The Purity of Agent-Regret

I argue for a novel understanding of the nature of agent-regret. On the standard picture, agent-regret involves regretting the result of one's action and thus regretting one's action. I argue that the standard picture is a flawed analysis of agent-regret. I offer several cases of agent-regret where the agent feels agent-regret but does not regret the result itself. I appeal to other cases where an agent's attitude towards something depends upon whether or not they are involved in that thing. I argue that the same applies to actions: sometimes an agent's attitude towards a result differs from their attitude to their involvement in bringing about that result. Agent-regret is regret about my own action, but it need not involve regret about something in the world. I end by considering how this picture of agent-regret allows us to respond to a particular criticism of agent-regret.

On the τ flavor of the cosmic neutrino flux

Observation of high energy cosmic neutrinos by ICECUBE has ushered in a new era in exploring both cosmos and new physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). In the standard picture, although mostly νμ and νe are produced in the source, oscillation will produce ντen route. Certain beyond SM scenarios, like interaction with ultralight DM can alter this picture. Thus, the flavor composition of the cosmic neutrino flux can open up the possibility of exploring certain beyond the SM scenarios that are inaccessible otherwise. We show that the τ flavor holds a special place among the neutrino flavors in elucidating new physics. Interpreting the two anomalous events observed by ANITA as ντ events makes the tau flavor even more intriguing. We study how the detection of the two tau events by ICECUBE constrains the interaction of the neutrinos with ultralight dark matter and discuss the implications of this interaction for even higher energy cosmic neutrinos detectable by future radio telescopes such as ARA, ARIANNA and GRAND. We also revisit the 3 + 1 neutrino scheme as a solution to the two anomalous ANITA events and clarify a misconception that exists in the literature about the evolution of high energy neutrinos in matter within the 3 + 1 scheme with a possibility of scattering off nuclei. We show that the existing bounds on the flux of ντ with energy of EeV rules out this solution for the ANITA events. We show that the 3 + 1 solution can be saved from both this bound and from the bound on the extra relativistic degrees of freedom in the early universe by turning on the interaction of neutrinos with ultralight dark matter.

Revisiting the concept of activation in supercooled liquids

In this work, we revisit the description of dynamics based on the concepts of metabasins and activation in mildly supercooled liquids via the analysis of the dynamics of a paradigmatic glass former between its onset temperature $$T_{\mathrm{o}}$$ T o and mode-coupling temperature $$T_{\mathrm{c}}$$ T c . First, we provide measures that demonstrate that the onset of glassiness is indeed connected to the landscape, and that metabasin waiting time distributions are so broad that the system can remain stuck in a metabasin for times that exceed $$\tau _{\alpha }$$ τ α by orders of magnitude. We then reanalyze the transitions between metabasins, providing several indications that the standard picture of activated dynamics in terms of traps does not hold in this regime. Instead, we propose that here activation is principally driven by entropic instead of energetic barriers. In particular, we illustrate that activation is not controlled by the hopping of high energetic barriers and should more properly be interpreted as the entropic selection of nearly barrierless but rare pathways connecting metabasins on the landscape.

Meissner Effect: History of Development and Novel Aspects

The discovery of the Meissner (Meissner–Ochsenfeld) effect in 1933 was an incontestable turning point in the history of superconductivity. First, it demonstrated that superconductivity is an unknown before equilibrium state of matter, thus allowing to use the power of thermodynamics for its study. This provided a justification for the two-fluid model of Gorter and Casimir, a seminal thermodynamic theory founded on a postulate of zero entropy of the superconducting (S) component of conduction electrons. Second, the Meissner effect demonstrated that, apart from zero electric resistivity, the S phase is also characterized by zero magnetic induction. The latter property is used as a basic postulate in the theory of F. and H. London, which underlies the understanding of electromagnetic properties of superconductors. Here the experimental and theoretical aspects of the Meissner effect are reviewed. The reader will see that, in spite of almost nine decades age, the London theory still contains questions, the answers to which can lead to a revision of the standard picture of the Meissner state (MS) and, if so, of other equilibrium superconducting states. An attempt is made to take a fresh look at electrodynamics of the MS and try to work out with the issues associated with this the most important state of all superconductors. It is shown that the concept of Cooper's pairing along with the Bohr–Sommerfeld quantization condition allows one to construct a semi-classical theoretical model consistently addressing properties of the MS and beyond, including non-equilibrium properties of superconductors caused by the total current. As follows from the model, the three “big zeros” of superconductivity (zero resistance, zero induction and zero entropy) have equal weight and grow from a single root: quantization of the angular momentum of paired electrons. The model predicts some yet unknown effects. If confirmed, they can help in studies of microscopic properties of all superconductors. Preliminary experimental results suggesting the need to revise the standard picture of the MS are presented.

The Cosmic Void

What exists at the fundamental level of reality? On the standard picture, the fundamental reality contains (among other things) fundamental matter, such as particles, fields, or even the quantum state. Non-fundamental facts are explained by facts about fundamental matter, at least in part. In this paper, I introduce a non-standard picture called the “cosmic void” in which the universe is devoid of any fundamental material ontology. Facts about tables and chairs are recovered from a special kind of laws that satisfy strong determinism. All non-fundamental facts are completely explained by nomic facts. I discuss a concrete example of this picture in a strongly deterministic version of the many-worlds theory of quantum mechanics. I discuss some philosophical and scientific challenges to this view, as well as some connections to ontological nihilism.

DNA bioelectric field: a futuristic bioelectric marker of cancer, aging and death – A working hypothesis

Telomeres are associated with the ends of DNA double strands. The lengths of the telomeres are controlled by the telomerase enzyme. The shortening of the telomeres is known to relate to aging. In cancers, telomere lengths are abnormally short. Telomeres could act as buffers shielding the part of DNA coding for the proteins. For cancer cells, germ cells and stem cells the length of the telomeres is not varying. There is an analogy with microtubules, which are highly dynamical and carry a longitudinal electric field, whose strength correlates with the microtubule length. Could sticky ends generate a longitudinal field along DNA double strand with strength determined by the lengths of the sticky ends? In the standard picture the flux of the longitudinal electric field would be proportional to the difference of the negative charges associated with the sticky ends. In TGD framework, DNA strands are accompanied by the dark analog of DNA with codons realized as 3-proton units at magnetic flux tubes parallel to DNA strands and neutralizing the negative charge of ordinary DNA except at the sticky ends. This allows considering the possibility that opposite sticky ends carry opposite charges generating a longitudinal electric field along the magnetic flux tube associated with the system. DNA/Telomere bioelectric field could serve as a novel bioelectric marker to be used for prognostic and diagnostic purposes in researches of cancer, aging, surgery grafts and rejuvenation. We propsed that DNA bioelectric field can be used as a futuristic bioelectric marker of cancer, aging and death.

The Place of Expert Intuition in Philosophy

The Standard Picture of philosophical methodology includes the following claims: (A) Intuitive judgments form an epistemically distinctive kind; (B) Intuitive judgments play an epistemically privileged role in philosophical methodology; (C) If intuitive judgments play an epistemically privileged role in philosophical methodology, then their role is to be taken as given inputs into generally accepted forms of reasoning; (D) Philosophical methodology is reasonable. Negative experimental philosophers accept claims (A), (B), and (C), but challenge (D). This chapter develops a variant on the expertise defense of traditional philosophy. The defense hinges on denying (C) in the Standard Picture: philosophers do not treat their intuitions as data; they treat their intuitions as observations that can be improved through reasoning. The chapter explores both historical antecedents in the rationalist tradition, and descriptive accuracy with respect to current practice.

The Standard Picture

The Standard Picture of philosophical methodology includes the following claims: (A) Intuitive judgments form an epistemically distinctive kind; (B) Intuitive judgments play an epistemically privileged role in philosophical methodology; (C) If intuitive judgments play an epistemically privileged role in philosophical methodology, then their role is to be taken as given inputs into generally accepted forms of reasoning; (D) Philosophical methodology is reasonable. Work in negative experimental philosophy has motivated some to question the descriptive accuracy of the Standard Picture. Some philosophers such as Timothy Williamson challenge (A) on the grounds that philosophy cannot be distinguished by its reliance on a distinctive epistemic source. Other philosophers such as Herman Cappelen and Max Deutsch challenge (B) on the grounds that philosophers do not treat intuitions as evidence. This chapter defends (A) and (B) in the Standard Picture against these challenges.

Kink–antikink scattering-induced breathing bound states and oscillons in a parametrized ϕ4 model

Recent studies have emphasized the important role that a shape deformability of scalar-field models pertaining to the same class with the standard [Formula: see text] field, can play in controlling the production of a specific type of breathing bound states so-called oscillons. In the context of cosmology, the built-in mechanism of oscillons suggests that they can affect the standard picture of scalar ultra-light dark matter. In this paper, kink scatterings are investigated in a parametrized model of bistable system admitting the classical [Formula: see text] field as an asymptotic limit, with focus on the formation of long-lived low-amplitude almost harmonic oscillations of the scalar field around a vacuum. The parametrized model is characterized by a double-well potential with a shape-deformation parameter that changes only the steepness of the potential walls, and hence the flatness of the hump of the potential barrier, leaving unaffected the two degenerate minima and the barrier height. It is found that the variation of the deformability parameter promotes several additional vibrational modes in the kink-phonon scattering potential, leading to suppression of the two-bounce windows in kink–antikink scatterings and the production of oscillons. Numerical results suggest that the anharmonicity of the potential barrier, characterized by a flat barrier hump, is the main determinant factor for the production of oscillons in double-well systems.