Infinite Volume of Noncommutative Black Hole Wrapped by Finite Surface

The volume of a black hole under noncommutative spacetime background is found to be infinite, in contradiction with the surface area of a black hole, or its Bekenstein-Hawking (BH) entropy, which is well-known to be finite. Our result rules out the possibility of interpreting the entropy of a black hole by counting the number of modes wrapped inside its surface if the final evaporation stage can be properly treated. It implies the statistical interpretation for the BH entropy can be independent of the volume, provided spacetime is noncommutative. The effect of radiation back reaction is found to be small and doesn't influence the above conclusion

Reality in quantum mechanics, Extended Everett Concept, and consciousness

Conceptual problems in quantum mechanics result from the specific quantum concept of reality and require, for their solution, including the observer's consciousness into quantum theory of measurements. Most naturally this is achieved in the framework of Everett's "many-worlds interpretation" of quantum mechanics. According to this interpretation, various classical alternatives are perceived by consciousness separately from each other. In the Extended Everett Concept (EEC) proposed by the present author, the separation of the alternatives is identified with the phenomenon of consciousness. This explains classical character of the alternatives and unusual manifestations of consciousness arising "at the edge of consciousness" (i.e. in sleep or trance) when its access to "other alternative classical realities" (other Everett's worlds) becomes feasible. Because of reversibility of quantum evolution in EEC, all time moments in the quantum world are equivalent while the impression of flow of time appears only in consciousness. If it is assumed that consciousness may influence onto probabilities of alternatives (which is consistent in case of infinitely many Everett's worlds), EEC explains free will, "probabilistic miracles" (observing low-probability events) and decreasing entropy in the sphere of life.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures in EP

Bifurcation of periodic orbits near a frequency maximum in near-integrable driven oscillators with friction

We investigate analytically the effect of perturbations on an integrable oscillator in one degree of freedom whose frequency shows a maximum as a function of the energy, i.e. a system with nonmonotone twist. The perturbation depends on three parameters: one parameter describes friction such that the Jacobian is constant and less than one. A second and a third describe the variation of the frequency and of the strength of the driving force respectively. The main result is the appearance of two chains of saddle node pairs in the phase portrait. This contrasts with the bifurcation of one chain of periodic orbits in the case of perturbations of monotone twist systems. This result is obtained for a mapping, but it is demonstrated that the same formalism and results apply for time continuous systems as well. In particular we derive an explicit expression for the stroboscopic mapping of a particle in a potential well, driven by a periodic force and under influence of friction, thus giving a clear physical interpretation to the bifurcation parameters in the mapping

The Inner Quality Concept for food, based on life processes

How can we adequately express the quality of food produced by organic agriculture? To answer this research question, we defined a concept of ‘inner quality’ (formerly called ‘vital quality’) based on the life processes growth and differentiation, and their integration. Growers use management methods to influence life processes in their crops, thus optimising the quality of the final product. Traders and consumers can recognise certain product properties as being the result of these life processes. Here, we present a course of validation for the quality concept, together with appropriate quality parameters. The process of validation has been completed in part for two experimental crops, apple and carrot. This quality concept can provide a holistic context for the interpretation of individual food quality parameters as developed by different laboratories

Unique Information via Dependency Constraints

The partial information decomposition (PID) is perhaps the leading proposal for resolving information shared between a set of sources and a target into redundant, synergistic, and unique constituents. Unfortunately, the PID framework has been hindered by a lack of a generally agreed-upon, multivariate method of quantifying the constituents. Here, we take a step toward rectifying this by developing a decomposition based on a new method that quantifies unique information. We first develop a broadly applicable method---the dependency decomposition---that delineates how statistical dependencies influence the structure of a joint distribution. The dependency decomposition then allows us to define a measure of the information about a target that can be uniquely attributed to a particular source as the least amount which the source-target statistical dependency can influence the information shared between the sources and the target. The result is the first measure that satisfies the core axioms of the PID framework while not satisfying the Blackwell relation, which depends on a particular interpretation of how the variables are related. This makes a key step forward to a practical PID.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, 3 appendices; http://csc.ucdavis.edu/~cmg/compmech/pubs/idep.ht

Neutrino energy reconstruction problems and neutrino oscillations

We discuss the accuracy of the usual procedure for neutrino energy reconstruction which is based on the quasielastic kinematics. Our results are described in terms of a probability distribution for a real neutrino energy value. Several factors are responsible of the deviations from the reconstructed value. The main one is the multinucleon component of the neutrino interaction which in the case of Cherenkov detectors enters as a quasielastic cross section, increasing the mean neutrino energy which can differ appreciably from the reconstructed value. As an application we derive, for excess electron events attributed to the conversion of muon neutrinos, the true neutrino energy distribution based on the experimental one which is given in terms of the reconstructed value. The result is a reshaping effect. For MiniBooNE the low energy peak is suppressed and shifted at higher energies, which may influence the interpretation in terms of oscillation. For T2K at the Super Kamiokande far detector the reshaping translates into a narrowing of the energy distribution

Ecofeminism in the 21st Century

This paper considers the influence of ecofeminism on policy concerning gender (in)equality and the environment during the past 20 years. It reviews the broad contours of the ecofeminist debate before focusing on the social construction interpretation of women's relationship with the environment. It will argue that there have been substantial policy shifts in Europe and the UK in both the environmental and equalities fields, and that this is in part a result of lobbying at a range of scales by groups informed by ecofeminist debates. Nevertheless, the paper cautions that these shifts are largely incremental and operate within existing structures, which inevitably limit their capacity to create change. As policy addresses some of the concerns highlighted by ecofeminism, academic discourse and grass roots activity have been moving on to address other issues, and the paper concludes with a brief consideration of contemporary trajectories of ecofeminism and campaigning on issues that link women's, feminist and environment concerns

Driven open quantum systems and Floquet stroboscopic dynamics

We provide an analytic solution to the problem of system-bath dynamics under the effect of high-frequency driving that has applications in a large class of settings, such as driven-dissipative many-body systems. Our method relies on discrete symmetries of the system-bath Hamiltonian and provides the time evolution operator of the full system, including bath degrees of freedom, without weak-coupling or Markovian assumptions. An interpretation of the solution in terms of the strobo- scopic evolution of a family of observables under the influence of an effective static Hamiltonian is proposed, which constitutes a flexible simulation procedure of non-trivial Hamiltonians. We instan- tiate the result with the study of the spin-boson model with time-dependent tunneling amplitude. We analyze the class of Hamiltonians that may be stroboscopically accessed for this example and illustrate the dynamics of system and bath degrees of freedom.Comment: Corrected minor typos in reference