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Equation 2 · Part 4 · Cosmological Natural Selection: A Theory That Named Its Own Killer

Symbol s

ΔS(ϕ)=−2r ln⁡ ⁣[1−ssin⁡ϕ]\Delta_S(\phi) = -2r\,\ln\!\left[1 - s\sin\phi\right]
ss

What this part means

s is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.

Its job in the formula

s is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.

The passage around this formula

…the spacetime the pulse crosses. The delay as a function of orbital phase ϕ\phi is standardly written ΔS(ϕ)=−2r ln⁡ ⁣[1−ssin⁡ϕ]\Delta_S(\phi) = -2r\,\ln\!\left[1 - s\sin\phi\right]. where the “range” parameter r is set directly by the companion’s mass and the “shape” parameter s by the orbit’s inclination. Because r and s are measured independently of the pulsar’s own mass, and Kepler’s laws already fix the total system mass from the orbital period and velocity, a sufficiently edge-on, sufficiently precisely timed binary hands over both masses at once — no assumptions…

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A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.

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Sources cited in the article section

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