`Iconoclastic', Categorical Quantum Gravity

This is a two-part, `2-in-1' paper. In Part I, the introductory talk at `Glafka--2004: Iconoclastic Approaches to Quantum Gravity' international theoretical physics conference is presented in paper form (without references). In Part II, the more technical talk, originally titled ``Abstract Differential Geometric Excursion to Classical and Quantum Gravity'', is presented in paper form (with citations). The two parts are closely entwined, as Part I makes general motivating remarks for Part II.Comment: 34 pages, in paper form 2 talks given at ``Glafka--2004: Iconoclastic Approaches to Quantum Gravity'' international theoretical physics conference, Athens, Greece (summer 2004

Algebraic description of spacetime foam

A mathematical formalism for treating spacetime topology as a quantum observable is provided. We describe spacetime foam entirely in algebraic terms. To implement the correspondence principle we express the classical spacetime manifold of general relativity and the commutative coordinates of its events by means of appropriate limit constructions.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX2e, the section concerning classical spacetimes in the limit essentially correcte

`Third' Quantization of Vacuum Einstein Gravity and Free Yang-Mills Theories

Based on the algebraico-categorical (:sheaf-theoretic and sheaf cohomological) conceptual and technical machinery of Abstract Differential Geometry, a new, genuinely background spacetime manifold independent, field quantization scenario for vacuum Einstein gravity and free Yang-Mills theories is introduced. The scheme is coined `third quantization' and, although it formally appears to follow a canonical route, it is fully covariant, because it is an expressly functorial `procedure'. Various current and future Quantum Gravity research issues are discussed under the light of 3rd-quantization. A postscript gives a brief account of this author's personal encounters with Rafael Sorkin and his work.Comment: 43 pages; latest version contributed to a fest-volume celebrating Rafael Sorkin's 60th birthday (Erratum: in earlier versions I had wrongly written that the Editor for this volume is Daniele Oriti, with CUP as publisher. I apologize for the mistake.

Anesthesia for endobronchial laser surgery: a modified technique

We describe a technique for endobronchial surgery with the neodynium:yttium-aluminum-garnet laser, in which an insufflation catheter with side holes placed into the contralateral mainstem bronchus is used for high-frequency positive pressure ventilation. Thirty-five patients (45 procedures) were treated during general anesthesia using a rigid bronchoscope in combination with a fiberoptic bronchoscope. Perioperatively, oxygen saturation (SaO2), mean arterial pressure, and heart rate were recorded. SaO2 during the recovery period was comparable to that during the intraoperative period but was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that before the induction of anesthesia. There was a considerable (> or = 5%) increase in SaO2 at the end of the treatment in six patients, which indicates that the recanalization of the treated airway was successful. Our data support the assumption that, during endobronchial resection, selective ventilation of the nonaffected lung was adequate; in addition, subcarinal placement of the insufflation catheter with side holes was advantageous. We conclude that this technique contributes to the prevention of lung complications during endobronchial laser surgery. Implications: We describe a technique in which an insufflation catheter with side holes placed into the contralateral mainstem bronchus largely prevented inhalation of laser smoke and aspiration of blood and debris

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum