Ideological State Apparatuses, Consumerism, and U.S. Capitalism: Lessons for the Left

Althusser's pioneering concept of "ideological state apparatuses" is extended to the unique role of consumerism as a particular ideology enabling and supporting U.S. capitalism. It is argued that rising levels of worker consumption have functioned effectively to compensate workers for (and thereby allow) rising rates of exploitation and their negative social effects. For such compensation to succeed requires that workers embrace an ideology stressing the importance of consumption, namely consumerism. It is argued that the weakness of the US left (in labor unions, parties, and movements) stems in part from having endorsed this consumerism rather than undermining it within the framework of an anti-capitalist politics.Exploitation, Consumerism, Ideology, Althusser

The Quiescent Optical and Infrared Counterpart to EXO 0748-676 = UY Vol

We present optical and infrared photometry of the low-mass X-ray binary EXO 0748-676 in quiescence for the first time in 24 years since it became X-ray active in 1985. We find the counterpart at average magnitudes of R=22.4 and J=21.3. We monitored the source approximately nightly through 2008 November to 2009 January. During this time there was considerable night-to-night optical variability but no long term trends were apparent. The night-to-night variability reveals a periodicity of P=0.159331+/-0.000012d, consistent with the X-ray orbital period to within 0.01%. This indicates that the quiescent optical modulation is indeed orbital in nature rather than a superhump. Interestingly, the modulation remains single-peaked with a deep minimum coincident with the times of X-ray eclipse, and there is no indication of a double-peaked ellipsoidal modulation. This indicates that even in `quiescence' emission from the accretion disk and/or X-ray heated inner face of the companion star dominate the optical emission, and implies that obtaining an accurate dynamical mass estimate in quiescence will be challenging.Comment: Accepted for publication by the Astrophysical Journal Letter

The dynamical balance, transport and circulation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

The physical ingredients of the ACC circulation are reviewed. A picture of thecirculation is sketched by means of recent observations of the WOCE decade. Wepresent and discuss the role of forcing functions (wind stress, surfacebuoyancy flux) in the balance of the (quasi)-zonal flow, the meridionalcirculation and their relation to the ACC transport. Emphasis will be on theinterrelation of the zonal momentum balance and the meridional circulation, theimportance of diapycnal mixing and eddy processes. Finally, new model conceptsare described: a model of the ACC transport dependence on wind stress andbuoyancy flux, based on linear wave theory; and a model of the meridionaloverturning of the Southern Ocean, based on zonally averaged dynamics with eddyparameterization

Comptonization and the Spectra of Accretion-Powered X-Ray Pulsars

Accretion-powered X-ray pulsars are among the most luminous X-ray sources in the Galaxy. However, despite decades of theoretical and observational work since their discovery, no satisfactory model for the formation of the observed X-ray spectra has emerged. In this paper, we report on a self-consistent calculation of the spectrum emerging from a pulsar accretion column that includes an explicit treatment of the bulk and thermal Comptonization occurring in the radiation-dominated shocks that form in the accretion flows. Using a rigorous eigenfunction expansion method, we obtain a closed-form expression for the Green's function describing the upscattering of monochromatic radiation injected into the column. The Green's function is convolved with bremsstrahlung, cyclotron, and blackbody source terms to calculate the emergent photon spectrum. We show that energization of photons in the shock naturally produces an X-ray spectrum with a relatively flat continuum and a high-energy exponential cutoff. Finally, we demonstrate that our model yields good agreement with the spectra of the bright pulsar Her X-1 and the low luminosity pulsar X Per.Comment: 6 Pages, 2 Figures, To appear in "The Multicoloured Landscape of Compact Objects and their Explosive Progenitors" (Cefalu, Sicily, June 2006). Eds. L. Burderi et al. (New York: AIP