Assessing Alternatives for Directional Detection of a WIMP Halo

The future of direct terrestrial WIMP detection lies on two fronts: new, much larger low background detectors sensitive to energy deposition, and detectors with directional sensitivity. The former can large range of WIMP parameter space using well tested technology while the latter may be necessary if one is to disentangle particle physics parameters from astrophysical halo parameters. Because directional detectors will be quite difficult to construct it is worthwhile exploring in advance generally which experimental features will yield the greatest benefits at the lowest costs. We examine the sensitivity of directional detectors with varying angular tracking resolution with and without the ability to distinguish forward versus backward recoils, and compare these to the sensitivity of a detector where the track is projected onto a two-dimensional plane. The latter detector regardless of where it is placed on the Earth, can be oriented to produce a significantly better discrimination signal than a 3D detector without this capability, and with sensitivity within a factor of 2 of a full 3D tracking detector. Required event rates to distinguish signals from backgrounds for a simple isothermal halo range from the low teens in the best case to many thousands in the worst.Comment: 4 pages, including 2 figues and 2 tables, submitted to PR

Letter about teaching a course for the Institute for African Alternatives

Letter from Ann Seidman about teaching a proposed course at the Institute for African Alternatives, as well as other proposals and research projects

Policy Alternatives for a Return to Full Employment in Spain

With Spain's official unemployment rate at 26 percent, and the economy projected to contract by 1.3 percent this year, it is difficult to make the case for continued austerity that could push a barely growing economy back into recession. Yet the government is committed to further fiscal tightening, on the grounds that it has no choice.This paper will show that there are various feasible alternatives that can restore full employment to Spain by 2018, as well as other possibilities that could accomplish this goal even sooner

Tests for exponentiality against NBUE alternatives: a Monte Carlo comparison

Testing of various classes of life distributions has been addressed in the literature for more than 45 years. In this paper, we consider the problem of testing exponentiality (which essentially implies no ageing) against positive ageing which is captured by the fairly large class of new better than used in expectation (NBUE) distributions. These tests of exponentiality against NBUE alternatives are discussed and compared. The empirical size of the tests is obtained by simulations. Power comparisons for different popular alternatives are done using Monte Carlo simulations. These comparisons are made for both small and large sample sizes. The paper concludes with a discussion in which suggestions are made regarding the choices of the test when a particular alternative is suspected

Inference Under Convex Cone Alternatives for Correlated Data

In this research, inferential theory for hypothesis testing under general convex cone alternatives for correlated data is developed. While there exists extensive theory for hypothesis testing under smooth cone alternatives with independent observations, extension to correlated data under general convex cone alternatives remains an open problem. This long-pending problem is addressed by (1) establishing that a "generalized quasi-score" statistic is asymptotically equivalent to the squared length of the projection of the standard Gaussian vector onto the convex cone and (2) showing that the asymptotic null distribution of the test statistic is a weighted chi-squared distribution, where the weights are "mixed volumes" of the convex cone and its polar cone. Explicit expressions for these weights are derived using the volume-of-tube formula around a convex manifold in the unit sphere. Furthermore, an asymptotic lower bound is constructed for the power of the generalized quasi-score test under a sequence of local alternatives in the convex cone. Applications to testing under order restricted alternatives for correlated data are illustrated.Comment: 31 page