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Relativity
Kinds of Relativity Selected AbstractsThe origins and present status of the radio wave controversy in NMRCONCEPTS IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE, Issue 4 2009D.I. Hoult Abstract The origins, history, and present status of the controversy surrounding a quantum description of the NMR signal as being due to radio waves are traced. With the Principle of Relativity and Coulomb's Law as formal starting points and the minimum of mathematics needed for understanding, the derivation of a classical electromagnetic theory of signal reception is first given. The agreement between that classical theory and a recent NMR experiment is then presented, leading to proof that, except for the highest field imaging experiments, there is no significant contribution of radio waves to the signal. Attention is drawn to the very different properties of the near and far energy, momenta, and fields inherent in the derivation. The role of the Correspondence Principle in formulating a quantum description is then emphasized and it is shown that the standard NMR interpretation of Dicke's theory of coherent spontaneous emission,that the latter is responsible for the NMR signal,cannot be correct. Finally, the author speculates on some of the intriguing relationships found in the classical electrodynamics of NMR signal reception and attempts to relate them to a common quantum electrodynamic precept of near field interaction: that the free induction decay voltage present at the terminals of an open-circuit receiving coil is based on an exchange of virtual photons between the nuclei in a sample and the free electrons in a receiving coil. © 2009 Crown in the right of Canada. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 34A: 193,216, 2009. [source] MOND plus classical neutrinos are not enough for cluster lensingMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 1 2008Priyamvada Natarajan ABSTRACT Clusters of galaxies offer a robust test bed for probing the nature of dark matter that is insensitive to the assumption of the gravity theories. Both Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) and General Relativity (GR) would require similar amounts of non-baryonic matter in clusters as MOND boosts the gravity only mildly on cluster scales. Gravitational lensing allows us to estimate the enclosed mass in clusters on small (,20,50 kpc) and large (,several 100 kpc) scales independent of the assumptions of equilibrium. Here, we show for the first time that a combination of strong and weak gravitational lensing effects can set interesting limits on the phase-space density of dark matter in the centres of clusters. The phase-space densities derived from lensing observations are inconsistent with neutrino masses ranging from 2,7 eV, and hence do not support the 2 eV-range particles required by MOND. To survive, the most plausible modification for MOND may be an additional degree of dynamical freedom in a covariant incarnation. [source] Joining the Hubble flow: implications for expanding spaceMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 1 2006Luke A. Barnes ABSTRACT The concept of expanding space has come under fire recently as being inadequate and even misleading in describing the motion of test particles in the universe. Previous investigations have suffered from a number of shortcomings, which we seek to correct. We study the motion of test particles in the universe in detail, solving the geodesic equations of General Relativity for a number of cosmological models. In particular, we use analytic methods to examine whether particles removed from the Hubble flow asymptotically rejoin the Hubble flow, a topic that has caused confusion because of differing definitions and invalid reasoning. We conclude that particles in eternally expanding but otherwise arbitrary universes do not in general rejoin the Hubble flow. [source] Conceptual Relativity and Metaphysical RealismNOUS, Issue 2002Terry Horgan First page of article [source] Relativity, Rank and the Utility of Income,THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 528 2008Matthew D. Rablen Relative utility has become an important concept in several disjoint areas of economics. I present a cardinal model of income utility based on the supposition that agents care about their rank in the income distribution and that utility is subject to adaptation over time. Utility levels correspond to the Leyden Individual Welfare Function while utility differences yield a version of the prospect theory value function, thereby providing a new and shared derivation of each. I offer an explanation of some long-standing paradoxes in the wellbeing literature and an insight into the links between relative comparisons and loss aversion. [source] Fitzgerald: Time, Continuity, RelativityTHE F. SCOTT FITZGERALD REVIEW, Issue 1 2003Ronald Berman First page of article [source] Relativity of Value and the Consequentialist UmbrellaTHE PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 217 2004Jennie Lousie Does the real difference between non-consequentialist and consequentialist theories lie in their approach to value? Non-consequentialist theories are thought either to allow a different kind of value (namely, agent-relative value) or to advocate a different response to value (,honouring' rather than ,promoting'). One objection to this idea implies that all normative theories are describable as consequentialist. But then the distinction between honouring and promoting collapses into the distinction between relative and neutral value. A proper description of non-consequentialist theories can only be achieved by including a distinction between temporal relativity and neutrality in addition to the distinction between agent-relativity and agent-neutrality. [source] Elementary Process Theory: a formal axiomatic system with a potential application as a foundational framework for physics supporting gravitational repulsion of matter and antimatterANNALEN DER PHYSIK, Issue 10 2010M.J.T.F. Cabbolet Abstract Theories of modern physics predict that antimatter having rest mass will be attracted by the earth's gravitational field, but the actual coupling of antimatter with gravitation has not been established experimentally. The purpose of the present research was to identify laws of physics that would govern the universe if antimatter having rest mass would be repúlsed by the earth's gravitational field. As a result, a formalized axiomatic system was developed together with interpretation rules for the terms of the language: the intention is that every theorem of the system yields a true statement about physical reality. Seven non-logical axioms of this axiomatic system form the Elementary Process Theory (EPT): this is then a scheme of elementary principles describing the dynamics of individual processes taking place at supersmall scale. It is demonstrated how gravitational repulsion functions in the universe of the EPT, and some observed particles and processes have been formalized in the framework of the EPT. Incompatibility of Quantum Mechanics (QM) and General Relativity (GR) with the EPT is proven mathematically; to demonstrate applicability to real world problems to which neither QM nor GR applies, the EPT has been applied to a theory of the Planck era of the universe. The main conclusions are that a completely formalized framework for physics has been developed supporting the existence of gravitational repulsion and that the present results give rise to a potentially progressive research program. [source] Book Review: "Introduction to General Relativity", by Lewis RyderANNALEN DER PHYSIK, Issue 10-11 2009Milutin Blagojevi No abstract is available for this article. [source] Book Review: "Introduction to General Relativity", by Lewis RyderANNALEN DER PHYSIK, Issue 10-11 2009Milutin Blagojevi No abstract is available for this article. [source] Front and Back Covers, Volume 25, Number 5.ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 5 2009October 200 Front and back cover caption, volume 25 issue 5 FIELDWORK AND TECHNOLOGY The images on the front and back covers illustrate two of several reflections in this issue on the impacts of technology on the world studied by anthropologists. On the front cover, an internet cafe is one of the first sights to greet visitors to Dhunche, once a ,remote' area in northern Nepal. On the back cover, a youth tries out a telescope during the commemoration of the confirmation of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity at Roça Sundy, Príncipe, where Arthur Eddington observed a total solar eclipse. In his editorial, Bob Simpson remarks on how much the craft of fieldwork has changed as a result of the widespread on-site availability of communications technology, placing even the remotest sites within reach of home or employer. In this post-Malinowskian fieldwork, where the distinction between back here and out there has disappeared, what are the implications of this for our craft and for the quality of our obversations? Gisa Weszkalnys reflects on her fieldwork site of Príncipe as the location of one of the most important events in 20th-century science, the confirmation of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. She overlays the 2009 commemoration of this event, with international institutions promoting scientific knowledge and tourism, with another, colonial history of Príncipe as the focus of a controversy around the alleged use of slave labour in its cocoa plantations. As Kristín Loftsdóttir argues in her article, science and technology are among a range of markers used to determine who is most in need of international development, thus contributing to what she calls the ,racialization of development'. Akbar Ahmed alerts us to the fear in Washington, DC and Islamabad that the Taliban, who have recently taken over his field site in Swat Province, could potentially destabilize world order by appropriating nuclear technology. There are evidently many ways in which science and technology can and do affect our field sites. One of the greatest challenges for anthropology will be to experiment creatively and innovate with appropriate technologies in partnership. In this way we can generate more egalitarian conversations in an atmosphere of mutual respect, trust and tolerance. Whatever fieldwork becomes, it must be founded on such engagement with the broadest of publics, while making the most of these new technologies. [source] Príncipe eclipsed: Commemorating the confirmation of Einstein's Theory of General RelativityANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 5 2009Gisa Weszkalnys This article reflects on the West African island of Príncipe as the venue of one of the most significant events in 20th century science, the confirmation of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity during an eclipse expedition led by Arthur Eddington. It takes as its starting point the 2009 commemoration of the event, involving international institutions promoting scientific knowledge and tourism, and overlays this with another, colonial history of Príncipe as the focus of a controversy around the alleged use of slave labour in its early 20th century cocoa plantations. What is the anthropologist's license in problematising the commemoration, and what are the specific ethnographic insights afforded by this unique event? [source] Language-Relative Construal of Individuation Constrained by Universal Ontology: Revisiting Language Universals and Linguistic RelativityCOGNITIVE SCIENCE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007Mutsumi Imai Abstract Objects and substances bear fundamentally different ontologies. In this article, we examine the relations between language, the ontological distinction with respect to individuation, and the world. Specifically, in cross-linguistic developmental studies that follow Imai and Gentner (1997), we examine the question of whether language influences our thought in different forms, like (1) whether the language-specific construal of entities found in a word extension context (Imai & Gentner, 1997) is also found in a nonlinguistic classification context; (2) whether the presence of labels per se, independent of the count-mass syntax, fosters ontology-based classification; (3) in what way, if at all, the count-mass syntax that accompanies a label changes English speakers' default construal of a given entity? On the basis of the results, we argue that the ontological distinction concerning individuation is universally shared and functions as a constraint on early learning of words. At the same time, language influences one's construal of entities cross-lingistically and developmentally, and causes a temporary change of construal within a single language. We provide a detailed discussion of how each of these three ways language may affect the construal of entities, and discuss how our universally possessed knowledge interacts with language both within a single language and in cross-linguistic context. [source] Developing a relativities approach to valuing the prevention of non-fatal work-related accidents and ill healthHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 11 2005Jonathan Karnon Abstract The aim of the current explorative study is to define and test a process for the valuation of the benefits associated with the prevention of non-fatal work-related accidents and ill health. A relativities approach is adopted, and monetary values for the prevention of three forms of work-related illness are estimated. The approach involves describing relevant attributes of alternative events (accidents or occurrences of ill health), their causes, the characteristics of the relevant working population, and the number of events that are avoidable, and asking respondents to make pair wise choices between alternatives options for prevention. Indirect monetary valuations are obtained against a peg event for which a reliable valuation exists (road deaths). A series of discussion groups were held to identify relevant factors affecting potential valuations and to test the presentation of information. The predicted magnitude of responses for three-case study events (and road deaths) was estimated in a pilot study. These preliminary stages informed the final survey instrument that described five attributes in addition to a statement of the event and occupation, and the likely intervention effect, which was administered by post. Based on a small sample, the results show that virtually all respondents passed the inserted consistency test. The median respondent altered their choice according to the number of events avoided for all three comparisons, such that the estimated valuations appear sensible. Potential amendments are suggested, but the general relativities approach warrants further investigation for the valuation of non-fatal work-related accidents and ill health. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Bonus-Malus Scales in Segmented Tariffs With Stochastic Migration Between SegmentsJOURNAL OF RISK AND INSURANCE, Issue 4 2003Natacha Brouhns This article proposes a computer-intensive methodology to build bonus-malus scales in automobile insurance. The claim frequency model is taken from Pinquet, Guillén, and Bolancé (2001). It accounts for overdispersion, heteroskedasticity, and dependence among repeated observations. Explanatory variables are taken into account in the determination of the relativities, yielding an integrated automobile ratemaking scheme. In that respect, it complements the study of Taylor (1997). [source] Moduli stabilisation and applications in IIB string theoryFORTSCHRITTE DER PHYSIK/PROGRESS OF PHYSICS, Issue 3 2007J.P. Conlon String compactifications represent the most promising approach towards unifying general relativity with particle physics. However, naive compactifications give rise to massless particles (moduli) which would mediate unobserved long-range forces, and it is therefore necessary to generate a potential for the moduli. In the introductory chapters I review this problem and recall how in IIB compactifications the dilaton and complex structure moduli can be stabilised by 3-form fluxes. There exist very many possible discrete flux choices which motivates the use of statistical techniques to analyse this discretuum of choices. Such approaches generate formulae predicting the distribution of vacua and I describe numerical tests of these formulae on the Calabi-Yau ,4[1,1,2,2,6]. Stabilising the Kähler moduli requires nonperturbative superpotential effects. I review the KKLT construction and explain why this must in general be supplemented with perturbative Kähler corrections. I show how the incorporation of such corrections generically leads to non-supersymmetric minima at exponentially large volumes, giving a detailed account of the,, expansion and its relation to Kähler corrections. I illustrate this with explicit computations for the Calabi-Yau ,4[1,1,1,6,9]. The next part of the article examines phenomenological applications of this construction. I first describe how the magnitude of the soft supersymmetry parameters may be computed. In the large-volume models the gravitino mass and soft terms are volume-suppressed. As we naturally have ,, ,1, this gives a dynamical solution of the hierarchy problem. I also demonstrate the existence of a fine structure in the soft terms, with gaugino masses naturally lighter than the gravitino mass by a factor ln (MP/m3/2). A second section gives a detailed analysis of the relationship of moduli stabilisation to the QCD axions relevant to the strong CP problem, proving a no-go theorem on the compatibility of a QCD axion with supersymmetric moduli stabilisation. I describe how QCD axions can coexist with nonsupersymmetric perturbative stabilisation and how the large-volume models naturally contain axions with decay constants that are phenomenologically allowed and satisfy the appealing relationship fa2 ,MPMsusy. A further section describe how a simple and predictive inflationary model can be built in the context of the above large-volume construction, using the no-scale Kähler potential to avoid the , problem. I finally conclude, summarising the phenomenological scenario and outlining the prospects for future work. [source] Quantum information and general relativityFORTSCHRITTE DER PHYSIK/PROGRESS OF PHYSICS, Issue 11-12 2004A. Peres The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox (1935) is reexamined in the light of Shannon's information theory (1948). The EPR argument did not take into account that the observers' information was localized, like any other physical object. General relativity introduces new problems: there are horizons which act as on-way membranes for the propagation of quantum information, in particular black holes which act like sinks. [source] Computational NMR Spectroscopy of Transition-Metal/Nitroimidazole Complexes: Theoretical Investigation of Potential RadiosensitizersHELVETICA CHIMICA ACTA, Issue 10 2005Teodorico The computed chemical shifts of transition-metal complexes with dimetridazole (=,1,2-dimethyl-5-nitro-1H -imidazole; 1), a prototypical nitro-imidazole-based radiosensitizer, are reported at the GIAO-BP86 and -B3LYP levels for BP86/ECP1-optimized geometries. These complexes comprise [MCl2(1)2] (M,=,Zn, Pd, Pt), [RuCl2(DMSO)2(1)2], and [Rh2(O2CMe)4(1)2]. Available ,(1H) and ,(15N) values, and ,,(1H) and ,,(15N) coordination shifts are well-reproduced theoretically, provided solvation and relativistic effects are taken into account by means of a polarizable continuum model and suitable methods including spin,orbit (SO) coupling, respectively. These effects are particularly important for the metal-coordinated N-atom, where the contributions from solvation and relativity can affect ,(15N) and ,,(15N) values up to 10,20,ppm. The 195Pt chemical shifts of cis - and trans -[PtCl2(1)2] are well-reproduced using the zero-order regular approximation including SO coupling (ZORA-SO). Predictions are reported for 99Ru and 103Rh chemical shifts, which suggest that these metal centers could be used as additional, sensitive NMR probes in their complexes with nitro-imidazoles. [source] Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and ExplanationHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 1 2000C. Behan Mccullagh Debates among historiansshow that they expect descriptions of past people and events, interpretations of historicalsubjects, and genetic explanations of historical changes to be fair and not misleading. Sometimesunfair accounts of the past are the result of historians' bias, of their preferring one accountover others because it accords with their interests. It is useful to distinguish history that ismisleading by accident from that which is the result of personal bias; and to distinguish personalbias from cultural bias and general cultural relativity. This article explains what fairdescriptions, interpretations, and explanations are like in order to clarify the senses in which theycan be biased. It then explains why bias is deplorable, and after noting those who regard it asmore or less inevitable, considers how personal bias can be avoided. It argues that it is notdetachment that is needed, but commitment to standards of rational inquiry. Some mightthink that rational standards of inquiry will not be enough to avoid bias if the evidence availableto the historian is itself biased. In fact historians often allow for bias in evidence, and evenexplain it when reconstructing what happened in the past. The article concludes bynoting that although personal bias can be largely avoided, cultural bias is not so easy to detect orcorrect. [source] Calm seas or troubled waters?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, Issue 3 2005Transitions, definitions, disagreements in applied linguistics This article advances the position that an apparent current consensus over the nature and scope of applied linguistics is illusory. It is achieved only when definitions of the discipline are couched in the most general terms. When the details of theories are specified, we find fundamental differences of opinion both within applied linguistics and with linguistics. In the first part, the article reflects upon the history of applied linguistics, characterising it as falling into three periods. The second part presents a view of radical ideas in the third of these periods, focusing upon recent applied linguistic work in three areas: describing languages and defining speakers; modularity, modality and relativity; science, authority and action. Some work in these areas challenges fundamental linguistic as well as more conservative applied linguistic orthodoxies such as: the comparability of languages, the centrality of the native speaker, linguistic modularity and universalism, description without prescription, and the unique authority of science. [source] Two-dimensional psychophysics in chickens and humans: Comparative aspects of perceptual relativityJAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2008PETRA HAUF Abstract:, Whereas the contextual basis of psychophysical responding is well founded, the compound influence of sensory and perceptual frames of reference constitutes a challenging issue in comparative one- and multidimensional psychophysics (e.g., Sarris, 2004, 2006). We refer to previous investigations, which tested the assumption that the chicken's relational choice in the one-dimensional case is systematically altered by context conditions similar to the findings stemming from human participants. In this paper mainly the context-dependent stimulus coding was investigated for the important, but largely neglected, two-dimensional case in humans and chickens. Three strategies were predicted for the generalization of size discriminations, which had been learned in a different color context. In two experiments, which varied in the testing procedure, both species demonstrated profound contextual effects in psychophysics; they differed, however, in the way the information from either dimension was used: Chickens throughout used color as a cue to separate the respective size discriminations and generalizations. Whereas humans predominantly generalized according to size information only or according to absolute stimulus properties, the chickens showed some important species-specific differences. Common and heterogeneous findings of this line of comparative research in multidimensional psychophysics are presented and discussed in various ways. [source] Yélî Dnye and the Theory of Basic Color TermsJOURNAL OF LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2000Stephen C. Levinson The theory of basic color terms was a crucial factor in the demise of linguistic relativity. The theory is now once again under scrutiny and fundamental revision. This article details a case study that undermines one of the central claims of the classical theory, namely that languages universally treat color as a unitary domain, to be exhaustively named. Taken together with other cases, the study suggests that a number of languages have only an incipient color terminology, raising doubts about the linguistic universality of such terminology. [source] Constraints on modified gravity from the observed X-ray luminosity function of galaxy clustersMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 2 2009David Rapetti ABSTRACT We use measurements of the growth of cosmic structure, as inferred from the observed evolution of the X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of galaxy clusters, to constrain departures from general relativity (GR) on cosmological scales. We employ the popular growth rate parameterization, ,m(z),, for which GR predicts a growth index ,, 0.55. We use observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), type Ia supernovae (SNIa) and X-ray cluster gas mass fractions (fgas), to simultaneously constrain the expansion history and energy content of the Universe, as described by the background model parameters: ,m, w and ,k, i.e. the mean matter density, the dark energy equation of state parameter and the mean curvature, respectively. Using conservative allowances for systematic uncertainties, in particular for the evolution of the mass,luminosity scaling relation in the XLF analysis, we find ,= 0.51+0.16,0.15 and ,m= 0.27 ± 0.02 (68.3 per cent confidence limits), for a flat cosmological constant, cold dark matter (,CDM) background model. Allowing w to be a free parameter, we find ,= 0.44+0.17,0.15. Relaxing the flatness prior in the ,CDM model, we obtain ,= 0.51+0.19,0.16. When in addition to the XLF data we use the CMB data to constrain , through the ISW effect, we obtain a combined constraint of ,= 0.45+0.14,0.12 for the flat ,CDM model. Our analysis provides the tightest constraints to date on the growth index. We find no evidence for departures from GR on cosmological scales. [source] Equilibrium states of magnetized toroid,central compact object systemsMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2009Jun Otani ABSTRACT Equilibrium configurations of self-gravitating magnetized toroid,central compact object systems have been constructed in the framework of the Newtonian gravity. We have succeeded in including not only poloidal but also toroidal magnetic fields under the ideal magnetohydrodynamic approximation. We find two new and interesting results about the critical equilibrium states of such systems beyond which no equilibrium states are allowed to exist. First, there appear critical distances from the central compact objects to the inner surfaces of the magnetized toroids. Furthermore, these critical distances are much larger than the distances of the innermost stable circular orbits. It implies that even if these systems would be treated in the framework of general relativity, there would appear cusp structures of the effective total potential of the gravitational and magnetic forces for strongly magnetized toroids which are different from the general relativistic cusp structures. Secondly, since the strength of the magnetic field for the critical equilibrium configurations is roughly 1015 G if the mass of the central object is 1.4 M, and the maximum density of the toroid is 1011 g cm,3, the existence of equilibrium states of toroids around compact objects seems to set limit to the maximum value of the magnetic field of the system to be ,1015 G, i.e. no stronger magnetic fields can be realized for the systems consisting of magnetized toroids and central compact objects with the masses around the typical neutron star mass. The value of the maximum density of the toroid, 1011 g cm,3, is taken from the theoretical computational results of binary neutron star merging simulations in full general relativity. [source] Spinning test particles in a Kerr field , IIMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2007K. Kyrian ABSTRACT The motion of small spinning free test bodies is usually treated within the ,pole,dipole' approximation, which , in general relativity , leads to Mathisson,Papapetrou (MP) equations. These have to be supplemented by three side constraints in order to provide a unique solution. Several different ,spin conditions' have been proposed and used in the literature, each leading to different worldlines. In a previous paper, we integrated the MP equations with the p,S,,= 0 condition numerically in Kerr space,time and illustrated the effect of the spin,curvature interaction by comparing the trajectories obtained for various spin magnitudes. Here we also consider other spin conditions and clarify their interrelations analytically as well as numerically on particular trajectories. The notion of a ,minimal worldtube' is introduced in order to judge the individual supplementary conditions and to expose the limitations of the pole,dipole approximation. [source] Using long-term transit timing to detect terrestrial planetsMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2007Jeremy S. Heyl ABSTRACT We propose that the presence of additional planets in extrasolar planetary systems can be detected by long-term transit timing studies. If a transiting planet is on an eccentric orbit then the presence of another planet causes a secular advance of the transiting planet's pericentre over and above the effect of general relativity. Although this secular effect is impractical to detect over a small number of orbits, it causes long-term differences when future transits occur, much like the long-term decay observed in pulsars. Measuring this transit-timing delay would thus allow the detection of either one or more additional planets in the system or the first measurements of non-zero oblateness (J2) of the central stars. [source] Thermal evolution of rotating hybrid starsMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2007Miao Kang ABSTRACT As a neutron star spins down, the nuclear matter is continuously converted into quark matter due to the core density increase, and then latent heat is released. We have investigated the thermal evolution of neutron stars undergoing such deconfinement phase transition. We have taken into account the conversion in the frame of the general theory of relativity. The released energy has been estimated as a function of changed rate of deconfinement baryon number. The numerical solutions to the cooling equation are seen to be very different from those without the heating effect. The results show that neutron stars may be heated to higher temperatures which is well matched with pulsar's data despite the onset of fast cooling in neutron stars with quark matter cores. It is also found that the heating effect has a magnetic field strength dependence. This feature could be particularly interesting for high temperatures of low-field millisecond pulsars at a later stage. The high temperature could fit the observed temperature for PSR J0437,4715. [source] Thomas Pynchon: Gravity's Rainbow.ORBIS LITERARUM, Issue 3 2009The Ideas of the Opposite Thomas Pynchon's highly complex novel deals with the personal and social difficulty of accepting a new worldview. Set at the end of World War II and in its aftermath, the protagonists find themselves at the crossroads between Newtonian mechanics, epitomized by the V2 rockets, and the foreshadowed atom bomb, which is based on the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. The style of Gravity's Rainbow resembles the scene of a subatomic world: it is presented as an ever-changing kaleidoscope of characters, places, events and interactions, which are constantly redetermined in relation to each other in an unpredictable manner. Pynchon manages to create a unifying theme by making all the twists in the plot comprehensible as manifestations of the underlying attempt to reconstruct selfhood. In addition, he refers recurrently to the motif of light, both as a physical entity at the center of modern physics and as a literary symbol of classical stability. In the end, his main protagonist himself turns into a mysterious source of light. [source] Gödelian time-travel and anthropic cosmologyRATIO, Issue 2 2004Alasdair M. Richmond This paper looks at Kurt Gödel's causally-pathological cosmological models (derived from general relativity), in the light of anthropic explanations. If a Gödelian world is a possible world, could anthropic reasoning shed any light on whether or not our world is Gödelian? This paper argues that while there are some good anthropic reasons why our world ought to be Gödelian, too many observations suggest that our world can't possibly be Gödelian in fact. If Gödel's world is a possible one, anthropic teleology alone cannot explain why it isn't the world we inhabit. Furthermore, if our world were Gödelian, anthropic arguments against the existence of extraterrestrial intelligences would imply a bleak human future. En route, some general objections to relativistic causal pathologies are addressed and some anthropic arguments to the effect that Gödelian worlds couldn't sustain life are also addressed and dismissed. [source] Radical quotation and real repetitionRATIO, Issue 2 2004David Roden In this essay I argue for a constructivist account of the entities composing the object languages of Davidsonian truth theories and a quotational account of the reference from metalinguistic expressions to interpreted utterances. I claim that ,radical quotation' requires an ontology of repeatable events with strong similarities to Derrida's account of iterable events. In part one I summarise Davidson's account of interpretation and Olav Gjelsivk's arguments to the effect that the syntactic individuation of linguistic objects is only workable if interpreters make richer assumptions about semantic properties than Davidson can tolerate. In part two I show that the objectivist account of syntactic objects which Gjelsivk's arguments presuppose is incompatible with one corollary of Davidsonian semantic indeterminacy: namely, the relativity of language to interpretative scheme. In place of this an account of radical interpretation is presented in which a quotational theory of metalinguistic reference furnishes the requisite relativity. In part three I argue that this account requires that particular utterance events must be repeatable to be radically quotable and give reasons why particularity and repeatability are not incompatible. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||