Excitation dynamics in polyacene molecules on rare-gas clusters

Laser-induced fluorescence spectra and excitation lifetimes of anthracene, tetracene, and pentacene molecules attached to the surface of solid argon clusters have been measured with respect to cluster size, density of molecules, and excitation density. Results are compared to previous studies on the same sample molecules attached to neon clusters. A contrasting lifetime behavior of anthracene on neon and argon clusters is discussed, and mechanisms are suggested to interpret the results. Although both neon and argon clusters are considered to be weakly interacting environments, we find that the excitation decay dynamics of the studied acenes depends significantly on the cluster material. Moreover, we find even qualitative differences regarding the dependence on the dopant density. Based on these observations, previous assignments of collective radiative and non-radiative decay mechanisms are discussed in the context of the new experimental findings.& nbsp;(c) 2022 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Extreme Ultraviolet Wave Packet Interferometry of the Autoionizing HeNe Dimer

Femtosecond extreme ultraviolet wave packet interferometry (XUV-WPI) was applied to study resonant interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) in the HeNe dimer. The high demands on phase stability and sensitivity for vibronic XUV-WPI of molecular-beam targets are met using an XUV phase-cycling scheme. The detected quantum interferences exhibit vibronic dephasing and rephasing signatures along with an ultrafast decoherence assigned to the ICD process. A Fourier analysis reveals the molecular absorption spectrum with high resolution. The demonstrated experiment shows a promising route for the real-time analysis of ultrafast ICD processes with both high temporal and high spectral resolution

Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions and the formation of new particles

Available from TIB Hannover: RO 801(91-28) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

The varieties of impartiality, or, would an egalitarian endorse the veil?

Social contract theorists often take the ideal contract to be the agreement or bargain individuals would make in some privileged choice situation. Recently, experimental philosophers have explored this kind of decision-making in the lab. One rather robust finding is that the exact circumstances of choice significantly affect the kinds of social arrangements experimental subjects unanimously endorse. Yet prior work has largely ignored the question of which of the many competing descriptions of the original position subjects find most compelling. This paper aims to address this gap, exploring how attractive experimental subjects find various characterizations of these circumstances of choice. We find evidence suggesting that no one choice situation can fulfill the role that social contract theorists have hoped it would play. We also find that, contrary to what some prominent social contract theorists have expected, there is no robust relationship between an individual’s ranking of distributive principles and their ranking of various descriptions of the original position. In conclusion, we discuss the broader implications of these results for political philosophy

New authority: Hamlet’s politics with (and against) Carl Schmitt

Carl Schmitt’s political thought has attained centrality in contemporary discussions of authority. Despite this, his complicated view of the interaction between religion and politics remains less well explored. We argue that his 1956 essay Hamlet oder Hekuba is essential to an understanding of Schmitt’s thought on authority because it is precisely this nexus of religion and politics which is at stake in his Hamlet reading. Schmitt depicts Shakespeare – through Hamlet – as standing in the unique historical position to see the political problem (or catastrophe) of modernity: the separation of theology from politics. For him, Hamlet depicts the borderland ‘in between’ competing and transforming worlds – or what he terms ‘the barbaric and the political.’ Hamlet must resolve conflicts within himself between politics inspired by Protestant (indebted specifically to Martin Luther) and Roman Catholic religious beliefs. We argue that it is only by attending to the Hamlet of Wittenberg that the point of Schmitt’s essay is revealed: modernity itself creates the problem of authority. Recognizing this core of Schmitt’s thought allows us to theorize democratic authority