Three tests of general relativity via Fermat's principle and the phase of Bessel functions

Fermat's principle applied to a flat metric in the plane yields the phase of a Bessel function in the periodic domain for a constant index of refraction. Gravitational forces cause the index of refraction to vary and lead to a modified phase of the Bessel function. A distinction is made between the forces that cause acceleration: the gravitational force affects the optical properties of the medium whereas the centrifugal force does not, the latter being built into the phase of oscillations of the Bessel function. The time delay in radar echoes from planets is determined from Fermat's principle where the velocity of light is the phase velocity and the index of refraction varies on account of the gravitational potential. The deflection of light by a massive body is shown to be produced by a quadrupole interaction, and the perihelion shift requires both the gravitational potential, producing a closed orbit, and the quadrupole, causing the perihelion to rotate.Comment: 16 page

Majorana solution of the Thomas-Fermi equation

We report on an original method, due to Majorana, leading to a semi-analytical series solution of the Thomas-Fermi equation, with appropriate boundary conditions, in terms of only one quadrature. We also deduce a general formula for such a solution which avoids numerical integration, but is expressed in terms of the roots of a given polynomial equation.Comment: RevTex, 5 pages, 1 figur

Older Babies - More Active Mothers?: How Maternal Labor Supply Changes as the Child Grows

Female labor market activity is dependent on the presence and the age of a child, but how do the determinants develop in magnitude and significance with the child's age? Using German SOEP data from 1991 to 2006 for mothers with young children, the change in maternal labor supply when the child is one, two, and three years old is explicitly addressed. According to the tobit regression results for precise working hours, maternal labor supply becomes increasingly responsive to economic incentives - mainly to imputed wages - as the child grows.Female labor supply, childbirth, parental leave

Instantons and Holomorphic Couplings in Intersecting D-brane Models

We clarify certain aspects and discuss extensions of the recently introduced string D-instanton calculus (hep-th/0609191). The one-loop determinants are related to one-loop open string threshold corrections in intersecting D6-brane models. Utilising a non-renormalisation theorem for the holomorphic Wilsonian gauge kinetic functions, we derive a number of constraints for the moduli dependence of the matter field Kaehler potentials of intersecting D6-brane models on the torus. Moreover, we compute string one-loop corrections to the Fayet-Iliopoulos terms on the D6-branes finding that they are proportional to the gauge threshold corrections. Employing these results, we discuss the issue of holomorphy for E2-instanton corrections to the superpotential. Eventually, we discuss E2-instanton corrections to the gauge kinetic functions and the FI-terms.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure

Construction and Test of New Precision Drift-Tube Chambers for the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer

ATLAS muon detector upgrades aim for increased acceptance for muon triggering and precision tracking and for improved rate capability of the muon chambers in the high-background regions of the detector with increasing LHC luminosity. The small-diameter Muon Drift Tube (sMDT) chambers have been developed for these purposes. With half of the drift-tube diameter of the MDT chambers and otherwise unchanged operating parameters, sMDT chambers share the advantages of the MDTs, but have an order of magnitude higher rate capability and can be installed in detector regions where MDT chambers do not fit in. The chamber assembly methods have been optimized for mass production, minimizing construction time and personnel. Sense wire positioning accuracies of 5 ?micons have been achieved in serial production for large-size chambers comprising several hundred drift tubes. The construction of new sMDT chambers for installation in the 2016/17 winter shutdown of the LHC and the design of sMDT chambers in combination with new RPC trigger chambers for replacement of the inner layer of the barrel muon spectrometer are in progress

Making my fear run – Herta Müller’s collage-poetry and its polish translations

Herta Müller, born in Rumania as a member of the German minority, began to create her collages after having immigrated to West Germany. Being heterogeneous combinations of words and pictorial ele-ments cut out from print media, the collages can be considered as an attempt to forge a link between west German culture and life in Rumania under the dictatorship of Ceauşescu. An important role in the articulation of autobiographical experience plays a specific rhythm, which is characterized by intermo-dality and criss-crossed words and pictorial elements. Rhythm not only renders experience – as to speak subcutaneously – apt to be communicated, deliberate ruptures of rhythm indicate the traumatizing ef-fects of past experiences and anxiety. The article analyses to what extent the polish translators Leszek Szaruga and Andrzej Kopacki take into account the structural complexity and intermediality of the collages. Herta Müller, born in Rumania as a member of the German minority, began to create her collages after having immigrated to West Germany. Being heterogeneous combinations of words and pictorial ele-ments cut out from print media, the collages can be considered as an attempt to forge a link between west German culture and life in Rumania under the dictatorship of Ceauşescu. An important role in the articulation of autobiographical experience plays a specific rhythm, which is characterized by intermo-dality and criss-crossed words and pictorial elements. Rhythm not only renders experience – as to speak subcutaneously – apt to be communicated, deliberate ruptures of rhythm indicate the traumatizing ef-fects of past experiences and anxiety. The article analyses to what extent the polish translators Leszek Szaruga and Andrzej Kopacki take into account the structural complexity and intermediality of the collages.