Double Scaling Limits and Catastrophes of the zerodimensional O(N) Vector Sigma Model: The A-Series

We evaluate the partition functions in the neighbourhood of catastrophes by saddle point integration and express them in terms of generalized Airy functions.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, two figures available from author on reques

Thoreau as Liberation Thinker

In lieu of an abstract, here is the article\u27s first paragraph: Henry David Thoreau’s claim to be “a mystic, a transcendentalist, and a natural philosopher” took an unexpected turn for me. Spending much time with A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (my dissertation addresses the idea of religion found between its covers), I encountered a “liberation thinker” resisting the limitations of American culture while honoring the natural world and indigenous peoples. Thoreau’s epigraph reveals how he wants the muse of his dead brother to inspire him, but the book also discloses how he wants the muse of indigenous peoples to inspirit and improve American culture. Impressively, he esteems nature as more than a symbol pointing to a distant divinity as he experiences its inherent sacredness. Natural creation is at once our house and being; we are immersed in and part of its continuous regenerative processes, which suggests familial bonds of sacredness uniting humans and nonhumans. Thoreau offers an alternative to social structures and outlooks that devalue human and nonhuman existence

In Defense of Alain Badiou

In lieu of an abstract, here are the article\u27s first two paragraphs: In Issue 107, Philosophy Now published James Alexander’s ‘A Refutation of Snails by Roast Beef\u27, an article decrying con temporary French philosopher Alain Badiou (b.l937). Alexander’s jumping-off point was Roger Scruton’s unfavorable review of Badiou’s The Adventure of French Philosophy (2012). He acknowledges that Scruton “obviously dislikes everything Badiou stands for” but takes Scruton to task for being too polite; he writes that “Badiou deserves derision.” A few sentences later, he claims that “a lot of Badiou is rubbish. There is nothing to Badiou be done with it except laugh.” Not even Badiou’s students escape Alexander’s comments: he scoffs that instead of taking notes in Badiou’s lectures, surely the students “just stand and cheer.” Although I might get much enjoyment from indulging in a similarly dismissive attitude toward Alexander’s largely ad hominem attacks against Badiou, I have chosen a different path in defending him. I honor the dialectical process of Socrates’ philosophical approach; therefore I offer a counterargument to expose the inaccuracy of Alexander’s underestimation of Badiou. I will not advance uninformed opinions based on insufficient familiarity (Alexander confesses a lack of knowledge of Badiou’s oeuvre). Instead, I offer a perspective based on an engagement with and a deep reverence for Badiou’s philosophy

The Value of Friendship for Education

In lieu of an abstract, here is the article\u27s first paragraph: Western philosophers have enthusiastically praised friendship. A few intellectuals have raised doubts about it, such as Thomas Hobbes and Søren Kierkegaard, but friendship has inspired many others, including Aristotle, Francis Bacon, C.S. Lewis, and Mary E. Hunt, who have esteemed its benefits, especially the reciprocal commitment to nurture each friend\u27s \u27best self\u27

UV and VUV spectroscopy and photochemistry of small molecules in a supersonic jet

UV and VUV absorption and emission spectroscopy is used to probe jet cooled molecules, free radicals, and clusters in the gas phase. Due to efficient cooling inhomogeneous effects on spectral line widths are eliminated. Therefore from these spectra, both structural and dynamical information is obtained. The photoproducts of these reactions are probed by resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization

An exactly solvable model of the Calogero type for the icosahedral group

We construct a quantum mechanical model of the Calogero type for the icosahedral group as the structural group. Exact solvability is proved and the spectrum is derived explicitly.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, latex 2epsilo

Remarks on ``Coloring Random Triangulation''

We transform the two-matrix model, studied by P.Di Francesco and al., into a normal one-matrix model by identifying a ``formal'' integral used by these authors as a proper integral. We show also, using their method, that the results obtained for the resolvent and the density are not reliable.Comment: 6 pages, no figures, LaTe