Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity in terms of Dirac spinors

The Dirac spinors and matrices are used in combination with the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner formalism in order to obtain yet another formulation of Hamiltonian general relativity, together with a new form of the Gauss-Codazzi equations. The relation with Ashtekar's variables is analyzed; it is shown, for instance, that the matrices are equivalent to the electric field variable. The electric and magnetic decomposition of the gravitational field is also studie using Dirac matrices.     

Upper critical fields of single-crystalline and polycrystalline Ca-Sr-Bi-Cu-O compounds

The ac resistivity of a 110 K phase multiphase polycrystalline Ca-Sr-Bi-Cu-O compound and an 85 K phase single-crystalline Ca_0.9Sr_2.1Cu_2.0O_{8 +} has been measured in various magnetic fields up to 8 T. Values forB _c ^2/ (0) of 71.5 T and forB _c2 (0) of 542 T are found for the 85 K phase sample. A value forB _c2(0) of 57.9 T is estimated for the 110K phase compound.     

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.     

Intersubjectivity,relativistic covariance,and conditionals: response to C. I. J. M. Stuart

A misunderstanding persists between Stuart and me, which I do my best to clarify. Bayesian inverse subjectivities versus relativistic covariance and physical intersubjectivity are discussed. A joint number of chances formalism taking care of the propagation of the probability of causes is proposed.     

Some properties of topological geons

We investigate the Finkelstein-Misner geons for a non-simply-connected space-time manifold (M, g ₀). We use relations between different Lorentzian structures unequivalent tog ₀ and topological properties ofM given by the Morse theory. It implies that to some pieces of geons we have to associate Wheeler's worm-holes. Geons that correspond to time-orientable Lorentz structures are related tog ₀ by Morse functions that describe the attaching of a handle of index one. In the case of geons associated to time-nonorientable Lorentzian structures, appropriate handles are related to loops along which the notion of time reverses. If we assume electromagnetic properties of geons, then only four species, v, e, p, m, of different geons can exist and geon m has to decay according to mv+p+e.     

Particle velocities faster than the speed of light

In connection with another article by the author, we show how it might be possible to travel faster than the speed of light. We show that for clocks and rods moving faster than the speed of light, we get instead of time dilation and Lorentz contraction, respectively, time contraction and Lorentz expansion, respectively. It is shown that this paper is in confirmation with earlier articles dealing with this subject.     

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.     

Charge-field formulation of quantum electrodynamics (QEMED)

By expressing classical electron theory in terms of charge-field functional structures, it is shown that a finite formulation of the classical electrodynamics of point charges emerges in a simple and elegant fashion. The classical charge-field form of microscopic electron theory plays the role of a covering theory for renormalized classical electron theory, with the distinct advantage that this is accomplished by adynamic subtraction mechanism, built into the theory. We then generalize this formalism into a hole-theoretic, second-quantized Dirac formulation, in order to construct a charge-field quantum electrodynamic theory, and discuss its basic properties. We find, in addition to the possibility that the finiteness of the classical theory may be propagated into the quantum field theory, that interacting photon states are generated as a secondary manifestation of electron-positron quantization, and do not require the usual free canonical quantization scheme. We discuss the possibility that this approach may lead to a better formulation of quantum electrodynamics in the Heisenberg picture and suggest a crucial experimental test to distinguish this new charge-field quantum electrodynamics QEMED from the standard QED formulation. Specifically QEMED predicts that the Einstein principle of separability should be found to be valid for correlated photon polarization measurements, in which the polarizers are changed more rapidly than a characteristic photon travel time. Such an experiment (Aspect, 1976) can distinguish between QEMED and QED in a complete and clear-cut fashion.     

Can particle creation by a black hole be described in terms of more familiar laboratory processes?

Particle creation by a black hole is described in terms of temperature corrections to the Casimir effect. The results of Levin, Polevoy, and Ritov for spectral and total Poynting vector for a fluctuating electromagnetic field in a plane vacuum gap between two arbitrary media with different temperatures in flat spacetime are applied to clarify the situation that exists between the horizon of a nonrotating black hole and spatial infinity. This helps to reveal the mechanism of particle creation. The Hawking radiation is born inside the bell formed by a potential barrier of a black hole in all the region [2M, ]. Its blackbody spectrum is due to the interaction of field fluctuations with the surface of the bell. The particles between the walls are virtual ones. They can become real after passing through the [3M, ] tail, appearing to an observer at future infinityJ ⁺ as real ones. The arguments for and against the present standpoint are discussed.     

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.     

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.     

Some Thought-Experiments Involving Macrosystems as Illustrations of Various Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics

I consider various experiments related to the so-called macroscopic quantum coherence experiment, which are probably at present in the class of thought experiment but are likely to become realistic in the next few decades. I explore the way in which outcomes consistent with the predictions of quantum mechanics would be interpreted by an adherent of, respectively, the Copenhagen, statistical, and Bohmian interpretations of the formalism.     

What makes a theory physically “complete”?

Three claims about what makes a theory physically complete are (1) Shimony's assertion that a complete theory says all there is to say about nature; (2) EPR's requirement that a complete theory describe all elements of reality; and (3) Ballentine and Jarrett's claim that a predictively complete theory must obey a condition used in Bell deviations. After introducing statistical completeness as a partial formalization of (1), we explore the logical and motivational relationships connecting these completeness conditions. We find that statistical completeness motivates but does not imply Jarrett's completeness condition, because Jarrett's condition encodes further intuitions about locality and causality. We also dispute Ballentine and Jarrett's claim that EPR-completeness implies Jarrett's completeness condition.     

Bohr's discussion of the fourth uncertainty relation revisited

Bohr's 1930 derivation of the uncertainty relation c ² m th bears a close relationship to Einstein's 1913 derivation of the gravitational redshift via the equivalence principle. A rewording of Bohr's argument is presented here, not taking the last step of acceleration as equivalent to a uniform gravity field, thus yielding a derivation of the formula c ² m th, avoiding Treder's 1971 objection.     

Comparison of the structure of island deposits of gold on NaCl produced by thermal vaporization and by cathode sputtering

A comparison was made of island deposits of gold on NaCl, produced by thermal vaporization (thermal Au/NaClid) and cathode sputtering (cathode Au/NaClid). In thermal Au/NaClid, two orientations of the gold microcrystals with respect to the NaCl (100) shear face were observed; multiply twinned particles were formed. In cathode Au/NaClid, only one orientation is present and the formation of complex particles is not observed.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii Fizika, No. 11, pp. 46–50, November, 1971.     

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.     

On the zigzagging causality EPR model: Answer to Vigier and coworkers and to Sutherland

The concept of propagation in time of Vigier and co-workers (V et al.) implies the idea of a supertime; it is thus alien to most Minkowskian pictures and certainly to mine. From this stems much of Vet al.'s misunderstandings of my position. In steady motion of a classical fluid nobody thinks that momentum conservation is violated, or that momentum is shot upstream without cause because of the suction from the sinks! Similarly with momentum-energy in space-time and the acceptance of an advanced causality. As for the CT invariance of the Feynman propagator, the causality asymmetry it entails is factlike, not lawlike. The geometrical counterpart of the symmetry between prediction and retrodiction and between retarded and advanced waves, as expressed in the alternative expressions B|UA=BU|A=B|U|A for a transition amplitude between a preparation |A and a measurement |B, is CPT-invariant, not PT-invariant. These three expressions respectively illustrate the collapse, the retrocollapse, and the symmetric collapse-and-retrocollapse concepts. As for Sutherland's argument, what it falsifies is not my retrocausation concept but the hidden-variables assumption he has unwittingly made.     

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.     

Stiff magnetic field lines. I. A geometrical foundation

It is shown that the foliation of a space-time manifold of codimension 2 provides a basis for the study of the deformation of magnetic field lines. It is found that the fluid flow vector and the curvature vector of a nongeodesic stiff magnetic field line are always orthogonal. Further, it is shown that the metric tensor of the 2-space orthogonal to the Maxwellian string is Lie-transported along the magnetic field lines when the magnetic field lines are stiff. If there exists a spacelike Killing vector field parallel to the magnetic field, then the magnetic field lines must be stiff.