RESOLUTION Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors

Resolved, That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following article of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate: ARTICLE I: INCITEMENT OF INSURRECTION Wherefore, Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. Donald John Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States

Making the great transformation, November 13, 14, and 15, 2003

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Conference Series, a publication series that began publishing in 2006 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This Conference took place during November 13, 14, and 15, 2003. Co-organized by Cutler Cleveland and Adil Najam.The conference discussants and participants analyze why transitions happen, and why they matter. Transitions are those wide-ranging changes in human organization and well being that can be convincingly attributed to a concerted set of choices that make the world that was significantly and recognizably different from the world that becomes. Transition scholars argue that that history does not just stumble along a pre-determined path, but that human ingenuity and entrepreneurship have the ability to fundamentally alter its direction. However, our ability to ‘will’ such transitions remains in doubt. These doubts cannot be removed until we have a better understanding of how transitions work

Comparisons of the radial distributions of core-collapse supernovae with those of young and old stellar populations

We present observational constraints on the nature of core-collapse supernovae through an investigation into their radial distributions with respect to those of young and old stellar populations within their host galaxies, as traced by H-alpha emission and R-band light respectively. We discuss results and the implications they have on the nature of supernova progenitors, for a sample of 177 core-collapse supernovae. We find that the radial positions of the overall core-collapse population closely follow the radial distribution of H-alpha emission, implying that both are excellent tracers of star formation within galaxies. Within this overall distribution we find that there is a central deficit of SNII which is offset by a central excess of SNIb/c. This implies a strong metallicity dependence on the relative production of the two types, with SNIb/c arising from higher metallicity progenitors than SNII. Separating the SNIb/c into individual classes we find that a trend emerges in terms of progenitor metallicity going from SNII through SNIb to SNIc, with the latter arising from the highest metallicity progenitors.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Measuring longitudinal amplitudes for electroproduction of pseudoscalar mesons using recoil polarization in parallel kinematics

We propose a new method for measuring longitudinal amplitudes for electroproduction of pseudoscalar mesons that exploits a symmetry relation for polarization observables in parallel kinematics. This polarization technique does not require variation of electron scattering kinematics and avoids the major sources of systematic errors in Rosenbluth separation.Comment: intended for Phys. Rev. C as a Brief Repor

Using Spatial Distributions to Constrain Progenitors of Supernovae and Gamma Ray Bursts

We carry out a comprehensive theoretical examination of the relationship between the spatial distribution of optical transients and the properties of their progenitor stars. By constructing analytic models of star-forming galaxies and the evolution of stellar populations within them, we are able to place constraints on candidate progenitors for core-collapse supernovae (SNe), long-duration gamma ray bursts, and supernovae Ia. In particular we first construct models of spiral galaxies that reproduce observations of core-collapse SNe, and we use these models to constrain the minimum mass for SNe Ic progenitors to approximately 25 solar masses. Secondly, we lay out the parameters of a dwarf irregular galaxy model, which we use to show that the progenitors of long-duration gamma-ray bursts are likely to have masses above approximately 43 solar masses. Finally, we introduce a new method for constraining the time scale associated with SNe Ia and apply it to our spiral galaxy models to show how observations can better be analyzed to discriminate between the leading progenitor models for these objects.Comment: 18 pages, 19 figures, ApJ, in pres

Prompt Ia Supernovae Are Significantly Delayed

The time delay between the formation of a population of stars and the onset of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) sets important limits on the masses and nature of SN Ia progenitors. Here we use a new observational technique to measure this time delay by comparing the spatial distributions of SNe Ia to their local environments. Previous work attempted such analyses encompassing the entire host of each SN Ia, yielding inconclusive results. Our approach confines the analysis only to the relevant portions of the hosts, allowing us to show that even so-called "prompt" SNe Ia that trace star-formation on cosmic timescales exhibit a significant delay time of 200-500 million years. This implies that either the majority of Ia companion stars have main-sequence masses less than 3 solar masses, or that most SNe Ia arise from double-white dwarf binaries. Our results are also consistent with a SNe Ia rate that traces the white dwarf formation rate, scaled by a fixed efficiency factor.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, ApJ, in pres

How the merger of two white dwarfs depends on their mass ratio: orbital stability and detonations at contact

Despite their unique astrophysical relevance, the outcome of white dwarf binary mergers has so far only been studied for a very restricted number of systems. Here we present the results of a survey with more than two hundred simulations systematically scanning the white dwarf binary parameter space. We consider white dwarf masses ranging from 0.2 to 1.2 $M_\odot$ and account for their different chemical compositions. We find excellent agreement with the orbital evolution predicted by mass transfer stability analysis. Much of our effort in this paper is dedicated to determining which binary systems are prone to a thermonuclear explosion just prior to merger or at surface contact. We find that a large fraction of He-accreting binary systems explode: all dynamically unstable systems with accretor masses below 1.1 $M_\odot$ and donor masses above $\sim$ 0.4 $M_\odot$ are found to trigger a helium detonation at surface contact. A substantial fraction of these systems could explode at earlier times via detonations induced by instabilities in the accretion stream, as we have demonstrated in our previous work. We do not find definitive evidence for an explosion prior to merger or at surface contact in any of the studied double carbon-oxygen systems. Although we cannot exclude their occurrence if some helium is present, the available parameter space for a successful detonation in a white dwarf binary of pure carbon-oxygen composition is small. We demonstrate that a wide variety of dynamically unstable systems are viable type Ia candidates. The next decade thus holds enormous promise for the study of these events, in particular with the advent of wide-field synoptic surveys allowing a detailed characterization of their explosive properties.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, submitted to MNRA

Looking ahead: forecasting and planning for the longer-range future, April 1, 2, and 3, 2005

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Conference Series, a publication series that began publishing in 2006 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This was the Center's spring Conference that took place during April 1, 2, and 3, 2005.The conference allowed for many highly esteemed scholars and professionals from a broad range of fields to come together to discuss strategies designed for the 21st century and beyond. The speakers and discussants covered a broad range of subjects including: long-term policy analysis, forecasting for business and investment, the National Intelligence Council Global Trends 2020 report, Europe’s transition from the Marshal plan to the EU, forecasting global transitions, foreign policy planning, and forecasting for defense

Runaway stars as progenitors of supernovae and gamma-ray bursts

When a core collapse supernova occurs in a binary system, the surviving star as well as the compact remnant emerging from the SN, may reach a substantial space velocity. With binary population synthesis modelling at solar and one fifth of solar metallicity, we predict the velocities of such runaway stars or binaries. We compile predictions for runaway OB stars, red supergiants and Wolf-Rayet stars. For those stars or binaries which undergo a second stellar explosion we compute their further evolution and the distance travelled until a Type II or Type Ibc SN or a long or short gamma-ray burst occurs. We find our predicted population of OB runaway stars broadly matches the observed population of stars but, to match the fastest observed WR runaway stars, we require that black holes receive an asymmetric kick upon formation. We find that at solar metallicity Type Ic SN progenitors travel shorter distances than the progenitors of other SN types because they are typically more massive and thus have shorter lifetimes. Those of Type IIP SN can fly farthest about 48 pc on average at solar metallicity. In considering the consequences of assuming that the progenitors of long GRBs are spun-up secondary stars that experience quasi-homogeneous evolution, we find that such evolution has a dramatic effect on the population of runaway WR stars and that some 30 per cent of GRBs could occur a hundred parsecs or more from their initial positions. We also consider mergers of double compact object binaries consisting of neutron stars and/or black holes. We find the most common type of visible mergers are neutron star--black hole mergers that are roughly ten times more common than neutron star--neutron star mergers. We also find that there may be a population of low-velocity neutron stars that are ejected from a binary rather than by their own natal kick.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 23 pages, 17 figures and 11 tables. Abstract was editted to fit within arXiv.org submission requirement