An improved empirical equation for bunch lengthening in electron storage rings

In this paper we propose an improved empirical equation for the bunch lengthening in electron storage rings. The comparisons are made between the analytical and experimental results, and the agreements are quite well. This improved equation can be equally applied to the case where a storage ring is very resistive (such as the improved SLC damping rings) instead of inductive as usual.Comment: 9 page

Against the iterated knowledge account of high-stakes cases

One challenge for moderate invariantists is to explain why we tend to deny knowledge to subjects in high stakes when the target propositions seem to be inappropriate premises for practical reasoning. According to an account suggested by Williamson, our intuitive judgments are erroneous due to an alleged failure to acknowledge the distinction between first-order and higher-order knowledge: the high-stakes subject lacks the latter but possesses the former. In this paper, I provide three objections to Williamson’s account: i) his account delivers counterintuitive verdicts about what it is appropriate for a high-stakes subject to do; ii) the high-stakes subject doesn’t need iterated knowledge in order to be regarded as appropriately relying on the relevant proposition in practical reasoning; iii) Williamson’s account doesn’t provide a good explanation of why the high-stakes subject would be blameworthy if she were relying on the relevant proposition in her practical reasoning

Credal pragmatism

According to doxastic pragmatism, certain perceived practical factors, such as high stakes and urgency, have systematic effects on normal subjects’ outright beliefs. Upholders of doxastic pragmatism have so far endorsed a particular version of this view, which we may call threshold pragmatism. This view holds that the sensitivity of belief to the relevant practical factors is due to a corresponding sensitivity of the threshold on the degree of credence necessary for outright belief. According to an alternative but yet unrecognised version of doxastic pragmatism, practical factors affect credence rather than the threshold on credence. Let’s call this alternative view credal pragmatism. In this paper, I argue that credal pragmatism is more plausible than threshold pragmatism. I show that the former view better accommodates a cluster of intuitive and empirical data. I conclude by considering the issue of whether our doxastic attitudes’ sensitivity to practical factors can be considered rational, and if yes, in what sense

Anomalous optical coupling between two silicon wires of a slot waveguide in epsilon-near-zero metamaterials

Anomalous optical coupling properties between two silicon wires in a silicon slot waveguide embedded in epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials are proposed and demonstrated. The dependences of optical field enhancement in the slot region and transverse optical force on the slot size and the permittivity of surrounding material are studied in details. It is demonstrated that the optical field in the slot region is significantly enhanced due to the giant index contrast at the slot interface between silicon wires and ENZ metamaterials, but the optical mode coupling between silicon wires is greatly reduced so that the transverse optical force is suppressed into almost zero. Moreover, metal-dielectric multilayer structures are designed to realize ENZ metamaterials in the slot region for achieving the electric field enhancement.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Universality of BSW mechanism for spinning particles

Ba\~nados $et\, al.$ (BSW) found that Kerr black holes can act as particle accelerators with collisions at arbitrarily high center-of-mass energies. Recently, collisions of particles with spin around some rotating black holes have been discussed. In this paper, we study the BSW mechanism for spinning particles by using a metric ansatz which describes a general rotating black hole. We notice that there are two inequivalent definitions of center-of-mass (CM) energy for spinning particles. We mainly discuss the CM energy defined in terms of the worldline of the particle. We show that there exists an energy-angular momentum relation $e = \Omega_h j$ that causes collisions with arbitrarily high energy near-extremal black holes. We also provide a simple but rigorous proof that the BSW mechanism breaks down for nonextremal black holes. For the alternative definition of the CM energy, some authors find a new critical spin relation that also causes the divergence of the CM mass. However, by checking the timelike constraint, we show that particles with this critical spin cannot reach the horizon of the black hole. Further numerical calculation suggests that such particles cannot exist anywhere outside the horizon. Our results are universal, independent of the underlying theories of gravity.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure

Individual differences in aesthetic preferences for multi-sensorial stimulation

The aim of the current project was to investigate aesthetics in multi-sensorial stimulation and to explore individual differences in the process. We measured the aesthetics of Interactive Objects (IOs) which are three-dimensional objects with electronic components that exhibit an autonomous behaviour when handled: e.g., vibrating, playing a sound, or lighting-up. The Q-sorting procedure of Q-methodology was applied. Data were analysed by following the Qmulti protocol. The results suggested that overall participants preferred IOs that (i) vibrate, (ii) have rough surface texture, and (iii) are round. No particular preference emerged about the size of the IOs. When making aesthetic judgment, participants paid more attention to the behaviour variable of the IOs than the size, contour or surface texture. In addition, three clusters of participants were identified, suggesting that individual differences existed in the aesthetics of IOs. Without proper consideration of potential individual differences, aesthetic scholars may face the risk of having significant effects masked by individual differences. Only by paying attention to this issue can more meaningful findings be generated to contribute to the field of aesthetics