4,041 research outputs found
Educational loans and attitudes towards risk
We explore the relationship between willingness to take financial risk and the probability of taking
out a loan for educational purposes as well as the influence of risk attitudes on the size of the loan using data
drawn from the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances. The findings suggest a positive relationship between
individuals’ willingness to take financial risk and the probability of taking out a loan for educational purposes.
Similarly, individuals’ willingness to take financial risk appears to be an important determinant of the size of the
educational loan. The findings suggest that non-white individuals and individuals from less wealthy
backgrounds are less likely to finance education through loans which could potentially increase inequalities in
education and income if such individuals are deterred from investing in human capital
Cosmic Rays Induced Background Radiation on Board of Commercial Flights
The aim of this work is to determine the total integrated flux of cosmic
radiation which a commercial aircraft is exposed to along specific flight
trajectories. To study the radiation background during a flight and its
modulation by effects such as altitude, latitude, exposure time and transient
magnetospheric events, we perform simulations based on Magnetocosmics and
CORSIKA codes, the former designed to calculate the geomagnetic effects on
cosmic rays propagation and the latter allows us to simulate the development of
extended air showers in the atmosphere. In this first work, by considering the
total flux of cosmic rays from 5 GeV to 1 PeV, we obtained the expected
integrated flux of secondary particles on board of a commercial airplane during
the Bogot\'a-Buenos Aires trip by point-to-point numerical integration.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings X SILAFAE Medellin-2014. To appear in
Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplement
Cosmological perturbations in coherent oscillating scalar field models
The fact that fast oscillating homogeneous scalar fields behave as perfect
fluids in average and their intrinsic isotropy have made these models very
fruitful in cosmology. In this work we will analyse the perturbations dynamics
in these theories assuming general power law potentials . At leading order in the wavenumber expansion, a simple
expression for the effective sound speed of perturbations is obtained
with the effective equation of
state. We also obtain the first order correction in
, when the wavenumber of the perturbations is
much smaller than the background oscillation frequency, .
For the standard massive case we have also analysed general anharmonic
contributions to the effective sound speed. These results are reached through a
perturbed version of the generalized virial theorem and also studying the exact
system both in the super-Hubble limit, deriving the natural ansatz for
; and for sub-Hubble modes, exploiting Floquet's theorem.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. Published on JHE
Isotropy theorem for cosmological Yang-Mills theories
We consider homogeneous non-abelian vector fields with general potential
terms in an expanding universe. We find a mechanical analogy with a system of N
interacting particles (with N the dimension of the gauge group) moving in three
dimensions under the action of a central potential. In the case of bounded and
rapid evolution compared to the rate of expansion, we show by making use of a
generalization of the virial theorem that for arbitrary potential and
polarization pattern, the average energy-momentum tensor is always diagonal and
isotropic despite the intrinsic anisotropic evolution of the vector field. We
consider also the case in which a gauge-fixing term is introduced in the action
and show that the average equation of state does not depend on such a term.
Finally, we extend the results to arbitrary background geometries and show that
the average energy-momentum tensor of a rapidly evolving Yang-Mills fields is
always isotropic and has the perfect fluid form for any locally inertial
observer.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Isotropy theorem for arbitrary-spin cosmological fields
We show that the energy-momentum tensor of homogeneous fields of arbitrary
spin in an expanding universe is always isotropic in average provided the
fields remain bounded and evolve rapidly compared to the rate of expansion. An
analytic expression for the average equation of state is obtained for
Lagrangians with generic power-law kinetic and potential terms. As an example
we consider the behavior of a spin-two field in the standard Fierz-Pauli theory
of massive gravity. The results can be extended to general space-time
geometries for locally inertial observers.Comment: 4 pages, 0 figures. Published on JCA
Optical spin transfer in ferromagnetic semiconductors
Circularly polarized laser pulses that excite electron-hole pairs across the
band gap of (III,Mn)V ferromagnetic semiconductors can be used to manipulate
and to study collective magnetization dynamics. The initial spin orientation of
a photocarrier in a (III,V) semiconductors is determined by the polarization
state of the laser. We show that the photocarrier spin can be irreversibly
transferred to the collective magnetization, whose dynamics can consequently be
flexibly controlled by suitably chosen laser pulses. As illustrations we
demonstrate the feasibility of all optical ferromagnetic resonance and optical
magnetization reorientation.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Current Induced Order Parameter Dynamics: Microscopic Theory Applied to Co/Cu/Co spin valves
Transport currents can alter alter order parameter dynamics and change steady
states in superconductors, in ferromagnets, and in hybrid systems. In this
article we present a scheme for fully microscopic evaluation of order parameter
dynamics that is intended for application to nanoscale systems. The approach
relies on time-dependent mean-field-theory, on an adiabatic approximation, and
on the use of non-equilibrium Greens function (NEGF) theory to calculate the
influence of a bias voltage across a system on its steady-state density matrix.
We apply this scheme to examine the spin-transfer torques which drive
magnetization dynamics in Co/Cu/Co spin-valve structures. Our microscopic
torques are peaked near Co/Cu interfaces, in agreement with most previous
pictures, but suprisingly act mainly on Co transition metal -orbitals rather
than on -orbitals as generally supposed.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
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