Separation of variables in the WZW models

We consider dynamics of scalar and vector fields on gravitational backgrounds of the Wess-Zumino-Witten models. For SO(4) and its cosets, we demonstrate full separation of variables for all fields and find a close analogy with a similar separation of vector equations in the backgrounds of the Myers-Perry black holes. For SO(5) and higher groups separation of variables is found only in some subsectors.

T 3-invariant heterotic Hull-Strominger solutions

We consider the heterotic string on Calabi-Yau manifolds admitting a Strominger-Yau-Zaslow fibration. Upon reducing the system in the T3-directions, the Hermitian Yang-Mills conditions can then be reinterpreted as a complex flat connection on ℝ3 satisfying a certain co-closure condition. We give a number of abelian and non-abelian examples, and also compute the back-reaction on the geometry through the non-trivial α′-corrected heterotic Bianchi identity, which includes an important correction to the equations for the complex flat connection. These are all new local solutions to the Hull-Strominger system on T3× ℝ3. We also propose a method for computing the spectrum of certain non-abelian models, in close analogy with the Morse-Witten complex of the abelian models.

FC Sets and Twisters: The Basics of Orbifold Deconstruction

We present a detailed account of the properties of $$\text {twister}$$ twister s and their generalizations, $$\text {FC set}$$ FC set s, which are essential ingredients of the orbifold deconstruction procedure aimed at recognizing whether a given conformal model may be obtained as an orbifold of another one, and if so, to identify the twist group and the original model. The close analogy with the character theory of finite groups is discussed, and its origin explained.

Recognizing the Martuwarra's First Law Right to Life as a Living Ancestral Being

Traditional custodians of the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) derive their identity and existence from this globally significant river. The First Laws of the Martuwarra are shared by Martuwarra Nations through a common songline, which sets out community and individual rights and duties. First Law recognizes the River as the Rainbow Serpent: a living ancestral being from source to sea. On 3 November 2016, the Fitzroy River Declaration was concluded between Martuwarra Nations. This marked the first time in Australia when both First Law and the rights of nature were recognized explicitly in a negotiated instrument. This article argues for legal recognition within colonial state laws of the Martuwarra as a living ancestral being by close analogy with the case concerning the Whanganui River. We seek to advance the scope of native title water rights in Australia and contend that implementation of First Law is fundamental for the protection of the right to life of the Martuwarra.

On the use of CPTs in stratigraphy: recent observations and some illustrative cases

During processing and interpretation of about 200 Cone Penetration Tests (CPT) with electrical cones in a limited area of 60 km² in NE Belgium, a close analogy was observed between the vertical trend and signature of two CPT derived parameters (normalized soil behavior index Ic and hydraulic conductivity kSBTn) and borehole gamma ray (GR) measurements. This close analogy could be repeatably observed on five locations with a CPT executed along a cored and logged borehole. Using this feature proves to be a considerably help for stratigraphic interpretation, especially for sandy units displaying low lithological contrast. Lithostratigraphic units and their boundaries are determined by the specific log response patterns of these CPT derived parameters (kSBTn and/or Ic). These log responses prove to be more consistent and better to correlate than for the classical parameters (cone resistance qc and friction ratio Rf). This paper describes the case of a Neogene setting in the NE of Belgium where this feature was first observed. An informal stratigraphy based on CPT log signal is proposed for the geological units for the research area. Some other cases are briefly described to illustrate the usability of this feature for other geological settings or issues.

Recalcitrant Emotions: A Phenomenological View

In this paper, I sketch an account of emotion that is based on a close analogy with a Husserlian account of perception. I also make use of the approach that I have limned, viz., to articulate a view of the kind of “conflict without contradiction” (CWC) which may obtain between a recalcitrant emotion and a judgment. My main contention is that CWC can be accounted for by appeal to the rationality of perception and emotion, conceived as responsiveness to experiential evidence. The conflicts in question can be regarded as obtaining between different strands of evidence, and our perceptual and emotional experiences can be thus conflicted even among themselves, not only in the special case of a conflict with a judgment.

FROM DANTE’S UNIVERSE TO CONTEMPORARY COSMOLOGY

A reading of the Divina Commedia with the eyes of a modern scientist reveals that Dante devoted great attention to the description of a wide variety of natural phenomena, particularly those involving astronomy, optics and geometry. A remarkable case is the structure of the cosmos emerging from the Paradiso, which foreshadows a non-Euclidean geometrical structure with remarkable similarities to Einstein’s 1917 static cosmological solution. Such model, however, as well as other solutions with positive spatial curvature, are ruled out by current astrophysical observations. Here I discuss Dante’s geometric intuition and show its close analogy with the shape of the observable cosmic space-time in the standard CDM expanding model, fully supported by present-day cosmological data.

Needles and Pins on the Scaffold: Francis Bacon and Giovan Battista della Porta on the Motions of the Human Soul and the Passions of the Lodestone

This article discusses the powers of the lodestone for two authors, Francis Bacon and Giovan Battista della Porta, relating their observations on magnetism and human emotions to the field of learned natural magic. It investigates some of Bacon’s and Porta’s remarks on experimental work with lodestones and the ways in which both authors translated the inexplicable powers of lodestones and magnetized iron into a series of principles that also served as a structure and explanation of human emotions (and vice versa). I suggest that at work here is not merely an anthropomorphic projection at nature, but also (and conversely) an interest in and fascination with the naturalization and mechanization of human emotions. My contribution examines passages from Bacon’s Advancement of Learning, the Novum organum, the Sylva sylvarum and his Essays; from Della Porta’s Magia naturalis (second edition 1589) and his comedy Sorella (1604). First, the insight that Bacon’s and Della Porta’s perception of magnetic movements have a strong common bias: the identification with human emotions. Both authors postulate not merely a close analogy, but a mutual convertibility between the two phenomena and with animal spirits. Second, this syn-optic approach is no one-way-street merely creating a characteristic perception of the phenomenon of magnetism: it also conditions the modes in which the human mind and emotions are perceived. Third, emotions—in particular love and hatred—are in principle as predictable as the movements of attraction and repulsion exercised by iron and lodestone.

UNCERTAINTY AS A STRUCTURAL PROPERTY: ON THE FOREWORD "FROM THE EDITOR" TO "TALES OF BELKIN"

It is shown that one of the main structural properties of the foreword "From the Editor" is uncertainty and/or incomplete embodiment of entity as a whole. This reveals itself on different levels of text including inner logical contradictions, the way names are presented in the text, motifs of partial or fractional realization. This is also inherent to narrators of "Tales of Belkin" (lieutenant-colonel as incomplete colonel, girl as an incomplete woman). The similar property manifests itself in the epigraph to "Tales of Belkin" that consists of words of minor (inferior noble). We dwell upon close correspondences between this foreword and "The Shot". It is shown that in some aspects the text gives grounds for identification of Belkin with a lieutenant-colonel I.L.P.) whereas in some others it creates obstacles to this. Thus there is a close analogy between uncertainty of the Belkin's image and uncertainty as a structural property of the foreword. We also pointed out that the set of initials of narrators is an anagram of the surname of a fictitious author.

A Hebrew Echo of Catullus’ Passer circa 1400?

Against the background of a long standing tradition which sees the Hispano-Jewish culture of the late Middle Ages in terms of decline and isolationism, the article attempts to analyse – and argue for an echo of Catullus’ Carmina in – a Hebrew poem of the Catalano-Aragonese “guild of the poets”. It tries to contrast the unverified attributions of translations from the Latin or the putative existence of romance texts which have not been found with the close analogy of themes and motifs between the Hebrew and the Latin poem. It contextualises it in the frame of other cultural manifestations of close contacts between Jews and Christians as well as the rich evidence of the archival documents of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.