Standpoint cosmology

An unorthodox cosmology is based on a notion of standpoint, distinguishing past from future, realized through Hilbert-space representation of the complex conformai group for 3+1spacetime and associated coherent states. Physical (approximate) symmetry attaches to eight-parameter complex Poincaré displacements, interpretable as growth of standpoint age (one parameter), boost of matter energy-momentum in standpoint rest frame (three parameters) and displacement of matter location in a compact U(1)O(4)/O(3) spacetime attached to standpoint (four parameters). An initial condition (at big bang) is characterized by a huge dimensionless parameter that breaks dilation invariance. Four major length scales are recognized, called Planck, particle, lab, and Hubble, with separations controlled by ; all physical concepts, including spacetime, depend on wideness of scale separation.     

Contribution to the theory of single-mode laser modulation II. Conduction modulation

The problem of conduction modulation of laser radiation is considered. It is shown that acoustic wave interacting with photon field in active medium causes a periodic modulation of the number of quanta in the single-mode gas laser. The problem of modulation is solved quantum mechanically and it is shown that dielectric and conduction modulation give similar results.     

Piron's axioms for quantum mechanics: A reply to Foulis and Randall

In their paper A note on Misunderstandings of Piron's Axioms for Quantum Mechanics, Foulis and Randall undertake a reply to our critique of Piron's question-proposition system (qp-s) which appeared in previous issues of this journal. In the present paper, we want briefly to refute the points of criticism raised by Foulis and Randall (FR). We argue that the misunderstandings are not ours, and we prove it.     

Axiomatic unsharp quantum theory (From Mackey to Ludwig and Piron)

On the basis of Mackey's axiomatic approach to quantum physics or, equivalently, of a state-event-probability (SEVP) structure, using a quite standard fuzzification procedure, a set of unsharp events (or effects) is constructed and the corresponding state-effect-probability (SEFP) structure is introduced. The introduction of some suitable axioms gives rise to a partially ordered structure of quantum Brouwer-Zadeh (BZ) poset; i.e., a poset endowed with two nonusual orthocomplementation mappings, a fuzzy-like orthocomplementation, and an intuitionistic-like orthocomplementation, whose set of sharp elements is an orthomodular complete lattice. As customary, by these orthocomplementations the two modal-like necessity and possibility operators are introduced, and it is shown that Ludwig's and Jauch-Piron's approaches to quantum physics are interpreted in complete SEFP. As a marginal result, a standard procedure to construct a lot of unsharp realizations starting from any sharp realization of a fixed observable is given, and the relationship among sharp and corresponding unsharp realizations is studied.     

Set theory and physics

Inasmuch as physical theories are formalizable, set theory provides a framework for theoretical physics. Four speculations about the relevance of set theoretical modeling for physics are presented: the role of transcendental set theory (i) in chaos theory, (ii) for paradoxical decompositions of solid three-dimensional objects, (iii) in the theory of effective computability (Church-Turing thesis) related to the possible solution of supertasks, and (iv) for weak solutions. Several approaches to set theory and their advantages and disadvatages for physical applications are discussed: Canlorian naive (i.e., nonaxiomatic) set theory, contructivism, and operationalism. In the author's opinion, an attitude of suspended attention (a term borrowed from psychoanalysis) seems most promising for progress. Physical and set theoretical entities must be operationalized wherever possible. At the same time, physicists should be open to bizarre or mindboggling new formalisms, which need not be operationalizable or testable at the lime of their creation, but which may successfully lead to novel fields of phenomenology and technology.     

Dark body and black hole horizons

The formula for the horizon of a Newtonian dark body is given and compared to that of a relativistic black hole: a Newtonian dark body has at least one hair.     

Space Videophotometric System for Recording Optical Radiations in the Earth Atmosphere

This paper describes the VFS-3M videophotometric system designed for automatic remote recording of images and parameters of optical radiations following lightning discharges from aboard the Russian segment of the International space station. The characteristics of the system and the possibilities of recording such types of radiation as Red Sprites and Blue Jets are given.     

Analytic continuation of group representations

Some general methods for analytically continuing group representations are presented. In favorable cases, this enables one to recognize the generalization of the principal, discrete and supplementary series.Work performed under the auspices of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.     

On purely radiative space-times

The existence of space-times representing pure gravitational radiation which comes in from infinity and interacts with itself is discussed. They are characterized as solutions of Einstein's vacuum field equations possessing a smooth structure at past null infinity which forms the future null cone at past timelike infinity with complete generators. The pure radiation problem is analysed where free initial data for Einstein's field equations are prescribed on the null cone at past time-like infinity. It is demonstrated how the pure radiation problem can be formulated as a local initial value problem for the symmetric hyperbolic system of reduced conformal vacuum field equations. Its solutions are uniquely determined by the free data.Work supported by a Heisenberg-fellowship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

Energy criterion in the interpretation of dielectric relaxation

The universal fractional-power-law frequency dependence of relaxation seen in most solid dielectrics has the unique property that the ratio of macroscopic energy lost per radian to energy stored is independent of frequency. In a recent publication we have shown that this energy criterion is satisfied if the energy loss in every microscopic dipolar reversal is independent of the rate of reversals. The present paper derives for the first time a quantitative relationship between the macroscopic energy loss per radian and the microscopic loss , thus providing a justification of the energy criterion approach. The relationship between this new frequency-domain interpretation of relaxation processes and the currently accepted theories of universal behaviour is discussed.     

Role of time in the sum-over-histories framework for gravity

I sketch a self-contained framework for quantum mechanics based on its path-integral or sum-over-histories formulation. The framework is very close to that for classical stochastic processes like Brownian motion, and its interpretation requires neither measurement nor state-vector as a basic notion. The rules for forming probabilities are nonclassical in two ways: they use complex amplitudes, and they (apparently unavoidably) require one to truncate the histories at a collapse time, which can be chosen arbitrarily far into the future. Adapting this framework to gravity yields a formulation of quantum gravity with a fully spacetime character, thereby overcoming the frozen nature of the canonical formalism. Within the proposed adaptation, the value of the collapse time is identified with total elapsed spacetime four-volume. Interestingly, this turns the cosmological constant into an essentially classical constant of integration, removing the need for microscopic fine tuning to obtain an experimentally viable value for it. Some implications of the V = T rule for quantum cosmology are also discussed.     

On the electromagnetic structure of elementary particles

Using modern similarity and dimensionality methods, criteria of similarity are derived and used as transformations, which effect the conversion from one natural system of units to another. The exclusion principles thus defined are used to determine the powers of the similarity criteria in quantitative relations.Systems of units of the fermion and boson types are used in the simplest identification of the parameters corresponding to elementary particles.A set of electric and magnetic physical constants with dimensionality length, area, and volume, is obtained and successfully unified within the limits of a vortex ring, the maximum dimensions of which are defined by the Compton wavelength, and the minimum by the classical radius of the particle. The vortex ring model is in accordance with the latest experimental data, and it enables the behavior of the incident and target particles in the scattering process to be predicted.In modern theoretical physics the elementary particles are still considered as essentially structureless point formations, and hence it is impossible to give a purely theoretical treatment of the structure of the particles. Thus the various attempts in this direction (Hofstadter, Blokhintsev) have a polyphenomenological character and are internally inconsistent. (The search for the structure of an elementary particle is carried out on the assumption that it is not elementary, since truly elementary particles are defined as point size.) The author recognizes the need for an original approach to the structure of elementary particles, based on a method of study adequate for the problem. Such a method is the theory of dimensionality and similarity (Sedov, Gukhman, and Kirpichev), which serves as a scientific basis of a physical experiment (Kirpichev), or as the scientific basis for a model of the phenomena, insofar as the criteria of similarity are a reflection of the physical model of the process (Gukhman).It is a pleasure to thank Academician L. I. Sedov and Professor K. A. Putilov for valuable criticism and advice, and Professor A. S. Irisov and V. V. Lokhin for useful discussions.     

Cosmological surrealism: More than “eternal reality” is needed

Inflationary cosmology makes the universe eternal and provides for recurrent universe creation, ad infinitum — making it also plausible to assume that our Big Bang was also preceeded by others, etc.. However, GR tells us that in the parent universe's reference frame, the newborn universe's expansion will never start. Our picture of reality in spacetime has to be enlarged.Wolfson Distinguished Chair in Theoretical Physics.Also on leave from the University of Texas, Center for Particle Physics, Austin, Texas.     

Inertial frames of reference: Mass coupling to space and time

We consider a new expression for the dependence of mass on velocity, more general than the corresponding law of the special theory of relativity (STR). The deviations from the STR become large with increasing rest mass. One should therefore measure the dependence of mass on velocity for objects with a large rest mass. The theory predicts that particles with real mass can travel with hyperlight velocities. The space-time picture discussed here is close to Mach's conception: It is assumed that the dynamical behavior of a particle in uniform translational motion is due to the action of all the other masses in the universe. Space-time is eliminated as an active cause and, in contrast to the STR, is not absolute within the theory discussed here. It turns out that effects based on the new transformation formulas (from the coordinates and time in a stationary frame to the coordinates and time in a moving frame) are identical to those expected from the Lorentz transformations. For example, it is known that rapidly moving mesons decay with a longer half-life than stationary mesons and the STR describes this effect quantitatively. However, there is no strong evidence for the validity of the STR because the theory given in this paper predicts the same result.     

New two-color dimer models with critical ground states

We define two new models on the square lattice in which each allowed configuration is a superposition of a covering by white dimers and one by black dimers. Each model maps to a solid-on-solid (SOS) model in which the height field is two dimensional. Measuring the stiffness of the SOS fluctuations in the rough phase provides critical exponents of the dimer models. Using this height representation, we have performed Monte Carlo simulations. They confirm that each dimer model has critical correlations and belongs to a new universality class. In the dimer-loop model (which maps to a loop model) one height component is smooth, but has unusual correlated fluctuations; the other height component is rough. In the noncrossing-dimer model the heights are rough, having two different elastic constants; an unusual form of its elastic theory implies anisotropic critical correlations.     

Effectiveness of optical-radiation focusing by multicycle wavefront-inversion system

The effectiveness of a multicycle wavefront-inversion (WFI) algorithm in the problem of laser-radiation focusing in a randomly inhomogeneous medium is evaluated. Both local (for a single cycle) and integral (for the entire observation period) effectiveness criteria are examined. The dependence of these criteria on the main parameters of an adaptive system with WFI are determined. It is shown, in particular, that the WFI system must be adjusted for local conditions to increase the effectiveness of WFI of a noisy signal.Scientific-Industrial Organization Astrophysics. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 35, No. 8, pp. 702–714, August, 1992.     

The use of time-dependent projection operators in the derivation of master equations

In this paper we generalize our previous work on the use of time-dependent projection operators for the derivation of master equations for general systems. Previously we had generalized the usual time-independent projection operator approach to include time-dependent projection operators, in which the relevant part of the full density operator is considered to be the uncorrelated part of the full density operator. The irrelevant part of the density operator was then the part describing the correlations between the coupled systems. In the present work we present new time-dependent projections operators which have the property that some correlations between the interacting subsystems are placed in the relevant part of the distribution function and the remaining correlations are placed in the irrelevant part of the distribution function.     

Variational Principle and Almost Quasilocality for Renormalized Measures

We study the variational principle for some non-Gibbsian measures. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for the validity of the implication zero relative entropy density implies common version of conditional probabilities (so-called second part of the variational principle). Applying this to noisy decimations of the low-temperature phases of the Ising model, we obtain almost sure quasilocality for these measures and the second part of the variational principle. For the projection of low temperature Ising phases on a one-dimensional layer, we also obtain the second part of the variational principle.     

Singularity and unanimity

Examples are adduced which lead one to ask if the following rule of unanimity makes sense: Given, a classical dynamical problem. Given, that all solutions of the equations of motion (a) run into a singularity [or (b) are free of singularity], except a set of measure zero. Then (rule of unanimity), all solutions of the corresponding quantum mechanical problem are (a) singular [or (b) free of singularity]. If valid, this rule would imply that quantization of Einstein's standard general relativity model for a closed universe gives no escape from the singularity of gravitational collapse.Dedicated to Achille Papapetrou on the occasion of his retirement.     

Properties of electrically active structural defects in crystalline semiconductors

The internal structures, composite elements, electrophysical properties, and characteristic parameters of impurity clouds, noise supertraps, disordered domains, and stacking defects are compared in crystalline semiconductors. It is shown that the mentioned macrodefects possess common properties: They have a nucleus and an impurity atmosphere, are separated by a potential barrier, are shaped with the participation of Frenkel defects and oxygen ions, have a threshold inclusion, sharply increase the rate of charge carrier generation-recombination as the electrical field grows, etc. It is noted that current channels in non-crystalline semiconductors are characterized by properties close to these after they have been formed. It is assumed that the electrical activity of the structural macrodefects in crystalline semiconductors may be related to the fundamental properties of noncrystalline semiconductors (for instance, the resistance switching effect). Domains adjoining a macrodefect and destroyed by it visibly manifest these properties.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 95–100, April, 1988.