6,734 research outputs found
An Infinite Dimensional Symmetry Algebra in String Theory
Symmetry transformations of the space-time fields of string theory are
generated by certain similarity transformations of the stress-tensor of the
associated conformal field theories. This observation is complicated by the
fact that, as we explain, many of the operators we habitually use in string
theory (such as vertices and currents) have ill-defined commutators. However,
we identify an infinite-dimensional subalgebra whose commutators are not
singular, and explicitly calculate its structure constants. This constitutes a
subalgebra of the gauge symmetry of string theory, although it may act on
auxiliary as well as propagating fields. We term this object a {\it weighted
tensor algebra}, and, while it appears to be a distant cousin of the
-algebras, it has not, to our knowledge, appeared in the literature before.Comment: 14 pages, Plain TeX, report RU93-8, CTP-TAMU-2/94, CERN-TH.7022/9
Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of oscillatory shape evolution for electromigration-driven islands
The shape evolution of two-dimensional islands under electromigration-driven
periphery diffusion is studied by kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations and
continuum theory. The energetics of the KMC model is adapted to the Cu(100)
surface, and the continuum model is matched to the KMC model by a suitably
parametrized choice of the orientation-dependent step stiffness and step atom
mobility. At 700 K shape oscillations predicted by continuum theory are
quantitatively verified by the KMC simulations, while at 500 K qualitative
differences between the two modeling approaches are found.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Stability of Circular Orbits in General Relativity: A Phase Space Analysis
Phase space method provides a novel way for deducing qualitative features of
nonlinear differential equations without actually solving them. The method is
applied here for analyzing stability of circular orbits of test particles in
various physically interesting environments. The approach is shown to work in a
revealing way in Schwarzschild spacetime. All relevant conclusions about
circular orbits in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime are shown to be
remarkably encoded in a single parameter. The analysis in the rotating Kerr
black hole readily exposes information as to how stability depends on the ratio
of source rotation to particle angular momentum. As a wider application, it is
exemplified how the analysis reveals useful information when applied to motion
in a refractive medium, for instance, that of optical black holes.Comment: 20 pages. Accepted for publication in Int. J. theor. Phy
Morphological Thermodynamics of Fluids: Shape Dependence of Free Energies
We examine the dependence of a thermodynamic potential of a fluid on the
geometry of its container. If motion invariance, continuity, and additivity of
the potential are fulfilled, only four morphometric measures are needed to
describe fully the influence of an arbitrarily shaped container on the fluid.
These three constraints can be understood as a more precise definition for the
conventional term "extensive" and have as a consequence that the surface
tension and other thermodynamic quantities contain, beside a constant term,
only contributions linear in the mean and Gaussian curvature of the container
and not an infinite number of curvatures as generally assumed before. We verify
this numerically in the entropic system of hard spheres bounded by a curved
wall.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in PR
(G)hosting television: Ghostwatch and its medium
This articleâs subject is Ghostwatch (BBC, 1992), a drama broadcast on Halloween night of 1992 which adopted the rhetoric of live non-fiction programming, and attracted controversy and ultimately censure from the Broadcasting Standards Council. In what follows, we argue that Ghostwatch must be understood as a televisually-specific artwork and artefact. We discuss the programmeâs ludic relationship with some key features of television during what Ellis (2000) has termed its era of âavailabilityâ, principally liveness, mass simultaneous viewing, and the flow of the television super-text. We trace the programmeâs television-specific historicity whilst acknowledging its allusions and debts to other media (most notably film and radio). We explore the sophisticated ways in which Ghostwatchâs visual grammar and vocabulary and deployment of âbroadcast talkâ (Scannell 1991) variously ape, comment upon and subvert the rhetoric of factual programming, and the ends to which these strategies are put. We hope that these arguments collectively demonstrate the aesthetic and historical significance of Ghostwatch and identify its relationship to its medium and that mediumâs history. We offer the programme as an historically-reflexive artefact, and as an exemplary instance of the work of art in televisionâs age of broadcasting, liveness and co-presence
Linguistic incompetence: giving an account of researching multilingually
This paper considers the place of linguistic competence and incompetence in the context of researching multilingually. It offers a critique of the concept of competence and explores the performative dimensions of multilingual research and its narration, through the philosophy of Judith Butler, and in particular her study Giving an account of oneself. It explores aspects of risk, justice, narrative limit and a morality of multilingualism in emergent multilingual research frameworks. These theoretical dimensions are explored through consideration of âlinguistically incompetentâ ethnographic work with refugees and asylum seekers, in contexts of hospitality and in life long learning research in the Gaza Strip, and of early attempts to learn new languages. The paper offers a prospect of a relational approach to researching multilingually and affirms the vulnerability at the heart of linguistic hospitality
As time goes by
A rather simple and non-technical exposition of our new approach to {\em
Time, Quantum Physics, Black-Hole dynamics}, and {\em Cosmology}, based on
non-critical string theory, is provided. A new fundamental principle, the {\em
Procrustean Principle}, that catches the essence of our approach is postulated:
the low-energy world is {\em unavoidably} an ``open" system due to the
spontaneous truncation of the {\em delocalized, topological} string modes in
continuous interaction with the low-lying-{\em localized} string modes. The
origin of space-time, the expansion of the Universe, the entropy increase and
accompanied irreversibility of time, as well as the collapse of the
wavefunction are all very neatly tied together. Possible observable
consequences include: quantum relaxation with time of the Universal,
fundamental constants, like the velocity of light and the Planck constant
decreasing towards their asymptotic values, and the cosmological
constant diminishing towards zero; possible violation of {\em CPT}
invariance in the system, possible apparent non-conservation of
angular momentum, and possible loss of quantum coherence in SQUID-type
experiments.Comment: CERN-TH.7260/94, 84 pages Latex (no figures
Fluctuation Theorems for Entropy Production and Heat Dissipation in Periodically Driven Markov Chains
Asymptotic fluctuation theorems are statements of a Gallavotti-Cohen symmetry
in the rate function of either the time-averaged entropy production or heat
dissipation of a process. Such theorems have been proved for various general
classes of continuous-time deterministic and stochastic processes, but always
under the assumption that the forces driving the system are time independent,
and often relying on the existence of a limiting ergodic distribution. In this
paper we extend the asymptotic fluctuation theorem for the first time to
inhomogeneous continuous-time processes without a stationary distribution,
considering specifically a finite state Markov chain driven by periodic
transition rates. We find that for both entropy production and heat
dissipation, the usual Gallavotti-Cohen symmetry of the rate function is
generalized to an analogous relation between the rate functions of the original
process and its corresponding backward process, in which the trajectory and the
driving protocol have been time-reversed. The effect is that spontaneous
positive fluctuations in the long time average of each quantity in the forward
process are exponentially more likely than spontaneous negative fluctuations in
the backward process, and vice-versa, revealing that the distributions of
fluctuations in universes in which time moves forward and backward are related.
As an additional result, the asymptotic time-averaged entropy production is
obtained as the integral of a periodic entropy production rate that generalizes
the constant rate pertaining to homogeneous dynamics
Things change: Womenâs and menâs marital disruption dynamics in Italy during a time of social transformations, 1970-2003
We study womenâs and menâs marital disruption in Italy between 1970 and 2003. By applying an event-history analysis to the 2003 Italian variant of the Generations and Gender Survey we found that the spread of marital disruption started among middle-highly educated women. Then in recent years it appears that less educated women have also been able to dissolve their unhappy unions. Overall we can see the beginning of a reversed educational gradient from positive to negative. In contrast the trend in menâs marital disruption risk appears as a change over time common to all educational groups, although with persisting educational differentials.determinants, educational differences, event history analysis, gender difference, Italy, marital disruption
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