Differential Equations and Matrix Models

Orthogonal polynomial random matrix models of NxN hermitian matrices lead to Fredholm determinants of integral operators with kernel of the form (phi(x) psi(y) - psi(x) phi(y))/x-y. This paper is concerned with the Fredholm determinants of integral operators having kernel of this form and where the underlying set is a union of open intervals. The emphasis is on the determinants thought of as functions of the end-points of these intervals. We show that these Fredholm determinants with kernels of the general form described above are expressible in terms of solutions of systems of PDE's as long as phi and psi satisfy a certain type of differentiation formula. There is also an exponential variant of this analysis which includes the circular ensembles of NxN unitary matrices.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX using RevTeX 3.0 macros; last version changes only the abstract and decreases length of typeset versio

Large N expansion of the 2-matrix model

We present a method, based on loop equations, to compute recursively all the terms in the large $N$ topological expansion of the free energy for the 2-hermitian matrix model. We illustrate the method by computing the first subleading term, i.e. the free energy of a statistical physics model on a discretized torus.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figures eps

Quasi-particle Lifetimes in a d_{x^2-y^2} Superconductor

We consider the lifetime of quasi-particles in a d-wave superconductor due to scattering from antiferromagnetic spin-fluctuations, and explicitly separate the contribution from Umklapp processes which determines the electrical conductivity. Results for the temperature dependence of the total scattering rate and the Umklapp scattering rate are compared with relaxation rates obtained from thermal and microwave conductivity measurements, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

The Solution Space of the Unitary Matrix Model String Equation and the Sato Grassmannian

The space of all solutions to the string equation of the symmetric unitary one-matrix model is determined. It is shown that the string equation is equivalent to simple conditions on points $V_1$ and $V_2$ in the big cell \Gr of the Sato Grassmannian $Gr$. This is a consequence of a well-defined continuum limit in which the string equation has the simple form \lb \cp ,\cq_- \rb =\hbox{\rm 1}, with \cp and \cq_- $2\times 2$ matrices of differential operators. These conditions on $V_1$ and $V_2$ yield a simple system of first order differential equations whose analysis determines the space of all solutions to the string equation. This geometric formulation leads directly to the Virasoro constraints \L_n\,(n\geq 0), where \L_n annihilate the two modified-KdV \t-functions whose product gives the partition function of the Unitary Matrix Model.Comment: 21 page

Two-Dimensional Unoriented Strings And Matrix Models

We investigate unoriented strings and superstrings in two dimensions and their dual matrix quantum mechanics. Most of the models we study have a tachyon tadpole coming from the RP^2 worldsheet which needs to be cancelled by a renormalization of the worldsheet theory. We find evidence that the dual matrix models describe the renormalized theory. The singlet sector of the matrix models is integrable and can be formulated in terms of fermions moving in an external potential and interacting via the Calogero-Moser potential. We show that in the double-scaling limit the latter system exhibits particle-hole duality and interpret it in terms of the dual string theory. We also show that oriented string theories in two dimensions can be continuously deformed into unoriented ones by turning on non-local interactions on the worldsheet. We find two unoriented superstring models for which only oriented worldsheets contribute to the S-matrix. A simple explanation for this is found in the dual matrix model.Comment: 36 pages, harvmac, 2 eps figure

Granular discharge and clogging for tilted hoppers

We measure the flux of spherical glass beads through a hole as a systematic function of both tilt angle and hole diameter, for two different size beads. The discharge increases with hole diameter in accord with the Beverloo relation for both horizontal and vertical holes, but in the latter case with a larger small-hole cutoff. For large holes the flux decreases linearly in cosine of the tilt angle, vanishing smoothly somewhat below the angle of repose. For small holes it vanishes abruptly at a smaller angle. The conditions for zero flux are discussed in the context of a {\it clogging phase diagram} of flow state vs tilt angle and ratio of hole to grain size

Heats of formation of perchloric acid, HClO4_4, and perchloric anhydride, Cl2_2O7_7. Probing the limits of W1 and W2 theory

The heats of formation of HClO$_4$ and Cl$_2$O$_7$ have been determined to chemical accuracy for the first time by means of W1 and W2 theory. These molecules exhibit particularly severe degrees of inner polarization, and as such obtaining a basis-set limit SCF component to the total atomization energy becomes a challenge. (Adding high-exponent $d$ functions to a standard $spd$ basis set has an effect on the order of 100 kcal/mol for Cl$_2$O$_7$.) Wilson's aug-cc-pV(n+d)Z basis sets represent a dramatic improvement over the standard aug-cc-pVnZ basis sets, while the aug-cc-pVnZ+2d1f sequence converges still more rapidly. Jensen's polarization consistent basis sets still require additional high-exponent $d$ functions: for smooth convergence we suggest the \{aug-pc1+3d,aug-pc2+2d,aug-pc3+d,aug-pc4\} sequence. The role of the tight $d$ functions is shown to be an improved description of the Cl (3d) Rydberg orbital, enhancing its ability to receive back-bonding from the oxygen lone pairs. In problematic cases like this (or indeed in general), a single SCF/aug-cc-pV6Z+2d1f calculation may be preferable over empirically motivated extrapolations. Our best estimate heats of formation are $\Delta H^\circ_{f,298}[$HClO$_4$(g)$]=-0.6\pm$1 kcal/mol and $\Delta H^\circ_{f,298}[$Cl$_2$O$_7$(g)$]=65.9\pm$2 kcal/mol, the largest source of uncertainty being our inability to account for post-CCSD(T) correlation effects. While G2 and G3 theory have fairly large errors, G3X theory reproduces both values to within 2 kcal/mol.Comment: J. Mol. Struct. (THEOCHEM), in press (WATOC'05 special issue