1,365 research outputs found
Noncommutative Common Cause Principles in Algebraic Quantum Field Theory
States in algebraic quantum field theory "typically" establish correlation
between spacelike separated events. Reichenbach's Common Cause Principle,
generalized to the quantum field theoretical setting, offers an apt tool to
causally account for these superluminal correlations. In the paper we motivate
first why commutativity between the common cause and the correlating events
should be abandoned in the definition of the common cause. Then we show that
the Noncommutative Weak Common Cause Principle holds in algebraic quantum field
theory with locally finite degrees of freedom. Namely, for any pair of
projections A, B supported in spacelike separated regions V_A and V_B,
respectively, there is a local projection C not necessarily commuting with A
and B such that C is supported within the union of the backward light cones of
V_A and V_B and the set {C, non-C} screens off the correlation between A and B
Simultaneity as an Invariant Equivalence Relation
This paper deals with the concept of simultaneity in classical and
relativistic physics as construed in terms of group-invariant equivalence
relations. A full examination of Newton, Galilei and Poincar\'e invariant
equivalence relations in is presented, which provides alternative
proofs, additions and occasionally corrections of results in the literature,
including Malament's theorem and some of its variants. It is argued that the
interpretation of simultaneity as an invariant equivalence relation, although
interesting for its own sake, does not cut in the debate concerning the
conventionality of simultaneity in special relativity.Comment: Some corrections, mostly of misprints. Keywords: special relativity,
simultaneity, invariant equivalence relations, Malament's theore
Comparison of the Effects of Early Pregnancy with Human Interferon, Alpha 2 (IFNA2), on Gene Expression in Bovine Endometrium
Interferon tau (IFNT), a type I IFN similar to alpha IFNs (IFNA), is the pregnancy recognition signal produced by the ruminant conceptus. To elucidate specific effects of bovine IFNT and of other conceptus-derived factors, endometrial gene expression changes during early pregnancy were compared to gene expression changes after intrauterine application of human IFNA2. In experiment 1, endometrial tissue samples were obtained on Day (D) 12, D15, and D18 postmating from nonpregnant or pregnant heifers. In experiment 2, heifers were treated from D14 to D16 of the estrous cycle with an intrauterine device releasing IFNA2 or, as controls, placebo lipid extrudates or PBS only. Endometrial biopsies were performed after flushing the uterus. All samples from both experiments were analyzed with an Affymetrix Bovine Genome Array. Experiment 1 revealed differential gene expression between pregnant and nonpregnant endometria on D15 and D18. In experiment 2, IFNA2 treatment resulted in differential gene expression in the bovine endometrium. Comparison of the data sets from both studies identified genes that were differentially expressed in response to IFNA2 but not in response to pregnancy on D15 or D18. In addition, genes were found that were differentially expressed during pregnancy but not after IFNA2 treatment. In experiment 3, spatiotemporal alterations in expression of selected genes were determined in uteri from nonpregnant and early pregnant heifers using in situ hybridization. The overall findings of this study suggest differential effects of bovine IFNT compared to human IFNA2 and that some pregnancy-specific changes in the endometrium are elicited by conceptus-derived factors other than IFNT
Traffic jams induced by rare switching events in two-lane transport
We investigate a model for driven exclusion processes where internal states are assigned to the particles. The latter account for diverse situations, ranging from spin states in spintronics to parallel lanes in intracellular or vehicular traffic. Introducing a coupling between the internal states by allowing particles to switch from one to another induces an intriguing polarization phenomenon. In a mesoscopic scaling, a rich stationary regime for the density profiles is discovered, with localized domain walls in the density profile of one of the internal states being feasible. We derive the shape of the density profiles as well as resulting phase diagrams analytically by a mean-field approximation and a continuum limit. Continuous as well as discontinuous lines of phase transition emerge, their intersections induce multi-critical behaviour
Effects and Propositions
The quantum logical and quantum information-theoretic traditions have exerted
an especially powerful influence on Bub's thinking about the conceptual
foundations of quantum mechanics. This paper discusses both the quantum logical
and information-theoretic traditions from the point of view of their
representational frameworks. I argue that it is at this level, at the level of
its framework, that the quantum logical tradition has retained its centrality
to Bub's thought. It is further argued that there is implicit in the quantum
information-theoretic tradition a set of ideas that mark a genuinely new
alternative to the framework of quantum logic. These ideas are of considerable
interest for the philosophy of quantum mechanics, a claim which I defend with
an extended discussion of their application to our understanding of the
philosophical significance of the no hidden variable theorem of Kochen and
Specker.Comment: Presented to the 2007 conference, New Directions in the Foundations
of Physic
Common Causes and The Direction of Causation
Is the common cause principle merely one of a set of useful heuristics for discovering causal relations, or is it rather a piece of heavy duty metaphysics, capable of grounding the direction of causation itself? Since the principle was introduced in Reichenbach’s groundbreaking work The Direction of Time (1956), there have been a series of attempts to pursue the latter program—to take the probabilistic relationships constitutive of the principle of the common cause and use them to ground the direction of causation. These attempts have not all explicitly appealed to the principle as originally formulated; it has also appeared in the guise of independence conditions, counterfactual overdetermination, and, in the causal modelling literature, as the causal markov condition. In this paper, I identify a set of difficulties for grounding the asymmetry of causation on the principle and its descendents. The first difficulty, concerning what I call the vertical placement of causation, consists of a tension between considerations that drive towards the macroscopic scale, and considerations that drive towards the microscopic scale—the worry is that these considerations cannot both be comfortably accommodated. The second difficulty consists of a novel potential counterexample to the principle based on the familiar Einstein Podolsky Rosen (EPR) cases in quantum mechanics
Spontaneous symmetry breaking in a two-lane model for bidirectional overtaking traffic
First we consider a unidirectional flux \omega_bar of vehicles each of which
is characterized by its `natural' velocity v drawn from a distribution P(v).
The traffic flow is modeled as a collection of straight `world lines' in the
time-space plane, with overtaking events represented by a fixed queuing time
tau imposed on the overtaking vehicle. This geometrical model exhibits platoon
formation and allows, among many other things, for the calculation of the
effective average velocity w=\phi(v) of a vehicle of natural velocity v.
Secondly, we extend the model to two opposite lanes, A and B. We argue that the
queuing time \tau in one lane is determined by the traffic density in the
opposite lane. On the basis of reasonable additional assumptions we establish a
set of equations that couple the two lanes and can be solved numerically. It
appears that above a critical value \omega_bar_c of the control parameter
\omega_bar the symmetry between the lanes is spontaneously broken: there is a
slow lane where long platoons form behind the slowest vehicles, and a fast lane
where overtaking is easy due to the wide spacing between the platoons in the
opposite direction. A variant of the model is studied in which the spatial
vehicle density \rho_bar rather than the flux \omega_bar is the control
parameter. Unequal fluxes \omega_bar_A and \omega_bar_B in the two lanes are
also considered. The symmetry breaking phenomenon exhibited by this model, even
though no doubt hard to observe in pure form in real-life traffic, nevertheless
indicates a tendency of such traffic.Comment: 50 pages, 16 figures; extra references adde
Synchronization Gauges and the Principles of Special Relativity
The axiomatic bases of Special Relativity Theory (SRT) are thoroughly
re-examined from an operational point of view, with particular emphasis on the
status of Einstein synchronization in the light of the possibility of arbitrary
synchronization procedures in inertial reference frames. Once correctly and
explicitly phrased, the principles of SRT allow for a wide range of `theories'
that differ from the standard SRT only for the difference in the chosen
synchronization procedures, but are wholly equivalent to SRT in predicting
empirical facts. This results in the introduction, in the full background of
SRT, of a suitable synchronization gauge. A complete hierarchy of
synchronization gauges is introduced and elucidated, ranging from the useful
Selleri synchronization gauge (which should lead, according to Selleri, to a
multiplicity of theories alternative to SRT) to the more general Mansouri-Sexl
synchronization gauge and, finally, to the even more general
Anderson-Vetharaniam-Stedman's synchronization gauge. It is showed that all
these gauges do not challenge the SRT, as claimed by Selleri, but simply lead
to a number of formalisms which leave the geometrical structure of Minkowski
spacetime unchanged. Several aspects of fundamental and applied interest
related to the conventional aspect of the synchronization choice are discussed,
encompassing the issue of the one-way velocity of light on inertial and
rotating reference frames, the GPS's working, and the recasting of Maxwell
equations in generic synchronizations. Finally, it is showed how the gauge
freedom introduced in SRT can be exploited in order to give a clear explanation
of the Sagnac effect for counter-propagating matter beams.Comment: 56 pages, 3 eps figures, invited paper; to appear in Foundations of
Physics (Special Issue to honor Prof. Franco Selleri on his 70th birthday
Stochastic evolution of four species in cyclic competition
We study the stochastic evolution of four species in cyclic competition in a
well mixed environment. In systems composed of a finite number of particles
these simple interaction rules result in a rich variety of extinction
scenarios, from single species domination to coexistence between
non-interacting species. Using exact results and numerical simulations we
discuss the temporal evolution of the system for different values of , for
different values of the reaction rates, as well as for different initial
conditions. As expected, the stochastic evolution is found to closely follow
the mean-field result for large , with notable deviations appearing in
proximity of extinction events. Different ways of characterizing and predicting
extinction events are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, submitted to J. Stat. Mec
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