The political import of deconstruction—Derrida’s limits?: a forum on Jacques Derrida’s specters of Marx after 25 Years, part I

Jacques Derrida delivered the basis of The Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, & the New International as a plenary address at the conference ‘Whither Marxism?’ hosted by the University of California, Riverside, in 1993. The longer book version was published in French the same year and appeared in English and Portuguese the following year. In the decade after the publication of Specters, Derrida’s analyses provoked a large critical literature and invited both consternation and celebration by figures such as Antonio Negri, Wendy Brown and Frederic Jameson. This forum seeks to stimulate new reflections on Derrida, deconstruction and Specters of Marx by considering how the futures past announced by the book have fared after an eventful quarter century. Maja Zehfuss, Antonio Vázquez-Arroyo and Dan Bulley and Bal Sokhi-Bulley offer sharp, occasionally exasperated, meditations on the political import of deconstruction and the limits of Derrida’s diagnoses in Specters of Marx but also identify possible paths forward for a global politics taking inspiration in Derrida’s work of the 1990s

Correlation functions of the One-Dimensional Random Field Ising Model at Zero Temperature

We consider the one-dimensional random field Ising model, where the spin-spin coupling, $J$, is ferromagnetic and the external field is chosen to be $+h$ with probability $p$ and $-h$ with probability $1-p$. At zero temperature, we calculate an exact expression for the correlation length of the quenched average of the correlation function $\langle s_0 s_n \rangle - \langle s_0 \rangle \langle s_n \rangle$ in the case that $2J/h$ is not an integer. The result is a discontinuous function of $2J/h$. When $p = {1 \over 2}$, we also place a bound on the correlation length of the quenched average of the correlation function $\langle s_0 s_n \rangle$.Comment: 12 pages (Plain TeX with one PostScript figure appended at end), MIT CTP #220

The asymmetric Exclusion Process and Brownian Excursions

We consider the totally asymmetric exclusion process (TASEP) in one dimension in its maximal current phase. We show, by an exact calculation, that the non-Gaussian part of the fluctuations of density can be described in terms of the statistical properties of a Brownian excursion. Numerical simulations indicate that the description in terms of a Brownian excursion remains valid for more general one dimensional driven systems in their maximal current phase.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figure, in latex, e-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Zero Temperature Dynamics of the Weakly Disordered Ising Model

The Glauber dynamics of the pure and weakly disordered random-bond 2d Ising model is studied at zero-temperature. A single characteristic length scale, $L(t)$, is extracted from the equal time correlation function. In the pure case, the persistence probability decreases algebraically with the coarsening length scale. In the disordered case, three distinct regimes are identified: a short time regime where the behaviour is pure-like; an intermediate regime where the persistence probability decays non-algebraically with time; and a long time regime where the domains freeze and there is a cessation of growth. In the intermediate regime, we find that $P(t)\sim L(t)^{-\theta'}$, where $\theta' = 0.420\pm 0.009$. The value of $\theta'$ is consistent with that found for the pure 2d Ising model at zero-temperature. Our results in the intermediate regime are consistent with a logarithmic decay of the persistence probability with time, $P(t)\sim (\ln t)^{-\theta_d}$, where $\theta_d = 0.63\pm 0.01$.Comment: references updated, very minor amendment to abstract and the labelling of figures. To be published in Phys Rev E (Rapid Communications), 1 March 199

Exact density profiles for fully asymmetric exclusion process with discrete-time dynamics

Exact density profiles in the steady state of the one-dimensional fully asymmetric simple exclusion process on semi-infinite chains are obtained in the case of forward-ordered sequential dynamics by taking the thermodynamic limit in our recent exact results for a finite chain with open boundaries. The corresponding results for sublattice parallel dynamics follow from the relationship obtained by Rajewsky and Schreckenberg [Physica A 245, 139 (1997)] and for parallel dynamics from the mapping found by Evans, Rajewsky and Speer [J. Stat. Phys. 95, 45 (1999)]. By comparing the asymptotic results appropriate for parallel update with those published in the latter paper, we correct some technical errors in the final results given there.Comment: About 10 pages and 3 figures, new references are added and a comparison is made with the results by de Gier and Nienhuis [Phys. Rev. E 59, 4899(1999)

Exactly solvable model of A + A \to 0 reactions on a heterogeneous catalytic chain

We present an exact solution describing equilibrium properties of the catalytically-activated A + A \to 0 reaction taking place on a one-dimensional lattice, where some of the sites possess special "catalytic" properties. The A particles undergo continuous exchanges with the vapor phase; two neighboring adsorbed As react when at least one of them resides on a catalytic site (CS). We consider three situations for the CS distribution: regular, annealed random and quenched random. For all three CS distribution types, we derive exact results for the disorder-averaged pressure and present exact asymptotic expressions for the particles' mean density. The model studied here furnishes another example of a 1D Ising-type system with random multi-site interactions which admits an exact solution.Comment: 7 pages, 3 Figures, appearing in Europhysics Letter

Nontrivial Exponent for Simple Diffusion

The diffusion equation \partial_t\phi = \nabla^2\phi is considered, with initial condition \phi( _x_ ,0) a gaussian random variable with zero mean. Using a simple approximate theory we show that the probability p_n(t_1,t_2) that \phi( _x_ ,t) [for a given space point _x_ ] changes sign n times between t_1 and t_2 has the asymptotic form p_n(t_1,t_2) \sim [\ln(t_2/t_1)]^n(t_1/t_2)^{-\theta}. The exponent \theta has predicted values 0.1203, 0.1862, 0.2358 in dimensions d=1,2,3, in remarkably good agreement with simulation results.Comment: Minor typos corrected, affecting table of exponents. 4 pages, REVTEX, 1 eps figure. Uses epsf.sty and multicol.st