Five Colleges

Abstract This study maintains that Dostoevsky’s monological short story, “Dream of the Ridiculous Man,” is a critique of the impact of Kantian philosophical Idealism on Russian university-trained intellectuals of his age. The protagonist’s discourse has explicit and hidden levels that Dostoevsky sets at odds. The resulting discordance underscores the protagonist’s ridiculousness and the reasons for his ultimate madness. On the explicit level, the narrator tells how, under the influence of a dream, he has given up the philosophical ideals that undermined his empathy for others and embraced brotherly love. On the hidden level, this same discourse reveals that he has rationalized “love” within the framework of Kantian philosophical Idealism as he understands it, so as not to have to experience empathy and act according to his conscience. By analyzing the poetic devices that point to this discordance, and thus to the protagonist’s self-delusion, this paper shows the morally corrupting influence of Kantian philosophy despite its claims to a higher morality. This analysis places the story in a continuum with Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground, and with the problematics of Ivan Karamazov’s character in the Brothers Karamazov.

Abstract We present the results of the largest L′ (3.8 μm) direct imaging survey for exoplanets to date, the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer Exozodi Exoplanet Common Hunt (LEECH). We observed 98 stars with spectral types from B to M. Cool planets emit a larger share of their flux in L′ compared to shorter wavelengths, affording LEECH an advantage in detecting low-mass, old, and cold-start giant planets. We emphasize proximity over youth in our target selection, probing physical separations smaller than other direct imaging surveys. For FGK stars, LEECH outperforms many previous studies, placing tighter constraints on the hot-start planet occurrence frequency interior to ∼20 au. For less luminous, cold-start planets, LEECH provides the best constraints on giant-planet frequency interior to ∼20 au around FGK stars. Direct imaging survey results depend sensitively on both the choice of evolutionary model (e.g., hot- or cold-start) and assumptions (explicit or implicit) about the shape of the underlying planet distribution, in particular its radial extent. Artificially low limits on the planet occurrence frequency can be derived when the shape of the planet distribution is assumed to extend to very large separations, well beyond typical protoplanetary dust-disk radii (≲50 au), and when hot-start models are used exclusively. We place a conservative upper limit on the planet occurrence frequency using cold-start models and planetary population distributions that do not extend beyond typical protoplanetary dust-disk radii. We find that ≲90% of FGK systems can host a 7–10 M Jup planet from 5 to 50 au. This limit leaves open the possibility that planets in this range are common.

This article argues for the family as a unit of analysis within capabilities approaches to human development. Challenging the liberal emphasis on the individual, this article illustrates that individualist approaches to families do not account for the relatively common scenario of families acting as a unit. Building upon Margaret Gilbert’s concept of plural subject agents, the paper suggests a new category of capabilities called joint capabilities that apply to the opportunities afforded to families that function as a unit. In order to build the case for joint capabilities, the author’s experiences and observations of family in the Afro-indigenous Garifuna ancestral villages of Honduras are discussed. More specifically, the capability of rural families to make cassava bread, or ereba in the Garifuna language, is explored. While the Garifuna family is explored as an important unit of analysis for understanding capabilities, the family is also examined as a complex context for exploration of power relations and inequality.

We present an X-ray study of the massive edge-on Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M 104; NGC 4594), based on XMM–Newton and Chandra observations. A list of 62 XMM–Newton and 175 Chandra discrete X-ray sources is provided, the majority of which are associated with the galaxy. Spectral analysis is carried out for relatively bright individual sources and for an accumulated source spectrum. At energies ≳2 keV, the source-subtracted X-ray emission is distributed similarly as the stellar K-band light and is primarily due to the residual emission from discrete sources. At lower energies, however, a substantial fraction of the source-subtracted emission arises from diffuse hot gas extending to ∼20 kpc from the galactic centre. The galactic disc shows little X-ray emission and instead shadows part of the X-ray radiation from the bulge. The observed diffuse X-ray emission from the galaxy shows a steep spectrum that can be characterized by an optically thin thermal plasma with temperatures of ∼0.6–0.7 keV, varying little with radius. The diffuse emission has a total luminosity of ∼3 × 1039 erg s−1 in the 0.2–2 keV energy range. This luminosity is significantly smaller than the prediction by current numerical simulations for galaxies as massive as Sombrero. However, such simulations do not include the effect of quiescent stellar feedback (e.g. ejecta from evolving stars and Type Ia supernovae) against the accretion from intergalactic medium. We argue that the stellar feedback likely plays an essential role in regulating the physical properties of hot gas. Indeed, the observed diffuse X-ray luminosity of Sombrero accounts for at most a few per cent of the expected mechanical energy input from Type Ia supernovae. The inferred gas mass and metal content are also substantially less than those expected from stellar ejecta. We speculate that a galactic bulge wind, powered primarily by Type Ia supernovae, has removed much of the ‘missing’ energy and metal-enriched gas from the region revealed by the X-ray observations.

ABSTRACTThe early‐time optical spectrum of the Type Ic supernova (SN) 2002ap was characterized by unusually broad features, leading some authors to designate it a “hypernova.” We present optical spectropolarimetry of this object 16 and 37 days after the estimated date of explosion. After correcting for interstellar polarization, we find evidence for a high level of intrinsic continuum polarization at both epochs: p≳1.3% on day 16 and p≳1.0% on day 37. Prominent line polarization is also seen, especially in the trough of the Ca ii near‐infrared triplet during the second epoch. When interpreted in terms of the oblate, electron‐scattering model atmospheres of Höflich, our results imply an asymmetry of at least 20% (day 16) and 17% (day 37). The data suggest a fair degree of axisymmetry, although the polarization angle of the dominant polarization axes are different by about 55° between the two epochs, implying a complex morphology for the thinning ejecta. In particular, there exists some spectropolarimetric evidence for a different distribution of Ca relative to iron‐group elements. We also present flux spectra of SN 2002ap taken 131 and 140 days after the explosion. The spectra are characterized by a very weak continuum and broad emission lines, indicating that SN 2002ap has entered the nebular phase. The spectral features are substantially similar to those of “normal” SNe Ic in the nebular phase, and the emission lines are not significantly broader. However, some of the broad lines are very sharply peaked and may possess a narrow component (probably unresolved by our spectra, FWHM≲400 km s-1) that is redshifted by ∼580 km s-1 with respect to the systemic velocity of the host galaxy.