1,211 research outputs found
Reply to 'Broaden research on the human dimensions of climate change'
No description supplie
No entropy enigmas for N=4 dyons
We explain why multi-centered black hole configurations where at least one of
the centers is a large black hole do not contribute to the indexed degeneracies
in theories with N=4 supersymmetry. This is a consequence of the fact that such
configurations, although supersymmetric, belong to long supermultiplets. As a
result, there is no entropy enigma in N=4 theories, unlike in N=2 theories.Comment: 14 page
BPS States, Refined Indices, and Quiver Invariants
For D=4 BPS state construction, counting, and wall-crossing thereof, quiver
quantum mechanics offers two alternative approaches, the Coulomb phase and the
Higgs phase, which sometimes produce inequivalent counting. The authors have
proposed, in arXiv:1205.6511, two conjectures on the precise relationship
between the two, with some supporting evidences. Higgs phase ground states are
naturally divided into the Intrinsic Higgs sector, which is insensitive to
wall-crossings and thus an invariant of quiver, plus a pulled-back ambient
cohomology, conjectured to be an one-to-one image of Coulomb phase ground
states. In this note, we show that these conjectures hold for all cyclic
quivers with Abelian nodes, and further explore angular momentum and R-charge
content of individual states. Along the way, we clarify how the protected spin
character of BPS states should be computed in the Higgs phase, and further
determine the entire Hodge structure of the Higgs phase cohomology. This shows
that, while the Coulomb phase states are classified by angular momentum, the
Intrinsic Higgs states are classified by R-symmetry.Comment: 51 pages, 5 figure
A Study of Wall-Crossing: Flavored Kinks in D=2 QED
We study spectrum of D=2 N=(2,2) QED with N+1 massive charged chiral
multiplets, with care given to precise supermultiplet countings. In the
infrared the theory flows to CP^N model with twisted masses, where we construct
generic flavored kink solitons for the large mass regime, and study their
quantum degeneracies. These kinks are qualitatively different and far more
numerous than those of small mass regime, with features reminiscent of
multi-pronged (p,q) string web, complete with the wall-crossing behavior. It
has been also conjectured that spectrum of this theory is equivalent to the
hypermultiplet spectrum of a certain D=4 Seiberg-Witten theory. We find that
the correspondence actually extends beyond hypermultiplets in D=4, and that
many of the relevant indices match. However, a D=2 BPS state is typically
mapped to several different kind of dyons whose individual supermultiplets are
rather complicated; the match of index comes about only after summing over
indices of these different dyons. We note general wall-crossing behavior of
flavored BPS kink states, and compare it to those of D=4 dyons.Comment: 47 pages, 5 figures; typos fixed; references adde
Towards a science of climate and energy choices
The linked problems of energy sustainability and climate change are among the most complex and daunting facing humanity at the start of the twenty-first century. This joint Nature Energy and Nature Climate Change Collection illustrates how understanding and addressing these problems will require an integrated science of coupled human and natural systems; including technological systems, but also extending well beyond the domain of engineering or even economics. It demonstrates the value of replacing the stylized assumptions about human behaviour that are common in policy analysis, with ones based on data-driven science. We draw from and engage articles in the Collection to identify key contributions to understanding non-technological factors connecting economic activity and greenhouse gas emissions, describe a multi-dimensional space of human action on climate and energy issues, and illustrate key themes, dimensions and contributions towards fundamental understanding and informed decision making
Modulation of emotional appraisal by false physiological feedback during fMRI
BACKGROUND
James and Lange proposed that emotions are the perception of physiological reactions. Two-level theories of emotion extend this model to suggest that cognitive interpretations of physiological changes shape self-reported emotions. Correspondingly false physiological feedback of evoked or tonic bodily responses can alter emotional attributions. Moreover, anxiety states are proposed to arise from detection of mismatch between actual and anticipated states of physiological arousal. However, the neural underpinnings of these phenomena previously have not been examined.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
We undertook a functional brain imaging (fMRI) experiment to investigate how both primary and second-order levels of physiological (viscerosensory) representation impact on the processing of external emotional cues. 12 participants were scanned while judging face stimuli during both exercise and non-exercise conditions in the context of true and false auditory feedback of tonic heart rate. We observed that the perceived emotional intensity/salience of neutral faces was enhanced by false feedback of increased heart rate. Regional changes in neural activity corresponding to this behavioural interaction were observed within included right anterior insula, bilateral mid insula, and amygdala. In addition, right anterior insula activity was enhanced during by asynchronous relative to synchronous cardiac feedback even with no change in perceived or actual heart rate suggesting this region serves as a comparator to detect physiological mismatches. Finally, BOLD activity within right anterior insula and amygdala predicted the corresponding changes in perceived intensity ratings at both a group and an individual level.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE
Our findings identify the neural substrates supporting behavioural effects of false physiological feedback, and highlight mechanisms that underlie subjective anxiety states, including the importance of the right anterior insula in guiding second-order "cognitive" representations of bodily arousal state
Modulation of emotional appraisal by false physiological feedback during fMRI
BACKGROUND
James and Lange proposed that emotions are the perception of physiological reactions. Two-level theories of emotion extend this model to suggest that cognitive interpretations of physiological changes shape self-reported emotions. Correspondingly false physiological feedback of evoked or tonic bodily responses can alter emotional attributions. Moreover, anxiety states are proposed to arise from detection of mismatch between actual and anticipated states of physiological arousal. However, the neural underpinnings of these phenomena previously have not been examined.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
We undertook a functional brain imaging (fMRI) experiment to investigate how both primary and second-order levels of physiological (viscerosensory) representation impact on the processing of external emotional cues. 12 participants were scanned while judging face stimuli during both exercise and non-exercise conditions in the context of true and false auditory feedback of tonic heart rate. We observed that the perceived emotional intensity/salience of neutral faces was enhanced by false feedback of increased heart rate. Regional changes in neural activity corresponding to this behavioural interaction were observed within included right anterior insula, bilateral mid insula, and amygdala. In addition, right anterior insula activity was enhanced during by asynchronous relative to synchronous cardiac feedback even with no change in perceived or actual heart rate suggesting this region serves as a comparator to detect physiological mismatches. Finally, BOLD activity within right anterior insula and amygdala predicted the corresponding changes in perceived intensity ratings at both a group and an individual level.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE
Our findings identify the neural substrates supporting behavioural effects of false physiological feedback, and highlight mechanisms that underlie subjective anxiety states, including the importance of the right anterior insula in guiding second-order "cognitive" representations of bodily arousal state
Moduli Space and Wall-Crossing Formulae in Higher-Rank Gauge Theories
We study the interplay between wall-crossing in four-dimensional gauge theory
and instanton contributions to the moduli space metric of the same theory on
. We consider SUSY Yang--Mills with
gauge group SU(n) and focus on walls of marginal stability which extend to weak
coupling. By comparison with explicit field theory results we verify the
Kontsevich--Soibelman formula for the change in the BPS spectrum at these walls
and check the smoothness of the metric in the corresponding compactified
theory. We also verify in detail the predictions for the one instanton
contribution to the metric coming from the non-linear integral equations of
Gaiotto, Moore and Nietzke.Comment: 26 pages, no figure
Education for Environmental Citizenship and Responsible Environmental Behaviour
The notion of Environmental Citizenship embodies behaviour – an actively involved citizen who exercises his/her environmental rights and obligations in the private and public spheres. Education for Environmental Citizenship implies behavioural change; its goal is to facilitate an individual’s intellectual growth (cognitive domain) and emotional capacity (affective domain) that may lead to a critical and actively engaged individual. Human behaviour is overwhelmingly sophisticated, and what shapes pro-environmental behaviour is complex and context specific. Furthermore, empirical research indicates a discrepancy between possessing environmental knowledge and environmentally supportive attitudes and behaving pro-environmentally. The point of departure of this chapter is that the social and psychological study of behaviour has much to inform the study of environmental behaviour and, deriving from this, to inform regarding the type of education towards behaviour/action in the goal of sustainable socioecological transformation. The chapter focuses on internal (psychosocial) factors. It presents selected models regarding factors influencing behavioural decisions that are acknowledged as influential theoretical frameworks for investigating pro-environmental behaviour, as well as various theories that inform these models. These are categorised into knowledge-based models; attitude-, value- and norm-oriented models; skills, self-efficacy and situational factors; and new approaches to environmental behaviour models. The chapter concludes with suggestions for Education for Environmental Citizenship deriving from the various models
- …