Near-field Electrodynamics of Atomically Doped Carbon Nanotubes

We develop a quantum theory of near-field electrodynamical properties of carbon nanotubes and investigate spontaneous decay dynamics of excited states and van der Waals attraction of the ground state of an atomic system close to a single-wall nanotube surface. Atomic spontaneous decay exhibits vacuum-field Rabi oscillations -- a principal signature of strong atom-vacuum-field coupling. The strongly coupled atomic state is nothing but a 'quasi-1D cavity polariton'. Its stability is mainly determined by the atom-nanotube van der Waals interaction. Our calculations of the ground-state atom van der Waals energy performed within a universal quantum mechanical approach valid for both weak and strong atom-field coupling demonstrate the inapplicability of conventional weak-coupling-based van der Waals interaction models in a close vicinity of the nanotube surface.Comment: Book Chapter. 50 pages, 11 figures. To be published in "Nanotubes: New Research", edited by F.Columbus (Nova Science, New York, 2005

Three-point Lie algebras and Grothendieck's dessins d'enfants

We define and classify the analogues of the affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras for the ring corresponding to the complex projective line minus three points. The classification is given in terms of Grothendieck's dessins d'enfants. We also study the question of conjugacy of Cartan subalgebras for these algebras.Comment: 16 page

From Rent-Seeking Activities to Economic Activities: The Strategic Transformation of the Deregulated Firm

The political theory of regulation holds that deregulation of utilities obliges the former monopoly to abandon its rent-seeking activities to concentrate upon economic activities. However, the arguments presented by scholars to explain this strategic transformation are not entirely convincing. We argue in this paper that the role and the nature of the firm during the deregulation process have been underestimated in previous works. After describing the main steps of this process, we thus propose a dynamic explanation of the strategic transformation of the deregulated firm based on the concepts of firm capabilities, access to rents and transaction costs.rent-seeking; strategic renewal; capabilities