Edward Teller, the Hungarian, American and Jew, too

As explained on p. 57 of George Marx’ comprehensive treatiseThe Voice of the Martians [1] (a pun on Leo Szilárd’sVoice of the Dolphins [2]), the titleThe Martians refers to another Szilárd joke, namely to his reply to a question of Fermi’s. In end-of-the-Century parlance, Fermi’s question would be formulated as follows: —With the galaxy presumably full of planetary systems, thereby also of life and thus of intelligence, where are all those extraterrestrials? [3] — to which Szilárd answered —They are among us, but they call themselves Hungarian… — One of these individuals of high intellectual stature, is (“let him be distinguished by a long life” as we would add in such cases by Jewish custom)Edward Teller.     

The Direction of Time: Seven Arrows for One Stream? A Program

I review the role of entropy in the Second Law of Thermodynamics in providing time with a direction and explaining irreversibility. I then list seven seemingly different features, each characterizing an additional arrow. In one case, connected to Black Hole Physics, the arrow has been successfully merged with the thermodynamical and may serve as model; in another case, that of the Evolutionary drive, the adequate function has been identified as complexity. We define the aims of the program and also provide information for an alternative, geometrical (effective) approach.     

Leptogenesis from supersymmetry breaking

We show that soft supersymmetry breaking terms involving the heavy sneutrinos can lead to sneutrino-antisneutrino mixing and to new sources of CP violation, which are present even if a single generation is considered. These terms are naturally present in supersymmetric versions of leptogenesis scenarios, and they induce indirect CP violation in the decays of the heavy sneutrinos, eventually generating a baryon asymmetry. This new contribution can be comparable to or even dominate over the asymmetry produced in traditional leptogenesis scenarios.     

Two-channel Kondo effect in a modified single electron transistor

We suggest a simple system of two electron droplets which should display two-channel Kondo behavior at experimentally accessible temperatures. Stabilization of the two-channel Kondo fixed point requires fine control of the electrochemical potential in each droplet, which can be achieved by adjusting voltages on nearby gate electrodes. We study the conditions for obtaining this type of two-channel Kondo behavior, discuss the experimentally observable consequences, and explore the generalization to the multichannel Kondo case.     

The Sign and Micro-Origin of Complexity as Entropy (Conjectured Resolution of a Paradox)

Evolution produces ever more ordered matter, while also increasing its complexity all the time. There are various ways of measuring complexity, such as Kolmogorov's algorithmic complexity, drawn from information theory, and identified with entropy, enchancing irreversibility in harmony with the second law of thermodynamics. On the other hand, however, the creation of order should have reduced entropy; quoting Schroedinger, it represents "negentropy." To resolve this apparent contradiction we first review a similar set up (though with a totally different interaction) occurring in black holes, a model in which the physics are now explicit and fully understood at the quantum level.     

Microstructure of GaN grown by lateral confined epitaxy 2. GaN on patterned sapphire

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy were used in order to study the microstructure and optical properties of GaN films grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on c-plane sapphire by lateral confined epitaxy (LCE). In this method, the substrate is etched prior to growth to form uniform mesas separated by trenches for laterally restricting growth area. As previously observed for LCE GaN on Si(111), the density of threading dislocations was significantly reduced in the areas close to the edge of mesas due to the lateral propagation of the dislocations. Hence, the overall material quality improves with decreasing mesa size, which is consistent with the observed increase in photoluminescence band edge peak intensity. Electron diffraction indicated ∼1° rotation about the [ ] axis between the mesa and trench material, which was also observed in the image contrast of these two regions with g= . Additionally, LCE samples prepared in [ ] and [ ] cross sections were used for comparing the growth rates in these two perpendicular directions. As theoretically expected, growth in the [ ] direction appears to proceed considerably faster than that in the [% MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9qqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaGymaiaaig% daceaIYaGbaebacaaIWaaaaa!38D1!\[11\bar 20\]] direction.     

The sharp Hausdorff measure condition for length of projections

In a recent paper, Pertti Mattila asked which gauge functions have the property that for any Borel set with Hausdorff measure 0$">, the projection of to almost every line has positive length. We show that finiteness of , which is known to be sufficient for this property, is also necessary for regularly varying . Our proof is based on a random construction adapted to the gauge function.

     

Immittance-type tabular stability test for 2-D LSI systems based on a zero location test for 1-D complex polynomials

A new algebraic test is developed to determine whether or not a two-variable (2-D) characteristic polynomial of a recursive linear shift invariant (LSI, discrete-time) system is stable (i.e., it does not vanish in the closed exterior of the unit bi-circle). The method is based on the original form of a unit-circle zero location test for one variable (1-D) polynomials with complex coefficients proposed by the author. The test requires the construction of a table, in the form of a sequence of centrosymmetric matrices or 2-D polynomials, that is obtained using a certain three-term recursion, and examination of the zero location with respect to the unit circle of a few associated 1-D polynomials. The minimal set necessary and sufficient conditions for 2-D stability involves one 1-D polynomial whose zeros must reside inside the unit circle (which may be examined before the table is constructed), and one symmetric 1-D polynomial (which becomes available after completing the table) that is required not to have zeros on the unit circle. A larger set of intermediate necessary conditions for stability (which may be examined during the table's construction) are also given. The test compares favorably with Jury's recently improved 2-D stability test in terms of complexity and munerical stability.     

Comparison of osmotic pressures from EMF measurements,obtained according to cell-model considerations and exact Gibbs-Duhem integrations

Osmotic pressures of aqueous solutions of poly(diethylaminoethyl methacrylate) hydrochloride, in equilibrium with a precipitate of the un-ionized polybase, at various concentrations of polymer and NaCl in solution and at different values of pH are derived from emf measurements and the “cell” theory for polyelectrolytes. Single-ion activities are evaluated according to two procedures. The first is based on measurements with ion-specific electrodes versus a calomel electrode. The second makes use of a salt bridge, but assumes that the co-ions have activity coefficients equal to the mean activity coefficient of the salt in a polyelectrolyte-free solution of the same concentration. The results show that the calculated values of the osmotic pressures are consistent with those obtained by the exact integration of the Gibbs-Duhem relationship, when the first procedure is employed. If, however, the single-ion activities are evaluated by the second procedure, the osmotic pressures obtained are consistently lower by about 10%. These differences arise because the two methods yield different values of the activity coefficients of the single ions.