Einstein’s “Zur Elektrodynamik...” (1905) Revisited, With Some Consequences

Einstein, in his “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter K?rper”, gave a physical (operational) meaning to “time” of a remote event in describing “motion” by introducing the concept of “synchronous stationary clocks located at different places”. But with regard to “place” in describing motion, he assumed without analysis the concept of a system of co-ordinates.In the present paper, we propose a way of giving physical (operational) meaning to the concepts of “place” and “co-ordinate system”, and show how the observer can define both the place and time of a remote event. Following Einstein, we consider another system “in uniform motion of translation relatively to the former”. Without assuming “the properties of homogeneity which we attribute to space and time”, we show that the definitions of space and time in the two systems are linearly related. We deduce some novel consequences of our approach regarding faster-than-light observers and particles, “one-way” and “two-way” velocities of light, symmetry, the “group property” of inertial reference frames, length contraction and time dilatation, and the “twin paradox”. Finally, we point out a flaw in Einstein’s argument in the “Electrodynamical Part” of his paper and show that the Lorentz force formula and Einstein’s formula for transformation of field quantities are mutually consistent. We show that for faster-than-light bodies, a simple modification of Planck’s formula for mass suffices. (Except for the reference to Planck’s formula, we restrict ourselves to Physics of 1905.)     

The impact of collisions on platelet distribution in the blood flow

The impact of platelet collisions on their distribution in a viscous liquid flow has been analyzed. It has been shown that platelet distribution in the flow perpendicular to current lines resulting from their collisions can be described as “shear” diffusion. In the wide physiological range of shear velocities specific for blood, the coefficient of “shear” diffusion is much larger than the coefficient of “Brownian” diffusion. For a parabolic fluid velocity profile (Poiseuille flow) in cylindrical vessel “shear” diffusion causes uneven radial distribution of platelets over the vessel radius. “Shear” diffusion causes platelet concentration to grow from the wall toward the center (vessel axis). This effect appears to be a consequence of the specific distribution of platelet collision frequency reaching its maximum at the vessel wall.     

Double passage of electromagnetic waves through magnetized plasma: approximation of independent normal waves

Polarization properties of electromagnetic waves, double-passed through magnetized plasma, are studied. Analyses are performed in the case of non-interacting normal modes, propagating in homogeneous and weakly inhomogeneous plasmas, and for three kinds of reflectors: metallic plane, 2D corner retro-reflector (2D-CR), and cubic corner retro-reflector (CCR). It is shown that an electromagnetic wave, reflected from a metallic plane and from a CCR, contains only “velocity-preserving” channels, whose phases are doubled in comparison with those of a single-passage propagation. At the same time, an electromagnetic wave reflected from a 2D-CR is shown to contain both “velocity-preserving” and “velocity-converting” channels, the latter converting the fast wave into the slow one and vice-versa. One characteristic feature of “velocity-converting” channels is that they reproduce the initial polarization state near the source, which might be of practical interest for plasma interferometry. In the case of circularly polarized modes, “velocity-preserving” channels completely disappear, and only “velocity-converting” channels are to be found.     

First demonstration of “white-light” laser cooling of a stored ion beam

“White-light” cooling of an ion beam confined in a storage ring has been demonstrated at Test Storage Ring in Heidelberg. Measurements aimed at comparing “white-light” with single-mode laser cooling show that “white-light” cooling gives lower temperatures at higher ion densities both in a coasting and in a bunched beam. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Quantum-mechanical tunneling in associative neural networks

We investigate the quantum-mechanical tunneling between the “patterns" of the, so-called, associative neural networks. Being the relatively stable minima of the “configuration-energy" space of the networks, the “patterns" represent the macroscopically distinguishable states of the neural nets. Therefore, the tunneling represents a macroscopic quantum effect, but with some special characteristics. Particularly, we investigate the tunneling between the minima of approximately equal depth, thus requiring no energy exchange. If there are at least a few such minima, the tunneling represents a sort of the “random walk" process, which implies the quantum fluctuations in the system, and therefore “malfunctioning" in the information processing of the nets. Due to the finite number of the minima, the “random walk" reduces to a dynamics modeled by the, so-called, Pauli master equation. With some plausible assumptions, the set(s) of the Pauli master equations can be analytically solved. This way comes the main result of this paper: the quantum fluctuations due to the quantum-mechanical tunneling can be “minimized" if the “pattern"-formation is such that there are mutually “distant" groups of the “patterns", thus providing the “zone" structure of the “pattern" formation. This qualitative result can be considered as a basis of the efficient deterministic functioning of the associative neural nets. Received 15 July 1999     

The Origins of the Field Concept in Physics

The term, “field,” made its first appearance in physics as a technical term in the mid-nineteenth century. But the notion of what later came to be called a field had been a long time in gestation. Early discussions of magnetism and of the cause of the ocean tides had long ago suggested the idea of a “zone of influence” surrounding certain bodies. Johannes Kepler's mathematical rendering of the orbital motion of Mars encouraged him to formulate what he called “a true theory of gravity” involving the notion of attraction. Isaac Newton went on to construct an eminently effective dynamics, with attraction as its primary example of force. Was his a field theory? Historians of science disagree. Much depends on whether a theory consistent with the notion of action at a distance ought qualify as a “field” theory. Roger Boscovich and Immanuel Kant later took the Newtonian concept of attraction in new directions. It was left to Michael Faraday to propose the “physical existence” of lines of force and to James Clerk Maxwell to add as criterion the presence of energy as the ontological basis for a full-blown “field theory” of electromagnetic phenomena.     

Relational Interpretation of the Wave Function and a Possible Way Around Bell’s Theorem

The famous “spooky action at a distance” in the EPR-scenario is shown to be a local interaction, once entanglement is interpreted as a kind of “nearest neighbor” relation among quantum systems. Furthermore, the wave function itself is interpreted as encoding the “nearest neighbor” relations between a quantum system and spatial points. This interpretation becomes natural, if we view space and distance in terms of relations among spatial points. Therefore, “position” becomes a purely relational concept. This relational picture leads to a new perspective onto the quantum mechanical formalism, where many of the “weird” aspects, like the particle-wave duality, the non-locality of entanglement, or the “mystery” of the double-slit experiment, disappear. Furthermore, this picture circumvents the restrictions set by Bell’s inequalities, i.e., a possible (realistic) hidden variable theory based on these concepts can be local and at the same time reproduce the results of quantum mechanics. PACS: 03.65.Ud, 04.60.Nc     

On the superfluidity of classical liquid in nanotubes,I. Case of even number of neutrons

We show that the superfluidity effect in nanotubes arises in a classical liquid (regarded as the limit as h → 0 of the quantum liquid) and involves not only the Bogolyubov “running waves,” but also a “standing wave.” This is obtained from the variational equations in the context of ultrasecondary quantization. It is stressed that the “atomic” size of the nanotube plays a crucial role in the phenomena.     

Similarity of Co-Species in Co and CoMo-sulfide catalysts supported on carbon and alumina. A Mössbauer emission spectroscopic study

It is shown that, irrespective of the application of carbon or alumina as a support, the local structure of the “Co-sulfide” phase formed during sulfidation of Co-and CoMo-catalysts is the same. A relation is found between the quadrupole splitting (Q.S. value) of the “Co-sulfide” phase and its dispersion. The higher the dispersion, the larger the Q.S. value. The so-called “Co-Mo-S” doublet is observed in all cases and it turns out to be related to a highly dispersed “Co-sulfide” phase instead of a Co, Mo and S containing phase.     

Electronic spectrum of a two-dimensional Fibonacci lattice

The electronic spectrum and wave functions of a new quasicrystal structure—a two-dimensional Fibonacci lattice—are investigated in the tight-binding approximation using the method of the level statistics. This is a self-similar structure consisting of three elementary structural units. The “central” and “nodal” decoration of this structure are examined. It is shown that the electronic energy spectrum of a two-dimensional Fibonacci lattice contains a singular part, but in contrast to a one-dimensional Fibonacci lattice the spectrum does not contain a hierarchical gap structure. The measure of allowed states (Lebesgue measure) of the spectrum is different from zero, and for “central” decoration it is close to 1. The character of the localization of the wave functions is investigated, and it is found that the wave functions are “critical.” Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1834–1842 (November 1999)     

Operation Features of the Electronic Circuit of the Warm Liquid Tetramethylsilane (TMS) Detector

It is urgent to use a “warm liquid” TMS in large massive calorimeters (with a volume of several hundred liters). This direction in modern nuclear physics is referred to as “non-accelerator” experiments with low-background detectors. Such experiments are associated with the solution of most important problems to understand the Universe structure and search for new particles. These are the well-known problems for searching “dark matter” in the form of new weakly interacting particles, i.e., wimps, observations of coherent scattering of reactor neutrinos. Using this experiment, the standard model of electroweak interactions can be tested. The fully developed fabrication technology of large amounts of “warm liquid” ТМS (in collaboration with the State Research Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Organoelement Compounds) makes it possible to perform such experiments.     

A unified framework for the algebra of unsharp quantum mechanics

On the basis of the concrete operations definable on the set of effect operators on a Hilbert space, an abstract algebraic structure of sum Brouwer-Zadeh (SBZ)-algebra is introduced. This structure consists of a partial sum operation and two mappings which turn out to be Kleene and Brouwer unusual orthocomplementations. The Foulis-Bennett effect algebra substructure induced by any SBZ-algebra, allows one to introduce the notions of unsharp “state” and “observable” in such a way that any “state-observable” composition is a standad probability measure (classical state). The Cattaneo-Nisticò BZ substructure induced by any SBZ-algebra permits one to distinguish, in an equational and simple way, the sharp elements from the really unsharp ones. The family of all sharp elements turns out to be a Foulis-Randall orthoalgebra. Any unsharp element can be “roughly” approximated by a pair of sharp elements representing the best sharp approximation from the bottom and from the top respectively, according to an abstract generalization introduced by Cattaneo of Pawlack “rough set” theory (a generalization of set theory, complementary to fuzzy set theory, which describes approximate knowledge with applications in computer sciences). In both the concrete examples of fuzzy sets and effect operators the “algebra” of rough elements shows a weak SBZ structure (weak effect algebra plus BZ standard poset) whose investigation is set as an interesting open problem.     

“Elastic” fluctuation-induced effects in smectic wetting films

The Li-Kardar field theory approach is generalized to wetting smectic films and the “elastic” fluctuation-induced interaction is obtained between the external flat bounding surface and distorted IA (isotropic liquid-smectic A) interface acting as an “internal” (bulk) boundary of the wetting smectic film under the assumption that the IA interface is essentially “softer” than the surface smectic layer. This field theory approach allows calculating the fluctuation-induced corrections in Hamiltonians of the so-called “correlated” liquids confined by two surfaces, in the case where one of the bounding surfaces is “rough” and with different types of surface smectic layer anchoring. We obtain that in practice, the account of thermal displacements of the smectic layers in a wetting smectic film reduces to the addition of two contributions to the IA interface Hamiltonian. The first, so-called local contribution describes the long-range thermal “elastic” repulsion of the fluctuating IA interface from the flat bounding surface. The second, so-called nonlocal contribution is connected with the occurrence of an “elastic” fluctuation-induced correction to the stiffness of the IA interface. An analytic expression for this correction is obtained.     

Hysteresis Phenomenon in Deterministic Traffic Flows

We study phase transitions of a system of particles on the one-dimensional integer lattice moving with constant acceleration, with a collision law respecting slower particles. This simple deterministic “particle-hopping” traffic flow model being a straightforward generalization to the well known Nagel–Schreckenberg model covers also a more recent slow-to-start model as a special case. The model has two distinct ergodic (unmixed) phases with two critical values. When traffic density is below the lowest critical value, the steady state of the model corresponds to the “free-flowing” (or “gaseous”) phase. When the density exceeds the second critical value the model produces large, persistent, well-defined traffic jams, which correspond to the “jammed” (or “liquid”) phase. Between the two critical values each of these phases may take place, which can be interpreted as an “overcooled gas” phase when a small perturbation can change drastically gas into liquid. Mathematical analysis is accomplished in part by the exact derivation of the life-time of individual traffic jams for a given configuration of particles. This research has been partially supported by Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research and French Ministry of Education grants.     

Paradoxes of neutrino oscillations

Despite the theory of neutrino oscillations being rather old, some of its basic issues are still being debated in the literature. We discuss a number of such issues, including the relevance of the “same energy” and “same momentum” assumptions, the role of quantum-mechanical uncertainty relations in neutrino oscillations, the dependence of the coherence and localization conditions that ensure the observability of neutrino oscillations on neutrino energy and momentum uncertainties, the question of (in)dependence of the oscillation probabilities on the neutrino production and detection processes, and the applicability limits of the stationary-source approximation. We also develop a novel approach to calculation of the oscillation probability in the wave-packet approach, based on the summation/integration conventions different from the standard one, which allows a new insight into the “same energy” vs. “same momentum” problem. We also discuss a number of apparently paradoxical features of the theory of neutrino oscillations. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Lorentz gas interacting with an inhomogeneous thermostat

The equilibrium distribution of a Lorentz gas (“electrons”) interacting with an inhomogenous thermostat (“atoms”) is examined with consideration of 1) the concept of volumes available and forbidden for the gas particles and 2) the solution of the kinetic equation. Analytical calculations for “electrons” and “atoms” repelling each other with the force ≈r⁻⁵ (where r is the distance between the particles) have shown that the coordinate- and velocity-dependent variables in the distribution function cannot be separated. In particular, this leads to the dependence of the average kinetic energy per “electron” on the coordinate: it is higher in the region with higher density of the “atoms”. It is assumed that the Gibbs distribution does not describe the properties of the system under consideration, because in this case the interaction between the system and thermostat cannot be considered small. Scientific-Research Physical-Technical Institute at N. I. Lobachevskii Nizhnii Novgorod State University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 6, pp. 38–43, June, 1999.     

The etymology of ionics

The term “ion” has been introduced in science by M. Faraday in 1834 following a suggestion by W. Whewell who liked to use Greek words or word combinations to describe the new findings in several scientific areas. The Greek “ion” means moving and originates from the tribe of Ionians who were moving in ancient Greece from Thessaly to Peloponnese and to the Western coast of Asia Minor. The term “Ionics” has been eventually created by T. Takahashi in the 1960s to indicate the technological importance of ionic motion in solids in analogy to the term electronics.     

PIV Web Visualization System toward PIV visualization grid

To visualize the simulation and experimental data, the fluid dynamics scientists and engineers have to possess a powerful visualization engine with CG package in their laboratories. We developed a Problem Solving Environment (PSE) system called “PIV Web Visualization System” to solve this obstacle, using computational grid common service tool “Globus”, programming language Java and Java Servlet. This system has “Grid Portal” which enables us to view the visualization resources on the networks as a unified whole and can be accessed around the world through the Internet, and it combines PIV engine “KMU-PIV” on visualization server in Korea Maritime University with a nonlinear video editing system on Kanazawa University as a real application.     

Perspectives on Current Issues Is “Anthropic Selection” Science?

I argue that there are strong reasons for resisting as a principle of science the concept of “anthropic selection.” This concept asserts that the existence of “observers” in a universe can be used as a condition that selects physical laws and constants necessary for intelligent life from different laws or physical constants prevailing in a vast number of other universes, to thereby explain why the properties of our universe are conducive to intelligent life. My reasons for limiting “anthropic selection” to the realm of speculation rather than permitting it to creep into mainstream science include our inability to estimate the probabilities of emergence of “observers” in a universe, the lack of testability through direct observation of the assumed high variability of the constants of nature, the lack of a clear definition of an “observer,” and the arbitrariness in how and to what questions anthropic selection is applied.