Space-Based Cosmic-Ray and Gamma-Ray Detectors: a Review

Prepared for the 2014 ISAPP summer school, this review is focused on space-borne and balloon-borne cosmic-ray and gamma-ray detectors. It is meant to introduce the fundamental concepts necessary to understand the instrument performance metrics, how they tie to the design choices and how they can be effectively used in sensitivity studies. While the write-up does not aim at being complete or exhaustive, it is largely self-contained in that related topics such as the basic physical processes governing the interaction of radiation with matter and the near-Earth environment are briefly reviewed.Comment: 86 pages, 70 figures, prepared for the 2014 ISAPP summer school. Change log in the writeup, ancillary material at https://bitbucket.org/lbaldini/crdetector

Science highlights from the Fermi Large Area Telescope

During its first three years of operation, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has provided an unprecedented view of the high energy gamma-ray sky, and also performed direct measurements of the cosmic-ray leptons and searches for signals from dark matter. In this paper we present a short overview of some highlight results, shedding new light on the high-energy side of the Universe.Comment: Contribution to Les Rencontres de Physique de la Vall\'ee D'Aoste (La Thuile, February 27-March 5 2011); 12 pages, 5 figure

Inflation inequality in Italy

Inflation is usually assumed to affect all households with the same intensity. Since relative prices are subject to continuous changes, each household, depending on its specific pattern of consumption, is however characterised by a specific inflation rate. With the help of a rich set of microdata, this paper studies the distribution of inflation rates across Italian households during the period 1986-2004. The main findings are that rich households faced on average a slightly higher inflation rate than poor households, and that some demographic characteristics have been systematically associated with higher price increases. Also in 2002, the year of the changeover, inflation has been slightly higher for the rich. Using individual prices indexes, it is finally possible to show that, in the last few years, real living standards for many families have worsened.

Combined Partial Wave Analysis for the description of exclusive p+p→p+K++Λp+p \to p + K^+ + \Lambda production

The production of p K+ {\Lambda} in elementary p + p collision was investigated using the Bonn Gatchina Partial Wave Analysis framework. This approach allows the determination of possible participating production wave depending on the quantum numbers of the system. For the analysis seven data samples, measured at different detectors and beam energies, were used.For the extraction of the p{\Lambda} scattering length a cross check with established methods is required. Furthermore the total cross section of the production process is needed to be determined to extra cross section for the separate waves. Both methods are described in this work.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

The recent reforms of the Italian personal income tax: distributive and efficiency effects

The aim of this paper is the study of three reforms of the Italian personal income tax that have been implemented over the past six years. The analysis is carried out in three stages. In the first stage we study their distributive effects using a static microsimulation model. In the second stage we focus on the labour supply effects by means of a structural microeconometric model of household labour supply; finally, we analyze the distributive effects of the reforms accounting for labour supply reactions. Our findings confirm that the extension of the no-tax area had positive effects in terms of both redistribution and work incentives, while greater benefits for households with children improved income distribution but with negative effects on the labour supply of married women,microsimulation; labour supply; income distribution; income tax

Alternative approaches to Long Term Care financing. Distributive implications and sustainability for Italy.

In the last decade, many countries have adopted tax schemes specifically aimed at financing programs for Long Term Care (LTC). These mechanisms have important distributional implications both within and across generations. Given the process of demographic ageing, the issue of inter and intra-generational fairness is deeply linked with the problem of the long-term financial equilibrium of an LTC fund. In this paper we first compare, on a microdata sample of the Italian population, the distributive effects (both on current income and across generations) of six alternative approaches to finance an LTC scheme. In particular, we consider a hypothetical LTC scheme (with a size equivalent to that of the German one) to be introduced in Italy and analyse the distributive implications of some tax options, taken from the financing mechanisms implemented or under discussion in Germany, Luxembourg, Japan and Italy.In the second part of the paper we move from a static to a dynamic perspective: we study the long-term sustainability of an hypothetical Pay as You Go (Payg) LTC scheme operating in Italy (that is, assuming the Italian projected demographic trends) under scenarios that consider alternative indexation rules, growth rates of GNP, future incidence of disability among age groups.long term care; distributive effects; tax-benefit model; intertemporal sustainability; trust fund