Notes on moving mirrors

The Davies-Fulling (DF) model describes the scattering of a massless field by a non-inertial mirror in two dimensions. In this paper, we generalize this model in two different ways. First, we consider partially reflecting mirrors. We show that the Bogoliubov coefficients relating inertial modes can be expressed in terms of the frequency dependent reflection factor which is specified in the rest frame of the mirror and the transformation from the inertial modes to the modes at rest with respect to the mirror. In this perspective, the DF model is simply the limiting case when this factor is unity for all frequencies. In the second part, we introduce an alternative model which is based on self-interactions described by an action principle. When the coupling is constant, this model can be solved exactly and gives rise to a partially reflecting mirror. The usefulness of this dynamical model lies in the possibility of switching off the coupling between the mirror and the field. This allows to obtain regularized expressions for the fluxes in situations where they are singular when using the DF model. Two examples are considered. The first concerns the flux induced by the disappearance of the reflection condition, a situation which bears some analogies with the end of the evaporation of a black hole. The second case concerns the flux emitted by a uniformly accelerated mirror.Comment: 27 pages and 2 figures LaTeX2

Biomedicina versus medicinas tradicionales una aproximación no culturalista al pluralismo médico en el Himalaya (Nepal)

Basado sobre un trabajo etnográfico en el Norte rural y la región montañosa del Nepal, este artículo cuestiona la supuesta “occidentalización” del paisaje terapéutico asiático. La expansión de la medicina Occidental en Nepal, así como en otros países asiáticos, está conectada con un proceso más amplio de “modernización”, infundido por las organizaciones no gubernamentales transnacionales y por la formación de políticas nacionales basadas en las normas globales del “desarrollo”. En oposición a las visiones pesimistas sobre el impacto “destructivo” de la medicina Occidental en las medicinas locales y tradicionales, los datos etnográficos ilustran todo lo contrario: la persistencia y el refuerzo de las medicinas locales - un fenómeno comúnmente observado en países del “Tercer mundo”. En contra de las explicaciones culturalistas, el autor plantea un estudio basado en un análisis sistémico y crítico hacia la dicotomía conceptual “moderno” versus “tradicional”

Festivités religieuses, publiques et discrètes : Mondialisation, tourisme, et mimesis chez les Sherpas du Nord Népal

Fondé sur des matériaux ethnographiques et une analyse de la littérature ethnologique, cet article explore la question des rapports entre le tourisme international et les mutations sociales et culturelles qui sont supposées en découler. Confrontés à un tourisme de masse, les Sherpas, résidents de souche tibétaine du Nord Népal, « jouent » leur identité culturelle sur la scène de leurs propres traditions, mais au miroir de l’imaginaire occidental. Cette mimesis rend-elle toutefois bien compte des facettes que les Sherpas offrent à leurs publics ? La comparaison entre deux festivités religieuses, l’une bouddhiste, l’autre chamanique interroge les variations de visibilité de la vie culturelle d’une société « traditionnelle » située au coeur de la mondialisation des images et des hommes. En introduisant les dimensions performatives, stratégiques et politiques de tels rituels festifs, l’article met en lumière la complexité des changements socioreligieux dans le monde himalayen en montrant que si le tourisme y joue un rôle essentiel, ce sont tout autant des forces historiques et sociales locales qui participent de ces mêmes transformations.Based upon the analysis of first-hand ethnographic data and second-hand documentation, this papers questions the relationships between international tourism and the alleged « related » social and cultural mutations. Facing a massive exposition to tourism, the Sherpa, the inhabitants of Northern Nepal from Tibetan extraction, « play » their cultural identity on the scene of their own traditions in the mirror of Western imagination. But to what extent does this mimesis account for the faces the Sherpa display to their audiences ? The comparison between two religious festivals, one Buddhist, the other one Shamanic, calls for an examination of the variations of the visibility of cultural life in a « traditional » society located at the very heart of globalization of images and people. Introducing the issues of performance, strategies and politics of such rituals, this paper highlights the complexity of religious and social change in the Himalayan world : while global tourism plays a crucial role, in fact, local social and historical forces simultaneously partake on these transformations.Basado en material etnográfico de primera mano y en un análisis de documentos etnológicos, este artículo explora la cuestión de las relaciones entre el turismo internacional y las mutaciones sociales y culturales que supuestamente provocan. Confrontados con un turismo de masa, los Sherpas, habitantes de origen tibetano del Norte de Nepal, « actúan » su identidad cultural sobre la escena de sus propias tradiciones pero ante el espejo del imaginario occidental. ¿Acaso ésta mimesis muestra suficientemente bien las facetas que los Sherpas ofrecen a sus espectadores ? La comparación de dos fiestas religiosas, una budista y otra chamánica, cuestiona las variaciones de visibilidad de la vida cultural de una sociedad « tradicional » situada en plena mundialización de imágenes y de hombres. Introduciendo las dimensiones performativas, estratégicas y políticas de dichos rituales festivos, éste artículo trata de iluminar la complejidad de los cambios socio-religiosos del mundo himalayo y muestra que si bien el turismo está jugando un rol esencial, las fuerzas históricas y sociales locales participan también a las mismas transformaciones

the case of Nepal

The contemporary global ecological crisis has led developed and developing countries to put emphasis upon the need for relevant policies, for ecological purposes, at the national and international levels. However, little attention has been payed to the local acceptance, in the cultural and social frameworks of developing countries in particular, to the worldwide spread of these new ideological and political standards. Neither to the role of traditional lifestyles in preventing or increasing the climate changes. The issue of governance and especially the chance for new social attitudes towards nature and climate can be reframed by taking into account the tension between social structures and local cultures, on the one side, international economic and ecological issues, on the other side. The case of Nepal highlights the ways collective consciousness about climate change and the corresponding “sustainable” programs are depending upon the social and cultural acceptance, especially in poor Asian countries, of these worldwide exported standards. Based upon the study of national policies in the broader context of internationalization of ecological ideas and practices, this research explores a collection of ethnographic case studies, in remote villages of Nepal – and in Asia. The methodology aims at comparing the international macroscopic level, where ecological consciousness and policies are framed and diffused, and the local microscopic level, where they are subjected to cultural absorption and social / economic adaption. Nepal, an Asian “underdeveloped” country, has adopted and attempted to apply several international standards, National planning for development and ecological issues is failing to be fully and efficiently adopted, The structure and dynamics of national administrations are the first cause for this failure, but the perception of the effects of climate change are depending also upon cultural conceptions of nature and climate, These local conditions can _both_facilitate or hinder the acceptance of international ecological standard

Comparing 'religious diversities' Issues, perspectives and problems

Lionel Obadia PhD, Professor in Anthropology at the University of Lyon 2, France, specializing in religious studies, anthropology and the sociology of religion. After gaining a PhD on Buddhism in France and in the West, he has studied Buddhism, shamanism and witchcraft in Asia, mainly Nepal. He has recently conducted research on Jewish Messianic movements in Europe, the US and Israel, and football (soccer) in a religious perspective in France. He is the author of ten books, among them La marchandisation de Dieu (2013), Anthropologie des religions (2007), Religion (2004), Sorcellerie (2004), Le bouddhisme en Occident (2007), and The Economics of Religion with Donald Wood (Emerald, 2011) and more than one hundred chapters and articles in French, English, Spanish, Chinese and German.This paper aims at reopening the debate regarding ‘religious diversity’ in religious studies. A review of (recent or ancient) literature demonstrates that we have not finished with the complexity of the issue of ‘diversity’, whether in academic or social debates. Furthermore, diversity must not only be taken seriously, but impels us towards a comparative methodology in order to highlight the variations of the forms, dynamics, effects and contexts of diversity. As such, Asian countries represent a very interesting location for an epistemological deconstruction of the Western-style and monotheistic-centred concept of ‘religious diversity’, as it is often used in religious studies and the social sciences

Moving Detectors in Cavities

We consider two-level detectors, coupled to a quantum scalar field, moving inside cavities. We highlight some pathological resonant effects due to abrupt boundaries, and decide to describe the cavity by switching smoothly the interaction by a time-dependent gate-like function. Considering uniformly accelerated trajectories, we show that some specific choices of non-adiabatic switching have led to hazardous interpretations about the enhancement of the Unruh effect in cavities. More specifically, we show that the emission/absorption ratio takes arbitrary high values according to the emitted quanta properties and to the transients undergone at the entrance and the exit of the cavity, {\it independently of the acceleration}. An explicit example is provided where we show that inertial and uniformly accelerated world-lines can even lead to the same ``pseudo-temperature''.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, version accepted in Phys.Rev.

Infectious Etiologies of Febrile Illnesses in Cameron.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017