Simulating Nelsonian Quantum Field Theory

We describe the picture of physical processes suggested by Edward Nelson's stochastic mechanics when generalized to quantum field theory, after an introductory review of his theory applied to the hydrogen atom. By performing numerical simulations of the relevant stochastic processes, we observe that Nelson's theory provides an intuitive account of how particles can arise from an underlying field ``beable'' -- to use a phrase of John S. Bell -- in the case of free field theory, regularized on a lattice. We then argue that this picture looks qualitatively similar when generalized to interacting scalar field theory. Lastly, we compare the Nelsonian framework to various other proposed ontologies for QFT, and remark upon their relative merits in light of the effective field theory paradigm

The Post-9/11 Security State

A “silent minority” until the end of the 20th century, Arab and Muslim Americans became, literally overnight, a "problem" ethnic group in the US consensus after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, when on the one hand Islamophobia was adopted as the leading trope of national grievance, while on the other a massive surveillance apparatus was put in place in order to ostensibly address the risk of internal radicalization, resulting in visible loss of civil rights for Arab and Muslim minorities in the US. This paper explores the deployment of the US security state against America Arabs and Muslims after 9/11, and sets it within the complex history of Middle Eastern and South Asian immigration to the US in the 20th century