Robert Bryant From Mechanics, to Algebra, to Geometry: The Notion of Holonomy. Abstract: Familiar mechanical phenomena, such as driving and parking a car, rolling a ball, and even the ability of falling cats to land on their feet (usually) are examples of an underlying mathematical concept that, in the 19th century, came to be known as ”holonomy.” As it became better understood, mathematicians ...

In this scenario, a generic meta-stable deSitter vacuum site in the cosmic landscape in string theory has a very short lifetime. Typically, the smaller is the vacuum energy of a meta-stable site, the longer is its lifetime. This view of the landscape can provide a qualitative dynamical explanation why the dark energy of our universe is so small. The argument for this scenario is based on resona...

There is “no EPR-like funny business” if (contrary to apparent fact) our world is as indeterministic as you wish, but is free from the EPR-like quantum mechanical phenomena such as is sometimes described in terms of superluminal causation or correlation between distant events. The theory of branching spacetimes can be used to sharpen the theoretical dichotomy between “EPR-like funny business” a...

We discuss some aspects of the fluid dynamics of vitreous substitutes in the vitreous chamber, focussing on the flow induced by rotations of the eye bulb. We use simple, yet not trivial, theoretical models to highlight mechanical concepts that are relevant to understand the dynamics of vitreous substitutes and also to identify ideal properties for vitreous replacement fluids. We first recall re...

Cell mechanics provides an integrated view of many biological phenomena which are intimately related to cell structure and function. Because breathing constitutes a sustained motion synonymous with life, pulmonary cells are normally designed to support permanent cyclic stretch without breaking, while receiving mechanical cues from their environment. The authors study the mechanical responses of...

Long and short range molecular interactions govern molecular recognition and self-assembly of biological macromolecules. Microscopic parameters in the theories of these molecular interactions are either phenomenological or need to be calculated within a microscopic theory. We report a unified methodology for the ab initio quantum mechanical (QM) calculation that yields all the microscopic param...

We present a general relativistic framework for studying gravitational effects in quantum mechanical phenomena. We concentrate our attention on the case of ultra-relativistic, spin1/2 particles propagating in Kerr spacetime. The two-component Weyl equation with the general relativistic corrections is obtained in the case of slowly rotating, weak gravitational field. Our approach is also applied...

In this paper, we examine the coupled thermoporomechanical behaviour of a fluid-saturated porous medium of infinite extent bounded internally by a fluid-filled cavity. The mechanical behaviour of the porous skeleton can either be Hookean elastic or elasto-plastic, with a constitutive response corresponding to a modified Cam Clay plasticity model. The fluid within the cavity can be subjected sim...

Semiconductor nanowires have stimulated extensive interest in the last decade because of their potential use as building blocks in future generations of electronic and optoelectronic applications. Equally important, their singular geometry provides an opportunity to test fundamental quantum mechanical concepts and related phenomena. Even though significant advances have been made in the synthes...

have recognized that surface contacts between materials are highly dependent on their mechanical properties1,2. Many different indentation and impression tests have been developed in an effort to measure such mechanical properties from a contact of known geometry. In the past two decades, however, a veritable revolution has occurred in indentation testing, owing to the development of new sensor...