Fairness Under Group-Conditional Prior Probability Shift: Invariance, Drift, and Target-Aware Post-Processing
Amir Asiaee, Kaveh Aryan
Machine learning systems are often trained and evaluated for fairness on historical data, yet deployed in environments where conditions have shifted. A particularly common form of shift occurs when the prevalence of positive outcomes changes differently across demographic groups--for example, when disease rates rise faster in one population than another, or when economic conditions affect loan default rates unequally. We study group-conditional prior probability shift (GPPS), where the label prevalence $P(Y=1\mid A=a)$ may change between training and deployment while the feature-generation process $P(X\mid Y,A)$ remains stable. Our analysis yields three main contributions. First, we prove a fundamental dichotomy: fairness criteria based on error rates (equalized odds) are structurally invariant under GPPS, while acceptance-rate criteria (demographic parity) can drift--and we prove this drift is unavoidable for non-trivial classifiers (shift-robust impossibility). Second, we show that target-domain risk and fairness metrics are identifiable without target labels: the invariance of ROC quantities under GPPS enables consistent estimation from source labels and unlabeled target data alone, with finite-sample guarantees. Third, we propose TAP-GPPS, a label-free post-processing algorithm that estimates prevalences from unlabeled data, corrects posteriors, and selects thresholds to satisfy demographic parity in the target domain. Experiments validate our theoretical predictions and demonstrate that TAP-GPPS achieves target fairness with minimal utility loss.
Omitted-Variable Sensitivity Analysis for Generalizing Randomized Trials
Amir Asiaee, Samhita Pal, Jared D. Huling
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) yield internally valid causal effect estimates, but generalizing these results to target populations with different characteristics requires an untestable selection ignorability assumption: conditional on observed covariates, trial participation must be independent of potential outcomes. This assumption fails when unobserved effect modifiers are distributed differently between trial and target populations. We develop a sensitivity analysis framework for trial generalization grounded in omitted variable bias (OVB). Our key theoretical contribution is an exact decomposition showing that external-validity bias equals moderation strength $\times$ moderator imbalance: (i) how strongly an unobserved variable shifts the treatment effect, times (ii) how differently that variable is distributed across populations after covariate adjustment. We introduce scale-free sensitivity parameters based on partial $R^2$ values, enabling closed-form bounds and benchmarking against observed covariates -- practitioners can assess whether conclusions would change if an unobserved moderator were "as strong as" a particular observed variable. Simulations demonstrate that our bounds achieve nominal coverage and remain conservative under model misspecification, while comparisons with alternative sensitivity frameworks highlight the interpretive advantages of the OVB decomposition.
Partial Causal Structure Learning for Valid Selective Conformal Inference under Interventions
Amir Asiaee, Kavey Aryan, James P. Long
Selective conformal prediction can yield substantially tighter uncertainty sets when we can identify calibration examples that are exchangeable with the test example. In interventional settings, such as perturbation experiments in genomics, exchangeability often holds only within subsets of interventions that leave a target variable "unaffected" (e.g., non-descendants of an intervened node in a causal graph). We study the practical regime where this invariance structure is unknown and must be learned from data. Our contributions are: (i) a contamination-robust conformal coverage theorem that quantifies how misclassification of "unaffected" calibration examples degrades coverage via an explicit function $g(δ,n)$ of the contamination fraction and calibration set size, providing a finite-sample lower bound that holds for arbitrary contaminating distributions; (ii) a task-driven partial causal learning formulation that estimates only the binary descendant indicators $Z_{a,i}=\mathbf{1}\{i\in\mathrm{desc}(a)\}$ needed for selective calibration, rather than the full causal graph; and (iii) algorithms for descendant discovery via perturbation intersection patterns (differentially affected variable set intersections across interventions), and for approximate distance-to-intervention estimation via local invariant causal prediction. We provide recovery conditions under which contamination is controlled. Experiments on synthetic linear structural equation models (SEMs) validate the bound: under controlled contamination up to $δ=0.30$, the corrected procedure maintains $\ge 0.95$ coverage while uncorrected selective CP degrades to $0.867$. A proof-of-concept on Replogle K562 CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) perturbation data demonstrates applicability to real genomic screens.
Sharp Bounds for Treatment Effect Generalization under Outcome Distribution Shift
Amir Asiaee, Samhita Pal, Cole Beck
et al.
Generalizing treatment effects from a randomized trial to a target population requires the assumption that potential outcome distributions are invariant across populations after conditioning on observed covariates. This assumption fails when unmeasured effect modifiers are distributed differently between trial participants and the target population. We develop a sensitivity analysis framework that bounds how much conclusions can change when this transportability assumption is violated. Our approach constrains the likelihood ratio between target and trial outcome densities by a scalar parameter $Λ\geq 1$, with $Λ= 1$ recovering standard transportability. For each $Λ$, we derive sharp bounds on the target average treatment effect -- the tightest interval guaranteed to contain the true effect under all data-generating processes compatible with the observed data and the sensitivity model. We show that the optimal likelihood ratios have a simple threshold structure, leading to a closed-form greedy algorithm that requires only sorting trial outcomes and redistributing probability mass. The resulting estimator runs in $O(n \log n)$ time and is consistent under standard regularity conditions. Simulations demonstrate that our bounds achieve nominal coverage when the true outcome shift falls within the specified $Λ$, provide substantially tighter intervals than worst-case bounds, and remain informative across a range of realistic violations of transportability.
Xenolith Zircons Record the Long Geological History of India‐Asia Convergence: Results From U‐Pb Depth Profiling
Wen‐Rui Sun, Roberto Weinberg, Rui Wang
et al.
Abstract Continental crust forms in magmatic arcs and transforms through collision, as seen in the Tibetan crust shaped by Neo‐Tethyan subduction and India‐Asia collision. We examine zircons from crustal granulite xenoliths using U‐Pb depth profiling to reveal a 220‐million‐year evolutionary history in southern Tibet. Our data provide age history consistent with the Gangdese magmatic rocks. From 100 Ma, our results show numerous age peaks linked to the arrival of the Indian continent, associated with fast convergence, slab rollback, and eventual slab breakoff. During the post‐collisional stage, the growth of zircon rims indicates a resurgence of metamorphism and anatexis, and contemporaneous shifts in Th/U ratios and (Dy/Yb)N values reflect an increase in crustal thickness. We suggest the capacity of zircon overgrowth to capture geological episodes during crustal evolution. In this case, granulite xenoliths from single areas through zircon depth profiling can offer substantial insights into the geological processes shaping the collisional orogen.
Geophysics. Cosmic physics
DIPLOMATIC DYNAMICS: KOREA AND AFRICA IN THE COLD WAR CONTEXT
Hyomin Jung
This article examines the diplomatic strategies of South and North Korea in Africa during the Cold War, focusing on the ideological stances of African countries and economic diplomacy. Using official documents from South Korean ministries and North Korean publications, the research analyses diplomatic ties and economic support to African countries. In the early 1960s, the political orientations of newly independent African nations heavily influenced diplomatic relations with both Koreas. In the 1970s, African countries shifted to prioritising a third world identity, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, over ideology. Both Koreas used economic diplomacy, offering financial and material support. However, in the mid-1970s, North Korea gained an advantage by joining the Non-Aligned Movement. South Korea lagged behind North Korea until the 1970s, but in the 1980s, its growing economy helped it catch up in diplomatic relations. This research contributes to an understanding of the evolving diplomatic orientations of the two Koreas and African countries by analysing the role of economic diplomacy.
Anthropology, History of Asia
Shekoufeh Mohammadi Shirmahaleh. 2022. <em>La leyenda de Sīāvaš: un recorrido mitológico, ritual y literario</em>. Ciudad de México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 379 pp. ISBN 9786073071130
Adrián Muñoz
Shekoufeh Mohammadi Shirmahaleh. 2022. La leyenda de Sīāvaš: un recorrido mitológico, ritual y literario. Ciudad de México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 379 pp. ISBN 9786073071130
History of Asia, History of Africa
The history of the discovery of the physical quantum of action (Zur Geschichte der Auffindung des physikalischen Wirkungsquantums)
Pascal Marquet, Max Planck
This is an English (annotated) translation of the German paper by Max Planck (1943) about "The history of the discovery of the physical quantum of action"
Generative AI Policy and Governance Considerations for Health Security in Southeast Asia
Thomas F Burns
Southeast Asia is a geopolitically and socio-economically significant region with unique challenges and opportunities. Intensifying progress in generative AI against a backdrop of existing health security threats makes applications of AI to mitigate such threats attractive but also risky if done without due caution. This paper provides a brief sketch of some of the applications of AI for health security and the regional policy and governance landscape. I focus on policy and governance activities of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an international body whose member states represent 691 million people. I conclude by identifying sustainability as an area of opportunity for policymakers and recommend priority areas for generative AI researchers to make the most impact with their work.
Os beneméritos de Santa Efigênia:
Andressa Antunes
Nosso objetivo é analisar o envolvimento de indivíduos pardos com a devoção de uma santa africana, a Santa Efigênia, na Irmandade do Rosário dos Pretos do Alto da Cruz, em Vila Rica. A análise tem como base, especialmente, os documentos da tesouraria da confraria e o Livro dos Brancos, bem como as trajetórias de vidas e redes sociais de pardos da confraria. Percebemos que o investimento nas celebrações desta irmandade revela que o sodalício do Alto da Cruz elegeu a invocação de Santa Efigênia como símbolo principal de sua sociabilidade. Os irmãos pardos, aos quais nos referimos como beneméritos, tiveram atuação decisiva. O investimento votivo de pardos livres ou libertos na celebração de Efigênia tanto representou uma tentativa de demonstração de ascensão e prestígio social, a partir de uma comunidade negra, como, ao mesmo tempo, conferiu a esta solenidade um caráter de autonomia e mobilidade frente aos estigmas do escravismo.
History of Africa, History of Asia
Personal History with MEF and Some Related Topics
Helen Au-Yang, Jacques H. H. Perk
We present our personal histories with Michael Fisher. We describe how each one of us first came to Cornell University. We also discuss our many subsequent interactions and successful collaborations with him on various physics projects.
en
cond-mat.stat-mech, physics.hist-ph
Unravelling DNS Performance: A Historical Examination of F-ROOT in Southeast Asia
Jiajia Zhu, Chao Qi
The DNS root server system uses Anycast technology to provide resolution through widely distributed root nodes. In recent years, the F-root node has seen astonishing growth and now boasts the largest number of nodes among the 13 root servers. Based on Ripe Atlas measurement data, we examined the availability and query latency of the F-root within the Southeast Asian region historically. The collected data illustrates how latency varies with changes in the number of root nodes, how the geographic distribution of responding root nodes changes in different periods, and examines the most recent differences between countries in terms of latency distribution. This study sheds light on the evolving landscape of DNS infrastructure in Southeast Asia.
Relations between the Parsis of India and the East India Company (1601-1858)
Jaleh Tajaldini
1- Abstract
The arrival of Britain in India under the cover of the East India Company at the beginning of the 17th century led to the country’s gaining access to the legendary financial resources in the subcontinent. However, with the British presence in India, the Zoroastrian community of this country, known as the Parsis, also underwent a significant economic transformation. Evidence of the increase in the wealth of the Parsis after the establishment of the British East India Company in the subcontinent is that in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the capital possessed, they set up numerous and large factories in India. Were there any special relations in the economic and professional field between the Parsis of India and the company? This is the question that the present study seeks to answer. In this study, using related historical sources, including works about the Parsis of India as well as compilations about the beginning and implementation of the British East India Company, the reasons for the positive perception of the company leaders of the Parsis are examined using a descriptive-analytical approach. Then, by reviewing the professional life of the Parsis, in two important ports of Surat and Bombay, which were the main points of contact with the company’s employees, examples of the Parsis services to the British East India Company and the privileges donated to the Persis leaders by the British are recounted and analyzed. The results show that the Parsis cooperation with the British government representatives in India was not limited to economic fields and that the British also had the assistance of the Zoroastrian community in the political arena.
2- Introduction
The followers of Zoroastrianism have been known in India from past times as “Farsi” or “Parsi”. In fact, since the annexation of the western parts of India to the Achaemenid Empire, Iranians travelled to these areas. Also, Iranian Zoroastrians, especially their clerics, travelled to India before Islam to propagate this religion for business. But the issue of their migration to India after Islam is mainly based on a poetic story called "Qeṣṣe-ye Sanjān" composed in 1008 AH (1600 AD). The narrator of the story events has been a trusted Zoroastrian priest to Bahman Keyqubad, the story’s composer. Based on this source, after the Arab invasion of Khurasan during the conquest of Iran, the Zoroastrians of a village called Sanjan in north-eastern Iran took refuge in the nearby mountains and spent a hundred years there. Then, they travelled to the island of Hormuz and lived there for fifteen years. "Dib" on the southern shores of the Indus was their next destination, where they remained for nineteen years. Then, they moved to Gujarat and settled in an area that was reminiscent of the former land of Sanjan, where they also spent five hundred years. Therefore, this group of immigrants left India in the middle of the second century AH. The question is, how did the narrator get these exact time intervals?
The editor of Qesse in the introduction of the book indicates the existence of sufficient references to prove the truth of this story. One of the documents he presents is the narration of Baladhuri in "Futuh al-Buldan" in which the people of Kerman fled from the Arab army. But this narration is not applicable to the story of Sanjan. The narration of Baladhuri indicates the escape of a number of people of Kerman in the first half of the first century AH from the Arab army and their departure to Hormuz and the conflict with the Arabs on this island. Baladhuri's words in this regard end with this report: many people of Kerman fled by sea. The existence of many ambiguities in the story caused its rejection by some contemporary Zoroastrian scholars.
However, the story says the adventure of the Parsis refugees in which they asked the Hindu ruler of the region to stay in Gujarat, and he agreed to live there under certain conditions. Among his conditions was: In the language, domination, and clothing of women, the Hindu customs should be considered, and also the means of war should be avoided. Accordingly, the Parsis accorded themselves perfectly to the culture and customs of the environment; this point was probably one of the reasons for the British approach toward them. Karaka writes in this regard: “It is a characteristic of the Persis that they have behaved appropriately to other peoples, even though their beliefs and customs are different, and they have adjusted themselves to the conditions, although the conditions were not according to their desire”. Jonathan Duncan, the British ruler of Mumbai at the beginning of the 19th century, criticized Muslims in a conversation with Abdul Latif Shushtari, comparing them to the Parsis, who easily adapted themselves to the custom and culture of the superior people: “What is the reason that wherever the monarchy of the Muslim exists or a sect of Muslims resides, their work is on the harshness ... unlike other religions which are smooth and gentle?"
On the events of 986 AH / 1587 AD, Badayuni, the historian of the court of Jalaluddin Akbar has reported the presence of Zoroastrians from the city of Navsari in the Gujarat region in the court of this ruler and writes that this powerful ruler ordered that the fire always be kept lit in a certain place. The report shows that in the late 16th century, the city of Navsari near Surat was the main settlement of Zoroastrians in India and since the agricultural conditions of the region met their job and economic needs, they had not migrated to Surat. Although the Parsis lived in this port before the arrival of the Europeans, the increase in their number was closely related to the arrival of European companies in this city.
The endeavour of European countries to penetrate east by sea led the Portuguese Vasco da Gama to become the first European sailor to set foot on Indian soil. Nehru reminds us that this first step was taken after the end of the Muslim rule over Andalusia in 1492 AD. Perhaps from the view of the new Iberian rulers, this move was revenge to conquer the East and spread Christianity in the face of the spread of Islam in Spain. Wasn't that the Portuguese paid special attention to the spread of Christianity in the East, and their violence of the Muslim merchants whom they called the Moors (Spanish Muslims) was unexampled? It is said that the intensity of the Portuguese violence was due to the superiority of the Muslims in trade, while part of it must be attributed to their dissatisfaction with the long Muslim rule in southwestern Europe.
From the Europeans’ point of view, the port of Surat, in the south of Gujarat and on the bank of the navigable Tapi or Tapti River, about 30 km far from the Arabian Sea, was suitable for their ships to travel to India. The knowledge of European capitalists of the geographical location of Surat, which was connected with the Far East countries on the one hand and with the Iranian and Arab ports, on the other hand, encouraged them to build several factories in this port from the second decade of the 17th century. Also, the relative proximity of Surat to Deccan and Gujarat, the centers of cotton cultivation and production in India made the Europeans eager to build factories there. Then, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, and the British came to this port and each established a trading company in their own name. The location of Surat made this port the most commercially productive one in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and was distinguished among Indian ports. This supremacy continued until the rise of Mumbai in the commercial arena, and then Surat was ignored.
Although the British East India Company arrival in Surat after Portugal managed to repel the enemy with military force, the French financial bankruptcy in Surat automatically led to their removal from the port. The company, which ostensibly bore the name of the company and was in fact the British government with shareholders (mainly military personnel), after a while, took over the country's political destiny in addition to monopolizing India's trade.
In this study, the reasons and methods of the East India Company's use of the Parsi society of India, as one of the tools to increase their influence in this land, as well as the type of cooperation of the Parsis with the British and its results for them are discussed. So far, no specific research has been done on this topic; however, numerous works related to the history of the Parsis, as well as writings related to the emergence and decline of the East India Company, contain scattered materials on the subject of this study. The manuscript of “Waqaye-i Hind” by Abdul Latif Shushtari at the beginning of the 19th century, which deals with the events in India, especially the island of Mumbai, has useful and relevant information in this regard. Shushtari, who was on behalf of the company, overseeing the affairs of Iranian businessmen in Mumbai, met daily with the island's Parsi leaders and recorded valuable notes of their relations with the company's leaders. The History of the Parsis, a work from the second half of the 19th century, also contains useful information on the subject of this article, due to the proximity of the author's era to the period of intimate relations between the Persians and the British. An article with the title Pyarsis and the British also contains notes on the relations between the Parsis and the East India Company which Hinnells published in 1978 in the journal of Kama Institute.
3- Materials and Methods
have been the main sources of the author for writing this descriptive-analytical article.
4- Discussion of Results and Conclusions
The British East India Company made its way to India later than Portugal, the Netherlands, and France in the early 17th century, but soon overtook European rivals and pursued its capitalist goals singly. In the meantime, the British needed the help of the natives of India to achieve their goals. People with abilities in business, sea voyages, knowledge of local products and facilities, knowledge of local leaders and celebrities, skills in intermediary in transactions and linguistics were among the characteristics of Parsis. On the other hand, the Zoroastrian community of India was eager to cooperate with the East India Company in order to be more successful in business, obtain various goods, and receive support during business trips. Although Parsis did not gain a high position in the company and even export goods directly to Europe, and the company's leaders viewed them as instrumental and a means of profit, in order to continue their cooperation, they were constantly provided with business opportunities and more income. The British acquisition of advanced technology in the textile industry, their progress in land and sea transportation, and entry into Asian markets, relying on the military in the 19th century, also had a positive impact on Parsis business. Their cooperation with the British for more than three centuries provided them with more wealth than they had imagined. The wealth they accumulated in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century through various means, especially trade, was invested in the industry from the second half of this century. In the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, they held half of the managerial and regulatory positions of Mumbai factories. They owned India's first steel plant. Some of them violated some of the moral limitations of Zoroastrianism and followed the British way of life to earn more money. At this time, Britain was their homeland. But the Parsis’ dependence on British capitalists also caused them some harm. In the late 19th century, the center of India's foreign trade was moved from the west of India, the center of Parsis’ gathering and life, to the east by the heads of companies; thus Parsis’ role in trade diminished. Opium exports from India to China also declined. New industries entered the world of Indian industry in 1900, and Parsis paid less attention to these industries due to the continued focus on cotton and fabric production. Together, these factors halted the economic growth of Parsis in the second half of the 20th century compared to the previous century. The Parsis’ close and intimate relations with the British also caused them cultural damages such as the loss of religious identity which has been considered and protested by some followers of this religion.
History (General) and history of Europe, History of Asia
Intra-structural and functional conflicts in the administrative system of the Seljuk government
Naser Sedghi
The Seljuk government had two major internal barriers to establishing centralized and stable bureaucratic management. The first obstacle was the lack of stable financial and monetary resources. The second obstacle was the lack of a centralized communication and transportation system in the political realm. The dominance of the natural economy in the society and the low prevalence of money in the market and trade relations caused the shortage and limitation of monetary resources in the central treasury. Because the government had to collect taxes in a non-monetary way. Lack of liquidity in the government treasury was the most important obstacle to the establishment and consolidation of the bureaucracy. The policy of the Seljuk government in Assignment of Igta’ and non-cash payments to government officials was due to lack of liquidity. Also, the lack of a transportation system and continuous means of communication within the political realm led to the inability of the Central Court to continuously oversee the provinces and the activities of local and province governors. These two conditions led to the disintegration of the Seljuk state and the collapse of the central bureaucracy.
History and principles of religions, History of Asia
Challenges Facing Community Management of Rural Water Supply: The Case of Ohangwena Region, Namibia
Nespect Butty Salom, Prudence Khumalo
This study investigated the critical success factors for the community management of rural water supplies in the Ohangwena Region, Namibia. Rural communities in Namibia receive water through the Community Based Management (CBM) strategy, which necessitates water governance decentralization, thereby enabling local communities to participate in the management of their water resources. In pursuance of this policy and philosophy, a large number of water point committees have been created nationally. At least half of the existing water points in rural areas in Namibia are faulty and dysfunctional, however, and the majority of people are still struggling to access clean water. The study endeavoured to examine key considerations that have a positive impact on the success of the management of the rural water supply in Namibia, using the Ohangwena Region as a case study. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the study. The findings from the study affirmed that governance, leadership attributes of the committee members, training and capacity building, level of community involvement, coordination and support are critical success factors for effective management of rural water supplies. Finally, a rural water management model was developed, which is anticipated to contribute towards improved management of rural water provision in the study area.
History of Africa, African languages and literature
'Kīrtimukha' in the Art of the Kapili-Jamuna Valley of Assam: An Artistic Survey
Mrigakhee Saikia, Paromita Das
The figure of the 'kīrtimukha' or ‘glory- face’ is an artistic motif that appears on early Indian art and architecture, initially as a sacred symbol and then more commonly as a decorative element. In Assam, the motif of 'kīrtimukha' is seen crowning the stele of the stray icons of the early medieval period. The motif also appeared in the structural components of the ancient and early medieval temples of Assam. The Kapili-Jamuna valley, situated in the districts of Nagaon, Marigaon and Hojai in central Assam houses innumerable rich archaeological remains, especially temple ruins and sculptures, both stone and terracotta. Many such architectural components are adorned by the 'kīrtimukha' figures, usually carved in low relief. It is proposed to discuss the iconographic features of the 'kīrtimukha' motif in the art of the Kapili-Jamuna valley of Assam and also examine whether the iconographic depictions of the 'kīrtimukha' as prescribed in canonical texts, such as the 'Śilpaśāstras' are reflected in the art of the valley. Pan Asian linkages of the 'kīrtimukha' motif will also be examined.
Architecture, Archaeology
The history of LHCb
I. Belyaev, G. Carboni, N. Harnew
et al.
In this paper we describe the history of the LHCb experiment over the last three decades, and its remarkable successes and achievements. LHCb was conceived primarily as a b-physics experiment, dedicated to CP violation studies and measurements of very rare b decays, however the tremendous potential for c-physics was also clear. At first data taking, the versatility of the experiment as a general-purpose detector in the forward region also became evident, with measurements achievable such as electroweak physics, jets and new particle searches in open states. These were facilitated by the excellent capability of the detector to identify muons and to reconstruct decay vertices close to the primary pp interaction region. By the end of the LHC Run 2 in 2018, before the accelerator paused for its second long shut down, LHCb had measured the CKM quark mixing matrix elements and CP violation parameters to world-leading precision in the heavy-quark systems. The experiment had also measured many rare decays of b and c quark mesons and baryons to below their Standard Model expectations, some down to branching ratios of order 10-9. In addition, world knowledge of b and c spectroscopy had improved significantly through discoveries of many new resonances already anticipated in the quark model, and also adding new exotic four and five quark states.
en
physics.hist-ph, hep-ex
Extreme Space Weather Events Recorded in History
Hisashi Hayakawa, Yusuke Ebihara
This section shows an overview of a recent development of the studies on great space weather events in history. Its discussion starts from the Carrington event and compare its intensity with the extreme storms within the coverage of the regular magnetic measurements. Extending its analyses back beyond their onset, this section shows several case studies of extreme storms with sunspot records in the telescopic observations and candidate auroral records in historical records. Before the onset of telescopic observations, this section shows the chronological coverages of the records of unaided-eye sunspot and candidate aurorae and several case studies on their basis.
en
physics.hist-ph, astro-ph.EP
The concept of velocity in the history of Brownian motion -- From physics to mathematics and back
Arthur Genthon
Interest in Brownian motion was shared by different communities: this phenomenon was first observed by the botanist Robert Brown in 1827, then theorised by physicists in the 1900s, and eventually modelled by mathematicians from the 1920s, while still evolving as a physical theory. Consequently, Brownian motion now refers to the natural phenomenon but also to the theories accounting for it. There is no published work telling its entire history from its discovery until today, but rather partial histories either from 1827 to Perrin's experiments in the late 1900s, from a physicist's point of view; or from the 1920s from a mathematician's point of view. In this article, we tackle the period straddling the two `half-histories' just mentioned, in order to highlight continuity, to investigate the domain-shift from physics to mathematics, and to survey the enhancements of later physical theories. We study the works of Einstein, Smoluchowski, Langevin, Wiener, Ornstein and Uhlenbeck from 1905 to 1934 as well as experimental results, using the concept of Brownian velocity as a leading thread. We show how Brownian motion became a research topic for the mathematician Wiener in the 1920s, why his model was an idealization of physical experiments, what Ornstein and Uhlenbeck added to Einstein's results, and how Wiener, Ornstein and Uhlenbeck developed in parallel contradictory theories concerning Brownian velocity.
en
physics.hist-ph, cond-mat.stat-mech
Conditional emergence of classical domain and branching of quantum histories
Alexei V. Tkachenko
We outline the Minimalistic Measurement Scheme (MMS) compatible with regular unitary evolution of a closed quantum system. Within this approach, a part of the system becomes informationally isolated (restricted) which leads to a natural emergence of the classical domain. This measurement scenario is a simpler alternative to environment-induced decoherence. In its basic version, MMS involves two ancilla qubits, $A$ and $X$, entangled with each other and with the System $S$. Informational or thermodynamic cost of measurement is represented by $X$-qubit being isolated, i.e. becoming unavailable for future interactions with the rest of the system. Conditional upon this isolation, $A$-qubit, that plays the role of an Apparatus, becomes classical and records the outcome of the measurement. The procedure may be used to perform von Neumann-style projective measurements or generalized ones, that corresponds to Positive-Operator Value Measure (POVM). By repeating the same generalized measurement multiple times with different $A$- and $X$-qubits, one asymptotically approaches the wave function collapse in the basis determined by the premeasurement process. We present a simple result for the total information extracted after $N$ such weak measurements. Building upon MMS, we propose a construction that maps a history of a quantum system onto a set of $A$-qubits. It resembles the Consistent History (CH) formulation of Quantum Mechanics (QM), but is distinct from it, and is built entirely within the conventional QM. In particular, consistency postulate of CH formalism is not automatically satisfied, but rather is an emerging property. Namely, each measurement event corresponds to the branching of mutually exclusive classical realities whose probabilities are additive. In a general case, however, the superposition between different histories is determined by the history density matrix.
en
quant-ph, cond-mat.stat-mech