Solutions to Einstein's equations are usually found by considering ideal, simplified models. However, if the real world always matched ideal physics models, then farmers would milk black and white spheres. To combat this, Regge calculus was developed as a numerical approximation scheme for general relativity. In Regge calculus curved manifolds...
Loop quantum gravity is a framework for quantizing general relativity which imposes a discrete structure on space. In exploring the structure of loop quantum gravity, researchers have investigated loop quantum cosmology, a toy model with reduced degrees of freedom while maintaining a discrete space. Polymer quantum mechanics is a framework...
Different models show the effects of environmental decoherence on a quantum system
due to various environments of interest. One important quantity within these models is
the decoherence time, which tells us how quickly environments wash away the coherence of
local measurements. We can describe this effect as the quantum system...
Forest composition in Paraguay has been in a state of change for the past half century due to land management practices, forest fragmentation, and deforestation for agriculture. How these factors affect dendrological diversity and wood anatomy in Paraguay is not well understood. This thesis documents Paraguayan forest composition on the...
I had to write again. My research lay in science, and it was a science of three parts. The first part made a careful, introductory chapter, begged for by things that were lacking. It summarizes the von Neumann measurement model, derived from the Stern-Gerlach experiment, and it explains how weak...
Metabolic defects within the different tissues and cell types of the eye give rise to many human ocular diseases. Polymorphisms in the Cytochrome P450 (CYP) family have been associated with many ocular disorders, particularly Cytochrome P450 1B1 (CYP1B1). Mutations in CYP1B1 have been linked to ocular diseases such as Primary...
The standard interpretation of quantum mechanics (known as the Copenhagen interpretation) divides the world into quantum phenomena and classical observers that perform measurements upon the phenomena. This provides a quite functional framework for calculating probabilities of measurement outcomes, but it lacks the generality necessary for such things as retrodiction, and...
This work aims to broaden use of the organic semiconductor pentacene (Pn) by means of improving its oxidation and photodimerization stability. In particular, we study the photophysical properties of functionalized Pn derivatives with side groups R in amorphous thin film, referred to as Pn-R-F8 when fluorinated. Using the optics experiments...
Loop quantum gravity is a theoretical framework which aims to quantize general relativity. One of the unique aspects of this theory is that it imposes a discrete structure on space-time. One toy model of loop quantum gravity is loop quantum cosmology, which maintains the idea of a discrete spatial structure...
Standard quantum mechanics makes foundational assumptions to describe the measurement process. Upon interaction with a “classical measurement apparatus”, a quantum system is subjected to postulated “state collapse” dynamics. We show that framing measurement around state collapse and ill-defined classical observers leads to interpretational issues, and artificially limits the scope of...