Gravitomagnetic Effects

The paper summarizes the most important effects in Einsteinian gravitomagnetic fields related to propagating light rays, moving clocks and atoms, orbiting objects, and precessing spins. Emphasis is put onto the gravitational interaction of spinning objects. The gravitomagnetic field lines of a rotating or spinning object are given in analytic form.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Proc. Hyper Symposium, Paris 200

The CFL phase and m_s: An effective field theory approach

We study the phase diagram of dense quark matter with an emphasis on the role of the strange quark mass. Our approach is based on two effective field theories (EFTs). The first is an EFT that describes quark quasi-particles near the Fermi surface. This EFT is valid at energies small compared to the chemical potential. The second is an EFT for the Goldstone modes in the paired phase. We find that in response to a non-zero strange quark mass the CFL phase first undergoes a transition to a kaon condensed phase, and then to a gapless phase with a non-zero Goldstone boson current.Comment: 26 pages, to appear in ``Pairing in fermionic systems: Basic concepts and modern applications", Series on Advances in Quantum Many-Body Theory, Vol. 8, World Scientific Publishing, Singapor

Instantons and the Large N_c Limit of QCD

We summarize our current understanding of instantons in the large N_c limit of QCD. We also present some recent results from simulations of the instanton liquid in QCD for N_c>3.Comment: 10 pages; talk given at the Workshop on the Phenomenology of Large N_C QCD, ASU (Jan. 2002), to be published in the proceeding

Status and challenges of simulations with dynamical fermions

An overview over the current state of algorithms for dynamical fermion simulations is given. In particular some insight into the functioning of the determinant spitting techniques is discussed. The critical slowing down of the simulations towards the continuum limit and the role of the boundary conditions is also reviewed.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, plenary talk presented at the 30th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory - Lattice 2012, June 24-29, 2012 Cairns, Australi

Motivated for Action and Collaboration: The Abrahamic Religions and Climate Change

Leaders of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have publicly advocated action to mitigate the adverse effects of human-forced climate change. Particularly prominent prior to, during, and after the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change were Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Pope Francis, and Patriarch Bartholomew. Also prominent was a group of Islamic clerics, leaders of organizations, and scholars who collaborated in issuing a declaration on climate change three months prior to COP 21. Informed by the Earth sciences, these leaders shared their faith-based rationales for acting locally to internationally as indicated in the documents explored in this article. Examples of organizations motivated by their leaders’ faith perspectives demonstrate their readiness to act informed by scientists. To work effectively, these religious leaders and activist groups require well-substantiated conclusions from data collected to counter unsubstantiated claims by climate skeptics. Earth scientists will find among the religious leaders and groups allies in the quest for a flourishing planet

Sector-specific corporate responsibility in the United Kingdom

The economy of the United Kingdom (UK) is dominated by services and particularly financial services industries, and it was thus hard hit by the financial crisis. The UK has a long tradition of free trade, and its politics over at least the last 30 years have been characterised by a market orientation. UK governments have, on the whole, favoured light-touch regulation and voluntary rather than mandatory approaches to encouraging businesses to work in the public interest. The idea of corporate responsibility (CR) has a longer tradition in the UK than in other European countries. Likewise, government encouragement of CR has been on the agenda for several decades now. There are a number of initiatives aimed at specific industry sectors. These initiatives take a variety of forms and administrative arrangements. A voluntary CR approach to achieving public goods is generally favoured by industry, and such initiatives can have good industry responses. However, in the light of the financial crisis and stringent cutbacks in the public sector spending, the future of such initiatives is unclear. The chapter gives an overview of public policy CR initiatives in the United Kingdom and discusses three sector specific initiatives in detail: The Courtauld Commitment, aimed at reducing waste in the food and drinks manufacturing and retail industries; the Strategy for Sustainable Construction, a high-level strategy aiming to bring together a range of separate sustainability initiatives for the construction sector; and Treating Customers Fairly, a regulatory initiative aimed at improving customer care in financial services